Year University would have blown up the Rick's to BYU pipeline even if they kept sports. Transferring from D2 and 3 up to D1 is very rare. (I argue that JC to D1 has decreased since those days, anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered if they stayed 2 year and kept sports).

Bottom line, Rick's relationship with BYU football was going to wane whether everything stayed the same or not and even if BYU-I had sports, it wouldn't be a "feeder school" for BYU.