the mission of the church and the mission of BYU. None of which include success in sports.

That is not to say that BYU does not value sports success. It does. But sports success will ALWAYS take back seat to its mission.

It will not compromise itself financially for sports (other programs will and have done). It will not compromising itself academically for sports (other programs will and have done). It will not compromise itself ethically or spiritually for sports (others will and have done). BYU will not compromise its focus, its mission, for sports. There will always be other schools willing to give more. BYU will maintain its integrity and focus on its mission, its true priorities.

I have no doubt that BYU and the church would sooner end sports altogether than make sports success its primary focus (E.g., see BYUI).

I think of Yale and Harvard who dominated college football early last century. Eventually, as the game progressed and the money grew, pressure was put upon them to compromise their academic standards to continue to compete nationally. They didn’t. Instead, they stepped back, refused to compromise. They still play ball. They’ve been left behind. But they still have their integrity. That is everything.

There are limits to what BYU will do for sports. A threshold. We will come to it one day. We’re close now. We will have good years now and again but We will never be one of the big boys. I’d be disappointed if we did because it’d mean we had forgotten who we are.