As the Brigham Young University football team has marched undefeated through its first seven games of the season, one of the things that has been the most impressive for Elder Clark G. Gilbert, a General Authority Seventy and commissioner of Church education, is the humility he has seen.
After every game, the coach and players are working on what they need to improve.
“There have just been some special things in the culture of this team,” Elder Gilbert said.
While the big wins and come-from-behind victories are fun to watch, it goes deeper.
“It’s not just that we cheer for sports, it’s that these teams do it in a special way. And I think this football team is doing it in a special way,” Elder Gilbert said, pointing to the coaches who push for the players not only to improve but also to stand for something more — namely the mission of BYU and of its owner, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“I always cheer for BYU, but when they can reflect the values of the Church and of the university, it’s another gear and it’s deeper and it’s more meaningful.”
Elder Gilbert made the comments on the Y’s Guys podcast on Tuesday, Oct. 22. Y’s Guys is distributed by the Deseret News.
Throughout the hourlong conversation with Dave McCann and Blaine Fowler, Elder Gilbert emphasized the importance of keeping faith in Jesus Christ at the forefront of everything BYU does — particularly in athletics.
“We remain anchored in the Honor Code, ecclesiastical endorsement and our dress and grooming standards,” he said. “We also retain the ability to act independently, including who we recruit and who we admit to the school. All of these things protect us from drifting.”
Joining the Big 12
Elder Gilbert talked about how BYU’s rising platform in the Big 12 has provided a larger stage to share the university’s values. BYU’s mission is not just about excelling in competition, but about representing integrity, service and humility in the process.
This is true with any of the sports programs, such as basketball, soccer, cross-country and more.
“This is a special time, and I think it’s on and off the field of play, and that’s one of the things that is so important to us as leadership in the Church, it has, it has to be both.”
He quoted head football coach Kalani Sitake, who often reminds the team that “faith in Christ is the foundation of our program.”
A wider audience has been introduced to BYU and the Church through the football team, TV commercials for the university, BYUtv’s stories on the other teams, and BYU Alumni’s service projects at away games.
While there are many ways for the Church to promote itself and for the university to promote itself, “if it doesn’t reflect our values, it doesn’t matter,” Elder Gilbert said.
Funding BYU sports
Elder Gilbert said he hears two different voices a lot — on one hand, people would love to see more money, more facilities and higher pay. On the other hand, people will tell him that there’s too much spending on the game.
“If it ever came down to the only way to stay in this is to walk away from our values, that would be the end of athletics at BYU. This is not going to happen. … We have a culture here that is exceptional, and I’m confident it won’t happen. There is no other place like this,” he said.
All binding decisions go through BYU President C. Shane Reese, to Elder Gilbert and then to the Board of Trustees — which includes the First Presidency.
He explained coaches’ salaries are internally funded and under the control of the university — and reiterated that no direct tithing is used to support BYU athletics.
“This is a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is we use tithing for the core work of the Church,” Elder Gilbert said. “The bad thing is this could make someone say, ‘Great, we can just do whatever we want.’ But the governance remains universally tied to the Church Board of Education.”
The courage to be different
BYU football is building global connections this year through mentoring BYU–Pathway Worldwide students. The team has also received attention this year for having the only Jewish quarterback in college football — Jake Retzlaff — playing at BYU.
Retzlaff has said his experience around faith on campus has been transformational. Other players who are not Latter-day Saints have shared how they chose to go to BYU because they know what it stands for.
Elder Gilbert reiterated that “there’s a reason it’s BYU, and you put that name on it, and it has to mean something different. We are going to be different.”
The late President Spencer W. Kimball shared that message in his “second-century address” at BYU, and President Jeffrey R. Holland, the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, gave a similar message to the faculty, said Elder Gilbert.
“BYU will have to stand alone, and if we don’t, the rest of the world in the end will say, ‘BYU who?’ … If we don’t have the courage to be different, we’ll become just another team,” Elder Gilbert said.
