I think the fact that it was transitioning to a four-year school meant that the pipeline of athletes to BYU was probably going to dry up regardless.

Even though playing at a lower level might technically enable students to level up and transfer to BYU, the pipeline wouldn’t be the same. Transferring isn’t quite as neat and prepackaged as with the transition from a JC

That said, I think it is completely incorrect to presuppose that peoples’ objection to doing away with Ricks’ sports is tied directly to the belief that it costs BYU a win or two in football every year or that it feeds the sports addictions of a relative few. Those things might actually be true for many people, but there’s a lot more to it.

I appreciate the OP’s enthusiasm for his employer but certainly don’t see what he described as a miraculous, only the consequence of providing existing talent and resources to meet a tremendous, underserved demand for a massive audience.

I also don’t see how having a competitive athletic program would have derailed or slowed down any of the advances the OP cites.