Fact or fiction

Is it true that Gary Crowton and Val Hale were best friends growing up?

Fiction. The relationship between Hale, fired last week as BYU's men's athletic director, and football coach Gary Crowton remains the subject of vast overstatement by sportswriters and talk-radio hosts, especially in Utah.

Hale and Crowton played football together at Orem High School, Crowton as the quarterback and Hale as a wide receiver. Each has said publicly that they were never best friends, but that has been assumed since BYU, with Hale as athletic director, lured Crowton away from the NFL to coach the Cougars.

Lazy reporters and excited fans trumpeted the "best-friend" falsehood when the hiring was seen as a coup, as in, "It's a good thing Hale and Crowton are buddies," or "BYU couldn't land Crowton without that relationship."

The fiction was repeated last week when Hale was canned, as in, "This makes it easier to fire Crowton if he has a bad season because his pal is gone."

But if you are among those who want Crowton gone, don't just blame Hale. It's more complicated than that. The coach was hired by a four-member search committee consisting of, yes, Hale, but also then-BYU President Merrill Bateman, vice president Fred Skousen and outgoing coach LaVell Edwards.