I'm sure each Ute fan has different reasons.

I am proud of the education provided at BYU and think that the University represents the church well. I feel a sense of pride whenever some ground breaking research is done at BYU. (Of course I did go to BYU, so I may be biased).

However, I believe that BYU has outgrown its athletic program, and it is in the best interest of the church and University to get rid of it. Harvard, Columbia, and all of the other Ivy league schools have diminished the importance of athletics over the last 50 years or so. They realize that their schools stand on their own merits. They don't need football and basketball to drum up support among the alumni to get donations. I wish BYU could stand on its own merits as well. I understand that when BYU was growing in the 60's and 70's that they needed an athletic program to draw attention to the school.

However, those days are over. How many young, bright LDS youth would not go to BYU if they dropped athletics down to DII? How many kids turn down Harvard every year because they don't have a D1 Football team? Not very many. I am not arguing that BYU is on the same academic level as the ivy league schools, (although it is a top school). But I am arguing that just as Ivy league schools don't need gimmicks like football and drunken sorority chicks to trick people into attending school there, (I'm looking at you Arizona State), BYU will always have students banging at its door as long as it maintains its academic prowess and spiritual atmosphere.

So I am simultaneously admiring Brigham Young University for its academic merits, while believing that it is okay to disparage the athletic program because it has outgrown its purpose and now occasionally embarrasses the church and the university.