PROVO — LaVell Edwards was, as usual, an island of calm amid the fanfare. He was presented gifts, lavished with praise, entertained with fireworks. They even named the stadium after him.

But the BYU coach mostly smiled, perhaps a little sheepishly, saying he didn't know what to make of it.

"It'll sink into me one of these days," he said. "But right now it's just hard to believe."

All this for a fruit farmer from Orem.

All this for a man who, in 29 years as head football coach, never quite learned the use of the personal pronoun "I."

Edwards coached his final game in Cougar, er, LaVell Edwards Stadium, Saturday afternoon, on a day that began under perfect light-blue BYU skies and faded to a perfect dark-blue BYU night. It was a time for one last glance at the scoreboard in the north end zone, a final walk up the ramp. But in a departure from his normal routine, he didn't have to report to the pressbox for his call-in show — perhaps the gift he appreciated the most.

As he stood at midfield after the game, watching highlights of his career on the video screen, it seemed indeed to be sinking in. He embraced his wife, Patti, at one point biting his lip to hold back the emotions.

Although Edwards has one more game remaining, next Friday at Utah, this was the one for the BYU fans — a 37-13 rout of New Mexico. A day for winning going away, one more time. A reminder of the decades of warm autumn afternoons and cool nights, when the best place you could be was there, watching the Cougars pass the other team silly. The days when even the most avid Cougar fans started feeling sorry for the other guys.

Yes, he would love to beat Utah next week. But this day was for saying farewell to a field where he has coached for 39 years, counting a decade as an assistant. A day for saluting the place where he remained, despite the siren song of fame and wealth; the place that held his heart, even when ridiculously extravagant offers came.

This was a day for saying goodbye to the stadium he could never leave.

"He was just so darn loyal," said his wife.

Through the years, most everyone who ever worked at, attended or followed BYU knew the Cougars were fortunate. How could anyone have known he would take them, as the movie line goes, to infinity and beyond? BYU acquired a man who not only won games, but remained there, just a streak pattern away from the orchard farm where he grew up. Though he has traveled the world and loves few things more than a warm day and an early tee time, he never chased any of the Sun Belt dream jobs that came his way. He always came back to the stadium at the base of Y. mountain, where he was as much a part of the land as the scrub oaks dotting the foothills.