BYU President C. Shane Reese
On the hiring process
“The process has been remarkable. Nothing short of remarkable. I wouldn’t change anything about the process. As we went along, we learned things about the passion for Cougar sports all around the country. We learned things about how much BYU Athletics means. In fact, during one of these interviews, someone mentioned that BYU alumni might actually be too passionate about Cougar sports. I don’t know if there is such a thing as too passionate about Cougar sports. We learned a ton about our fanbase. We learned things we felt like we already knew but it came to life as we throughout this interview process.”
On what he learned about Santiago during the hiring process
“As we visited with Brian, some of the things we knew about the depth of his commitment to the university, the focus that he has with the relationships with the student athletes, his attention to details, that is a tremendous set of qualifications. We also found in Brian someone who is humble. Someone who is willing to hear feedback and willing to adapt and adjust to a changing landscape. Candidly, I think all of us, I mean all of us in the entire NCAA landscape, are going to be learning a lot of new lessons as the House settlement comes out, at least as we hope the House settlement comes out. There is so much about today’s college athletics that doesn’t resemble our father’s college athletics. The willingness, the humility to learn those lessons, also came out through Brian’s interview process.”
On building the administrative team around Santiago
“Brian’s going to start to field a team. He’s going to have to surround himself with greatness. This is an effort, as Tom knows from his reliance on Brian, Liz [Darger], Chad [Lewis], David [Almodova] – this is not a one-person operation. We have a leader, and that leader is someone for whom people have significant confidence but it’s going to require assembling a team. In the coming days and weeks, we’re going to start to see that team develop.”
“Brian hasn’t known about this appointment for a long time. This is a fairly recent development for all of us in terms of a final decision. With that, we feel like we need some time to put together the team that we feel is going to be most successful.”
“I’ll just tell you, the number of people who are invested in this place, emotionally, financially, spiritually, is remarkable. It would drop your jaw, if I could put up on the board here the list of people with whom we visited. It was truly humbling for me, as the president of this university, to see the depth and breadth of Cougar Nation.”
BYU Director of Athletics Brian Santiago
On how his 27 years at BYU will guide his tenure as Athletic Director
The 27 years I’ve spent at BYU are 27 of the greatest years of my life. Part of that is that I value relationships and the relationships we’ve been able to establish through time, have been unbelievable. That includes some of the greatest athletic directors, some of the greatest coaches who have ever been at BYU. I was super fortunate to come to BYU 27 years ago with [former men’s basketball head coach] Steve Cleveland on his staff. Steve’s here today. I’m forever grateful for that door that was opened. I’ve had the privilege of working with amazing people.
The inspiration though, is the student athletes. It’s unbelievable. Literally, over 27 years, the children of people I had the opportunity to coach and mentor are competing for us right now. Their parents are some of my dearest friends. It’s remarkable to see how this athletic department, this university, continues to inspire all of us. Those relationships are what carry the day.
On excellence and national relevance
“A little over 20 years ago, even before Tom [Holmoe] got here, we were privileged to sit in a room with President Henry B. Eyring of The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the time, Elder Eyring came and spoke to us and answered questions. One of our questions at the time asked him a very direct question, ‘What’s the expectation?’ Elder Eyring responded with the word, ‘excellence.’ This coach, wanting to press more, asked, ‘What does that mean?’ Elder Eyring said, ‘To be nationally relevant.’ Then, Elder Eyring said this. ‘To be nationally relevant and do it the right way. Because, if we are nationally relevant and if we do it the right way, the world will want to know who we are and we can tell the story through these remarkable student athletes.’ This is the key, the charge we feel and the charge going forward.”
“We’re going to be excellent. We’re going to be passionate about being nationally relevant. In this world of college athletics, it’s imperative that we chase greatness. So, we’re not shying away from it. We want to be great. We want to compete at the highest level. It would be a disservice to some of the greatest coaches and athletes in the history of sport to be okay with mediocrity. We’re going to be passionate about excellence but what rings through our minds is to do it the right way and protect the integrity of this great place. That’s how we’re going to do it. That’s going to be the charge. We’re going to walk the path together.”
On his relationship with retiring Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe
“It was a privilege to be his wingman. I loved coming to work every day with him. Tom and I have a lot of similarities but we’re also unique in our own approach. One of the things I loved about Tom is that I always felt empowered, I always felt like I had a voice. We’re both passionate about a lot of the same things. We’re passionate about other things as well.”
“One of the things I’m grateful for, is especially the last three or four years, Tom’s really empowered me so that I could take a deep dive into the world of NIL and revenue sharing in the trenches with our coaches and student athletes and working alongside some of our important stakeholders who have helped us along the way. I have some context there that is really going to help us as we jump into this new era. I think that the one thing I will do is make sure I protect the great things we’ve established together. When I say ‘we”, I don’t just mean Tom and I. All of these coaches in the room, every member of our athletic department, are united in this. We’ve established some great positive momentum – maybe some of the best momentum we’ve ever had in sports at BYU. It’s important for us to protect that. We have a department filled with excellence. We have coaches, administrators and support staff who are all in. We’re going to continue to do this united and do it for one purpose: strive for excellence, do it together and help each other. We’re going to protect everything that’s good and we’re going to continue climbing the mountain because it’s a big mountain. Being on the mountain and in the trenches on the mountain with all of them, we can get there. I’m super excited about the possibilities.”
On building his administrative team
“We have greatness internally already. We have some great people who are going to step up and make a huge difference for our athletic department, for our coaches and student athletes. There are those outside who we are going to look at closely to bring in. My personality is such that I just think I can keep doing it all, all the things that I was doing and take on new responsibilities. I’m super excited about empowering other people to make this place go. There’s a combination internally and externally that’s going to add huge value to this athletic department.”
On what BYU fans should know about him
“I think for people who have seen me and watched through the years, I’m obviously a super passionate person. It’s something that’s in my blood. I feel deeply for this place. The part of me they don’t see is deep love, the compassion I have for people. Everything I do, I just want to help everybody around me be better. My coaches taught me at an early age, as a point guard, that it’s better to have an assist than to score the basket. I hope people will see that, not only is there a soft and sensitive side to me but a compassionate side. I just love to see other people, make people better, make them feel loved, that they have a purpose on this planet earth.”
“Another thing that’s super important to me is that I want to empower women. It’s super important in this day and age in college athletics, that we empower women. I just want to make sure that they know how important they are in this whole scheme of college athletics.”
On his vision for BYU Athletics
“I think everyone in this room, all of Cougar Nation, got a glimpse of what the vision is for BYU Athletics, this past season. Kalani Sitake and our football team had a remarkable year that nobody saw coming. I will say that I saw it coming. Then everybody saw Kevin Young come into BYU and do something that nobody expected us to do. Our football and basketball programs lead the charge but then you see our men’s and women’s cross country teams go and win national championships.”
“You see all our other sports competing at a national level. The vision for us is to be great, to win at the highest level and do it in a way that’s going to bring positive light to the university and the Church. This is way bigger than sport. If we’re not relevant, nobody cares who we are. Our vision is to get every person in this athletic department, every coach, every day, with one goal in mind: To help these student athletes fly. Not only on the field, on the court, in the pool, on the track but in life. That’s what we’re going to do.”
On the student athlete experience at BYU
“The academic excellence of this place, along with the experience these student athletes are having. It is one of one. It does not get any better. There’s never been a better time for these student athletes to come to BYU. This is one of the great institutions in the world and it’s not by chance that it continues to rise. Recently, we had a graduation banquet, and we had five different athletes from five different sports speak. I didn’t hear too many of them talking about how many wins they’d had. What they were talking about was their experience here. Their experience with these coaches loving them. Their experience of going through adversity and these coaches walking the path with them. Their experience of being triumphant at the end. That’s what we’re after. We’re after preparing them to go out into the world and change the world. That’s what we’re going to do.”