...but the presidents (for various, well-known reasons) couldn't support that.
Holmoe has stated that there were never any discussions with the Pac-10, and I remember an article that mentioned a question to Larry Scott right after they expanded to the effect of "Did you talk to any other schools?" and he replied specifically that no other schools were considered (I can't find the quote).
But the notion that there were discussions with BYU, but they just couldn't work out the details is nonsensical.