Listening to Y’s Guys podcast last week and Blaine and Dave McCann basically sounded like, well, me and others on Cougarboard two decades ago in regards to how the honor code was being administered and how it should change. That opinion was routinely, shouted down by the ardent accountability cops, which was basically in line with BYU’s policies at that time. It was a lose-lose proposition for BYU and its student athletes, but darn if we weren’t committed to it. Today is different and it’s far better for all parties.

Things have certainly changed with NIL, but along with those changes, we’ve decided to take the shackles off of an alumni network that was always willing to pitch in.

Big 12 money helps of course. But before the Big 12 money came, we made some internal changes which helped make us a lot more palatable to a prospective power conference to which we ultimately gained admission. Now that we’re in, they seem to love us. And we’re reaping the benefits.

BYU still will not be and should not be for everyone. We will not and should not do anything and everything under the sun to eek out every possible win. But we’re starting to see what the unfettered potential of the program might actually look like.