I’m not saying that lds players always keep the honor code

I’m not saying non lds players can’t keep the honor code

I’m not saying there should be a quota or a minimum amount of lds players

If that’s what you took from my post you have got me all wrong.

Mark Pope seems to be going after some high profile non lds basketball players. I don’t remember Dave Rose going after these types of guys competing against these lists of schools for recruits. If no one has noticed that shift then they aren’t paying attention. He seems to be swinging for the fences for guys that previously were not on our radar. Why didn’t they do this previously? My educated guess is that they didn’t think they could convince them to come to BYU and that they might not be a good fit. Is that discriminatory of the previous coaches or just based on wisdom or experience? I DONT KNOW. That’s why I’m bringing it up for discussion.

I’m not going to pretend that the honor code isn’t a factor when it comes to recruiting because someone finds it offensive. It’s been around a long time and is widely discussed and like it or not is a huge factor when it comes to BYU. A guy has to be a great recruiter if he is going to convince an athlete to adhere to the stringent tenets of a religion he doesn’t belong to or believe in. It may take a lot of extra effort to find these guys and then assist them once they are here. We’ve seen enough success stories to know it can be done and done well. And many of these guys become beloved amongst byu faithful. But I’m not going to pretend that it’s not a challenge or without it’s pros and cons and risks.

I would love a scenario where we recruit the best possible team and it works out for everyone involved and there’s no issues amongst any of the players lds or not when it comes to the honor code. Any scenario where anyone hurts the program by breaking team or school rules us unfortunate. And BYU has to look at how to recruit the right fit for byu to avoid those scenarios regardless if the kid is lds or not.

A coach that comes in with a strategy of getting the best players regardless of whether or not they are LDS in my opinion takes a certain risk. There are also risks in not going after the best players. There’s risk all over the place.

I personally love what pope is doing. But I do have questions. I worry about worst possible outcomes of coaching and recruiting decisions. Im not going to pretend there’s no issue or challenge bringing a non lds person to byu. Sorry if that’s offensive. But it’s just the way it is.