His fan base is fiercely divided over this issue. A certain number of hard core Utah fans are obsessed with playing BYU and demand they be on the schedule. The legislature and BYU fans are also putting pressure on him to continue the rivalry.

Another vocal portion of the fanbase want to get BYU off of the schedule, (the "utefans" contingent). They think Utah is too good for BYU and don't think Utah should be playing a H-H agreement with a non-P5 team. Following Hill's A-B-C scheduling model, (which I think is Kyle's model but Chris takes the fall for it), Utah can only play one "really hard" OOC game a year, and if that is the case they prefer a big name team like Michigan, Ohio State, or Alabama rather than BYU which isn't "big name" enough. What they don't realize is that the royalty of college FB will no longer play Utah home and home. Utah asked Urban to do it at Florida and Ohio St. and he said, "Sure, you can come to Gainesville whenever you want." But they don't want to come to SLC. Michigan did under Hoke and obviously everyone is learning from their mistakes since they went 0 for 2.

Chris Hill is a politician, nothing more. If he says, "We are excited to continue this great rivalry," then everyone in the media, (including cougarboard), would say, "If the rivalry is so great why did you discontinue it and why don't you commit to playing every year in November?"

But if he makes a commitment to BYU then a large percentage of his fan base will hate him.

Must be nice to be Tom Holmoe. He is the teflon man, because he NEVER has to make any tough decisions. Everyone knows that the right place for BYU is the Big12, so he can put all of his eggs in that basket. If they get rejected he can say, "I tried my best," if they get in he is a hero. For the time being, he is focused on independence. No SERIOUS BYU fan is demanding he goes back to the MWC so he has no tough decisions to make.