I attended BYU for my BA, fulfilling my dream of attending BYU that I had since I was a little kid watching games with my dad. I love BYU football and consider myself a huge fan. At the time, I couldn’t fathom ever applying to any program at the U.

When it came time for law school, I so badly wanted to go to BYU, but I didn’t get in. Utah was an option, and the resident rate there was more affordable than other non resident rates at similar schools. Utah accepted me and I reluctantly put down my seat deposit. I thought for sure I would end up going anywhere else even if I had to pay more. However, when I really thought about it, paying more money because of my pride for a great law school education was silly. I had many of those same thoughts as you about attending a rival school, thinking I was joining the evil empire. However, I quickly learned graduate students make it such a different experience than undergrads. I had a great experience at the U and got a great law school education. I wore my BYU gear to class all the time along with several other BYU alumni and nobody cared. Other students wore their alumni colors from schools across the country and it didn’t matter. There was friendly banter of course during rivalry week, but nothing offensive or extreme. I did make the mistake of wandering onto the undergrad part of campus once while wearing a BYU hoodie and the undergrads gave me the business.

If Kaufusi thinks he is going to have a better opportunity to accomplish his football goals at Utah, then more power to him for making a hard decision and going for it. If I had aspirations to play football beyond college and Utah came calling— the rivalry would be the last factor in my decision making. The rivalry should not have been a factor at all in my law school selection and I’m glad I didn’t let it prevent me from a great experience.

And through it all, I never switched loyalties. Go Cougs