A school can't compete at the highest level without pushing the boundaries of NCAA recruiting regulations. And in reality it's more about maintaining plausible deniability of direct involvement when crossing the lines. That's a skill that comes with experience playing the compliance game at top programs. The current staff has very little experience here, and Detmer couldn't even keep his nose clean at the high school level.

This is compounded by independence. The single greatest risk of the independent experiment is and always has been running afoul of the NCAA. Being part of a conference provides protection. As an independent, BYU is flopping in the breeze. There are scarce few programs that would be easier for the NCAA to use as an example in trying to reassert their regulatory authority.

1) BYU has to push boundaries to be competitive.
2) BYU coaches are inexperienced in doing this safely.
3) There is very little protection if BYU gets caught.