BYU football: Hall on cusp of being wins record holder

PROVO — Until about a week ago, Ty Detmer had no clue he held the record for most career wins as a BYU quarterback.

So the 1990 Heisman Trophy winner, who posted a 29-9-2 mark as a starter, is fully supportive of current Cougar QB Max Hall surpassing him on the school's list of all-time victories.

"It's not hard to give up a record you didn't know you had," Detmer said, chuckling. "I'm happy for Max."

Hall, who is 29-7 as a three-year starter, tied Detmer's mark of 29 wins last week at New Mexico and can become the all-time leader, with 30 victories, if he and the Cougars can defeat Air Force on Saturday (1:30 p.m., CBS-C).

Detmer has talked to Hall on several occasions, including prior to the season-opening win over Oklahoma, and he's been impressed with Hall's play over the years.

"Max has done a great job. He's been a great ambassador to the school. He's played at a real consistent level his whole career," Detmer said Wednesday.

"For Max, this has been similar to my senior year, when we lost a lot of players from the previous year. My advice to him about handling that was to keep guys together and keep everyone's emotions in check. You've got to be the guy that holds it all together while they're gaining experience. He's done that real well this year."

Detmer can appreciate the work that's required to win that many games.

"When you're the quarterback, you rely on everybody around you to do their jobs," he said. "It shows the consistency you played with. It shows you're durable. The ultimate goal of the quarterback is to help your team win the game. Max has done that."

Hall's position coach, Brandon Doman, who went 14-2 as a starter at BYU, said he's happy for Hall and what he's accomplished so far.

"We haven't thought much about the fact he tied the record. It's awesome," he said. "To be mentioned with Ty in regards to victories, it's an awesome honor for Max.

"Ty was a special guy. It would be great to see Max be the outright, sole owner of that winning record. He's not interested in sharing that anymore. And I don't think Ty wants him to share it. Ty wants him to get that record. We're also driven to go get that."

After quarterback John Beck completed his career at BYU in 2006, Hall, an Arizona State transfer, won the QB battle over Brenden Gaskins and Cade Cooper during spring drills in 2007. Hall made his first start — a 20-7 victory over Arizona on Sept. 1, 2007 — and has started every game since. As a sophomore, Hall led the Cougars to an 11-2 record and a Mountain West Conference championship.