BYU has turned into a school most of us wouldn't have gotten into had it been the same when we applied 20 or 30 years ago. Its a completely different place. Many of us attended BYU in the 80s & 90s because of what LaVell Edwards built, when we could've just as easily attended UC Davis, UTexas, UWashington, etc. So we helped raise the academic profile of the school.

You can't look at the current students' overall attitude towards sports with the current academic requirements to attend BYU and believe the attitude hasn't changed dramatically over the last few decades. Had LaVell never done what he did at BYU, eventually the rise in tuition would've help make BYU attractive, along with its LDS affiliation, but the demand would've never gotten to where it is now.