When BYU was closer to joining the Pac-10

With Utah and BYU being mentioned in conference expansion stories, I got wondering just how close that came to happening in years past.

Was either of them ever truly poised to move to a bigger league?

As far as I could ascertain, Utah was never in a strong position until now. But BYU was. So I phoned a pair of former BYU athletics directors, Glen Tuckett and Val Hale, to see what exactly happened.

Opinions vary, but both agree there were overtures.

In the early 1990s, BYU was the prettiest girl at the Western Athletic Conference dance. That isn't entirely the case now. It's not like the Y. lacks on-field credentials; the Cougars have more overall championships than any program in the Mountain West Conference. The football team finished last year ranked 12th nationally by the Associated Press; men's basketball is currently rated No. 13.

The biggest problem is that Sunday business.

For BYU, Sunday is a day of rest.

For everyone else, it's the first day of the rest of their season, which has kept the Cougars on the fringe of recent discussions about Pac-10 expansion.

But how close was BYU to actually getting in the Pac-10, two decades ago?

Depending on whom you ask, it was either somewhat plausible or razor close.

The one thing both Tuckett and Hale agree upon is that it would probably take divine intervention — or maybe just a plain old schedule change — to get the Cougars a party invitation today.

There are varying stories of BYU nearly joining the Pac-10 or Big 12. Hale, who served as A.D. at BYU from 1999-2004, says a move could well have happened. Tuckett, who was the A.D. from 1976-1993, isn't so adamant.

Though he wasn't A.D. at the time of the Pac-10 push, Hale knows this much: BYU did make a pitch to bigger conferences. He prepared the reports himself. Before he was A.D., he worked in marketing and media relations for the university.

He says BYU made a "quiet run" at the Pac-10 in the early 1990s.

Some believe the Pac-10 A.D.'s were in favor of BYU joining the conference, but the all-important presidents council wasn't. Asked how much support BYU had from the Pac-10, 20 years ago, Tuckett says, "There was a lot. All of the directors liked us, they knew us so well, they were all for it. But it's not an A.D.'s conference."

One story is that all the presidents of the Pac-10 voted to admit BYU, except Stanford's. Others say Oregon State and Washington State balked, fearful that BYU might replace one of them.

But Tuckett says there was never an expansion vote among Pac-10 presidents, as far as he knows.

"Maybe they did, but ... no one ever called me or President (Jeffrey) Holland, that I can recall."