It doesn’t matter if it was her main reason for not hiring Frank Maile or just an afterthought. If the players asked “why not hire Maile” the correct answer should have been “he’s an excellent coach, but ultimately decided to go with another candidate”. Or, if you wanted to recruit different parts of the country say “we are hoping to expand our recruiting reach and felt a coach from the South could accomplish this”. Instead, the University President showed her hand and clearly indicated to multiple individuals that she wanted a coach who wasn’t LDS. These guys aren’t dumb, if several of them came to the same conclusion there was something there. So it was clearly a consideration in her hiring process whether it was the primary one or not as indicated by the report. And that’s illegal. Imagine the same situation involving another protected class, a minority race perhaps. It wouldn’t and shouldn’t fly. It sounds like this is an otherwise competent and good person, but somewhere along the way she’s bought into the idea that Utah Universities need less LDS people in positions of leadership. That’s as egregious as trying to appoint only LDS leaders. It should be a non-consideration. And when you’re the President at one of the largest public universities in the State you should be held accountable for that kind of action.

I don’t know if she should be fired. Maybe she should, maybe not. But to dismiss the players concerns, claim no foul, and then vindicate yourself with an “internal investigation” means this kind of thing will continue unchecked. At the very least, she owes the players and community an apology that it even came up.