Why is BYU so dominant?

Blanked the competition.

Here is my take below, BYU has the following.

1. Great coaching for both genders

2. Altitude- if you think it doesn’t matter go try it.

3. Really talented recruits want to go there (and will do so for very little scholarship) most happen to be mormon. Mormons go to BYU at a discounted rate. Very affordable.

4. Large rosters, more irons in the fire more potential for good things to happen.

5. Resources, they are back by the church. Travel, recruiting, gear, facilities etc. all good situations

6. For the men, being older does help. Go look at the ages or year in school of the top guys. XC is a man’s race, sure does help to be a man in there.

BYU is a team first culture that values collective success before individual glory. They are not comprised of preening egos or self-absorbed individuals that value social media stats above all else. IMHO, that is very refreshing to see in this age.

Just to highlight the tuition advantage.

$6688 for tuition this year for LDS members (in or out of state).

CU- $13,106 in state, $40,356 out of state.

CU is at altitude, lots of in state talent, great training facilities and locations. But 2x as expensive in state. 6x as expensive for out of state

The answer is certainly multifactorial. A factor not yet mentioned is 6 day per week training with 1 complete day off. instead of viewing this as an impediment, it is a success factor. (see VA-Tech, Ben Thomas -coached athletes, many Africans…)

The answer is certainly multifactorial. A factor not yet mentioned is 6 day per week training with 1 complete day off. instead of viewing this as an impediment, it is a success factor. (see VA-Tech, Ben Thomas -coached athletes, many Africans…)

It's the coach.

BYU has always been a Mormon school, so they were always attracting disciplined young men that were a few years older than everyone else, yet they weren't having THIS level of success.

Right now Eyestone has it rolling and everyone will try to attribute his success to all these odd factors (they don't drink caffeine or alcohol!) but it is all due to the coach.

When Wetmore was winning at CU everyone pointed to their training at altitude, the great training environment, the culture of running in the state of Colorado, blah blah blah..

In other sports we do this too. Bobby Knight was successful because "kids in Indiana are born with a basketball in the crib!" Spurrior at UF was successful because "he can just recruit out his back door, Florida is so deep in talent!.."

But what you see is that when these coaches leave, suddenly all those "advantages" slip away and disappear, and those teams return to the pack.

I would argue that the advantages have helped them separate over the last decade compared to other schools.

When it is literally the cheapest option without scholarship, going there is a no brainer. Everyone else’s costs go up but yours stays cheap!

Eyestone is also awesome.

But you mentioned CU being dominate with Wetmore 15-20 years ago. Well cost of attendance in Boulder was pennies compared to today.

imagine if Parker Wolfe and Dylan Schubert both got to come back to CU for two more years… two Colorado bros that probably got better scholarship offers somewhere else.

Tommy Boy: "You know a lot of people go to college for 7 years."

Richard: "I know. They're called doctors."

You could very well be correct, but I predict that once Eyestone leaves, BYU will go back to the pack and all that stuff you mentioned will melt away.

I think the BYU tradition will stay strong, one of his assistants or former athletes will take over and that train will keep rolling.

The women were awesome for a long time before Diljeet.

Eyestone is on a multi year heater though. Cooking up the fitness

Altitude. Sometimes older ahletes.

ill plead ignorance here. I was unaware that every byu athlete had to be mormon? Is that the case?

Just like CU, right? ;)

You don’t have to be Mormon to attend BYU but you do have to follow the honor code and rules that are set by the Mormon church.

Alcohol, sex, caffeine (unless the Mormon church has a large stake in the company) meeting with religious counselors as a part of your student experience.

Liberty University is very similar

Not at all. For example, the basketball team in the new NIL era with a big donor has signed a number of non Mormons this year.

Some say a head coach has to be Mormon. I’m not sure if Diljeet is the women’s head coach or they get around it by saying Ed is the head coach, though she seems to have complete head coach level control over the women’s XC team.

You might also add they do have NIL to offer as well. I believe many of the women get some form of NIL

FYI... the ncaa mandates that every athlete at every school gets a complete day off, so that is why no one has mentioned the factor that you mention.