Could Ryan Smith become BYU’s “Uncle Phil”?

Oregon didn’t become relevant until Phil Knight became involved with Nike. Big names had zero reason to go there other than getting paid. So yes, Oregon has been paying players to go there for some time.

If the the rumors are true, then yes, Ryan Smith is the Uncle Phil of BYU and it will help them get better football recruits too. Unless he’s just focusing on basketball to hopefully gain the favor of these in college to lure them to the Jazz when/if they go pro.

Smith is an unapologetic BYU fan and that is his choice.  However, I have noticed since he became the Jazz owner – he has been somewhat supportive of the Utes.

I think it is in his best interest to stay neutral on college sports.  As an NBA owner, I think there may be a conflict of interest in him getting involved in NIL or recruiting in any way.

Smith is a BYU homer.  However, I highly doubt he has anything to do with Chandler flipping.  It would seem to be a stupid move and he didn’t become a very successful businessman by making stupid mistakes.

He is a big BYU doner and I assume that will remain the same.

Just my two cents.

If college basketball is going to become another avenue for billionares to manipulate the lives of “peasants,” I have no desire to take part in any way, shape or form. I am far beyond tired of watching billionares play God.

Just because you CAN shove money in someone’s face to influence their decision making in a way that tickles your fancies, and screws over a group of people you don’t like, that doesn’t mean it’s okay.

I’m perfectly fine with this kid going to BYU if he legitimately feels like it is what God wants for him. As a religious person myself I know the things he is hopefully doing in order to make the best decision for himself. I hope Mr. Smith isn’t doing things that will cause this young man to make decisions contrary to those he feels he should make deep down.

To be honest, going to BYU makes sense for this kid from a logical standpoint, but God’s plans for us don’t always make perfect sense.

If Ryan is a true believer, he will let this young man make the decision that he feels is best for him whithout trying to play God in this young man’s life. I’m not saying that Ryan isn’t allowed to offer this kid some sort of NIL deal. There is a difference between offering someone a job, or in this case a NIL deal (“hey kid, if you feel that coming to BYU might be the right choice for you, I’ve got an NIL deal waiting for you”) and actively trying to convince the kid that the school you are a fan of is the right choice (“Come on kid! you know what to do! Come to BYU and there is an NIL deal waiting for you! Don’t pass up this amazing opportunity! Don’t be a fool!…)

One is telling a kid what he has waiting for him if he decides that BYU is right for him, the other is actively trying to convince the kid to choose the school you want him to choose without any regard for what he believes is best for himself. I very strongly believe the latter is a PROFOUNDLY IMMORAL abuse of power., whereas the other is simply helping a young man make an informed decision.

I want to make it perfectly clear that I do not know Ryan Smith. I do not know if he has anything at all to do with anything related to recruiting in any way. I’m not claiming that he is doing anything immoral, or anything at all. There are many perfectly logical reasons a Utah fan would choose to play basketball at BYU right now, even if you don’t take into consideration any sort of NIL deal.

Also, I want to make it clear that I believe the same things apply to recruiting in general. I believe recruiting should consist of showing a kid what you as a program have to offer, showing your best self is perfectly fine. Negative recruiting, and/or attempting to make a child second guess what they believe to be right is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE! There is a very fine line between the two, but I believe that the line is very clear, and I HOPE that coaches and boosters at both BYU and Utah are staying on the right side of that line.

These are BOYS for crying out loud. 18 year old BOYS who still hardly know how to wipe their own butts correctly. Coaches should be helping them make the best decision for themselves. I really do hope coaches give these kids room to make the decision they think is best.

He could, but BYU still has the massive disadvantage of being a devoutly religious school with strict rules located in Provo, Utah. No amount of fancy uniforms or great facilities will truly move the needle for them. 

Non-LDS top flight recruits aren’t ever going to go there until they start allowing athletes to be exempted from the honor code. 

Plus, most people outside of the intermountain west don’t know much about BYU. BYU fans will try and convince you they have a national brand (which they sort of do because Mormons live everywhere), but the average kid from Texas, Florida, or pretty much anywhere west of Utah has very little idea of what BYU is other than an odd religious school.

People in the Utah bubble especially tend to forget about how little people know or care about BYU outside of the state. It’s a perfectly great school for plenty of people, but it will never be a place where non-Mormon’s go regularly.

I’d much rather not participate heavily in the NIL craze that BYU is exploiting. Kingsley Sumataia had NIL sponsors the day he stepped onto BYU campus away from Oregon. He posted them on Twitter same day. That’s Bull S— IMO. He hasn’t even played a game. I think College Football would do well to have a probationary period that limits NIL deals until you have been 6 months with the school or maybe even earned a varsity letter. The original issue and cause for NIL compensation was because the NCAA was making huge money off of guys that were actually seen. Now guys are getting paid first day on campus who may never play. If pre-missionaries like Chandler are weighing NIL then College sports is somewhat ruined for me and I’ll likely start turning my attention elsewhere. 

Until they become a non-religious university and drop the honor code, their self-imposed glass ceiling prevents them from ever becoming like Oregon – regardless of how much money Ryan Smith dumps into their programs.

Not enough elite LDS kids. The vast majority of college-aged kids like sex, alcohol, and partying. Just a fact.

Not much will change, even though they think it will.

This has been my fear ever since NIL was announced. Whichever schools have the most and richest boosters willing to pay endorsement dollars to their school’s athletes are going to be the schools who win the most. Combine that with the ridiculousness of the transfer portal and college football & basketball are going to be ruined forever.

Smith will most certainly become BYU’s Phil Knight. If Utah doesn’t get some billionaires to step up, it won’t be long before Utah is just another mediocre Pac-12 program in football and we will never climb out of the basketball basement.

Here’s the thing we don’t give enough attention to. There’s a MASSIVE difference between Ryan Smith and Phil Knight.

They’re both billionaires. But Ryan Smith is somewhere between $1.5B-$3B in net worth. And a lot of that is tied up in the Jazz. Phil Knight is around $65B in net worth. Phil Knight also has the keys at Nike and ins there that allow him to distribute additional Nike money and coverage.

Imagine you know some girls that go the sugar daddy route and one of them snags a guy that makes $6.5M/yr. And the other one is talking about their chances to snag a sugar daddy and their prospect is someone who makes $200k per year. That’s the magnitude of difference we’re talking about. Both can provide something for sure, but there’s massive differences in scale.