There’s a reason Bateman didn’t last long as president at BYU. He wasn’t exactly well liked and some of his moves ended up being bad for BYU and the church.

Trying to purge, or at least not grow, the not LDS influence was a huge mistake and caused major issues. I know some former professors and former professor hopefuls that were really hurt by that push.

Sports under him were disastrously managed. The HCO was given way too much jurisdiction and his focus was much more on the religious than professional rigor.

The contrast between him and Rex couldn’t have been more stark. I was there for both and it was pretty clear.

It’s the only time I thought to myself ‘I actually don’t think I can sustain that man in that calling’. It took me a while to figure that out. Fortunately I’ve never had to rub shoulders with him in church callings to test my resolve.

It would be hard to change my opinion that Bateman was overall rather bad for BYU.