to their university and support them. They like to exchange rivalry banter and it's fun. I worked in Church HQ for 16 years and there were probably just as many Ute fans as Cougar fans, but it was a civil relationship. I understand there are two things going on that are not normal for rivalries. Number 1 is that there is a large element who just despise BYU because of it's affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that should never have part of any rivalry. The 2nd, which is also very different from most rivalries is that we are forced to work and live among each other.
Secondary to being a Cougar fan, I was born and bread a tOSU Buckeye fan. You "hated" the Wolverines, but you really didn't run into many because they lived a state away. When I grew up, the B1G had a no repeat rule, so even if Michigan was the better team 2 years in a row or Ohio State, they couldn't represent the conference 2 years in a row. So, when it wasn't Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, I supported whitchever other B1G school that was then representing the conference in the Granddaddy of them All.
I belonged to a school where the head coach punched a Clemson football player because he was mad. As honorable of a man as he had been, you didn't find very many men that would support him in the aftermath. He crossed the line and needed and was fired.
When your AD takes the stage first and says what he did, he needs to be gone. There are lines that cannot be crossed and although not as bad as punching a player, was ever so egregarious as a representative of the University of Utah.