He said these instate sports rivalries are great because they’re “so painful to lose.” The way he talks about the loss to Utah, I know it killed him a little inside. I know he’ll do everything he can to not feel that way again.

It reminded me of the press conference when he was announced as our new coach. Several other schools must have been interested in him when Holmoe offered him the BYU job. Pope was considering what he should do. “I told my wife,” he said, “of all the places we could go and win, it will feel better to win at BYU than anywhere else.”

When I heard that I said to myself, “This guy gets the significance of BYU.”