[Holladay Ute]

I don’t want to tell anybody what to think, but I would love to share my perspective. I was born, raised, and still live in Salt Lake City. I have personally known a handful of players and coaches (mostly all members of the church) from both schools. I’ve been a diehard Ute since I was a little kid. I am a very active member of the church. And I also hope that BYU loses every game in every sport. With that said…

While I think some BYU fans (and/or members of the church) might be the way you described, I don’t think it’s fair to make a general statement like that about an entire group of people. Between family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, people I go to church with, etc. I probably know (on a pretty good personal level) thousands of BYU fans. I could probably count on one hand the number of BYU fans I know who are the way you described. The vast majority of them do not think they are morally or spiritually better than other people. That is not a teaching in the church. The church teaches that you should worry about yourself and not judge other people.

It is not considered more virtuous if you attend BYU versus any other school. You might hear a joke like that once in a while (I can only imagine BYU fans joking like that w/ Utah fans who are members of the church like me), but they don’t actually believe it or mean it. I don’t know what % of Utah enrollment, season ticket holders, etc. are members of the church, but it is no doubt pretty high. As somebody already mentioned, many of the church leaders (including the current president/prophet) were students at the U (not BYU).

Are there a lot of church members who are BYU fans just b/c of the church affiliation? Yes (but isn’t that logical?). Is that b/c of all the reasons you said? No. For the most part, they are just sports fans and choose a team like any of us (they live nearby, they went there, their family or friends were fans, that team was good when they were a kid, they liked a certain player when they were a kid, they liked the uniforms/colors when they were a kid, etc.). In this day and age, do most of the players on that team go there b/c they feel some sort of obligation to the church or b/c they have some kind of self-righteous motivation? For sure not. Does Utah lose every recruit to BYU when both schools have offered? Obviously not. Utah wins more than it loses. Look how many actively practicing members of the church coach or play at Utah. Kyle Whittingham, Morgan Scalley, Britain Covey, Karene Reid, etc. Also, BYU recruits players who are not members of the church (look at their basketball recruiting class or look at either of their last two starting QBs). These people go where they think is best for them. It’s not any different than any other school…1) Where do they have an opportunity to get playing time? Would you rather sit on the bench at one school or start for BYU? I cringe saying this, but BYU’s basketball program is in way better shape than ours is right now. So they are naturally going to get better recruits than us until we have a better story to tell. 2) Where do they think they can develop into the best football player possible (and have an opportunity in the NFL)? Obviously, BYU has a number of good players in the NFL. Utah has more, but BYU has players in the NFL too. 3) Where can they make money? BYU has an NIL story too (aka Ryan Smith; note, the church does not financially sponsor BYU athletics). 4) Cultural fit (which is obviously influenced by the church at BYU) plays a role anywhere. The list goes on and on. At the end of the day, these players are going where they think is best for them (and where they’ve been offered). Just b/c Utah might lose a recruit to BYU once in a while, it is not reasonable for any of us to think that it’s just b/c of some obligation to the church or some self-righteous motivation. If anybody feels like that, it’s one in a million.

In terms of what you said about the church’s beliefs. I really don’t want to get into that on this forum b/c this is about football/sports. If anybody wants to know more about the church’s beliefs, I would love to have a private conversation w/ you outside of this group chat. Just message me back. But what was said about the church’s beliefs was either inaccurate or misleading. We absolutely do not believe some souls are worth more than others.

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