PROVO, Utah — Legendary Brigham Young University coach and athletic director Glen Tuckett passed away at his home in Provo, Utah, early Tuesday morning, Oct. 26, at the age of 93.
Tuckett retired from BYU in 1993, after 34 years of service as a coach, teacher and administrator. He assumed the position of athletic director at BYU in July of 1976, after 17 seasons as the head baseball coach. He also served as an assistant football coach for seven years.
“We offer our heartfelt condolences to the Tuckett family at Glen's passing and want to express our immense gratitude for everything he did for BYU Athletics,” said Tom Holmoe, BYU director of athletics. “The awards and statistics during Glen’s tenure speak for themselves. What Glen did here was remarkable, and much of the success we experience here today can be traced back to the foundation Glen helped lay.”
Under his leadership, BYU won the Western Athletic Conference Commissioner's Cup 16 of the 17 seasons he served as athletic director. BYU men’s teams won 75 WAC Championships and two national titles—1981 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship and the 1984 Football National Championship. In addition, BYU football played in 16 bowl games and won 14 WAC titles, while men’s basketball captured six WAC titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament nine times.
During his tenure as athletic director, BYU student-athletes won a myriad of major national awards including, a Heisman Trophy, a Maxwell Award, two Outland Trophies, four Davey O’Brien Awards, seven Sammy Baugh Trophies, two Haskins Awards, one Wooden Award and one Eastman Trophy. Five former Cougars and LaVell Edwards have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Tuckett spearheaded the expansion of Cougar Stadium to 65,000 seats following the 1981 football season. He also served on a variety of national committees, including the College Football Association, National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, CFA Television Committee and numerous NCAA committees.
From 1960-76, Tuckett guided BYU baseball to 13 division titles, three conference titles, three District 7 titles and two appearances at the prestigious College World Series (1968, 1971). He was named NCAA District Coach of the Year three times (1961, 1968, 1971). He led BYU to a record of 445-256-4 (.634) and had a winning percentage of .730 in WAC play. At the time of his retirement as head baseball coach in 1976, Tuckett ranked ninth in winning percentage among active NCAA Division 1 coaches.
In 1974, Tuckett coached USA Baseball to a championship at the World Amateur Baseball Tournament for just the second time in the 22-year history of the event. Tuckett also served as the president of the American Association of College Baseball Coaches in 1977 and was on the NCAA Baseball Rules and Tournament Committee for six years.
A native of Murray, Utah, Tuckett was an all-around athlete in high school. After graduating from Murray High, he entered professional baseball and played nine seasons, for the Salt Lake Bees (1946-50), Salem Senators (1951) and the Lewiston Broncos (1952-53) and was named to the Western International League All-Star Team in 1954.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah in 1953, Tuckett coached football, basketball and baseball for six years at West High in Salt Lake City before taking the BYU baseball job in 1959. He later went on to earn a master’s degree from BYU in 1962 and received his doctorate from BYU in 1975.
In addition to his coaching, administrative and teaching duties, Tuckett also did color commentary alongside the legendary Paul James on KSL for BYU football and basketball broadcasts for 10 seasons. He also served as a bishop and stake presidency member in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was in high demand as a speaker.
In 1995, Tuckett was hired as interim director of athletics at the University of Alabama, where he served for 18 months.
Tuckett was inducted into the AACBC Hall of Fame in 1979, BYU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982, Utah Sports Hall of Fame in 1985 and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995. He is also in the Murray High School Hall of Fame and the Utah Summer Games Hall of Fame.
Tuckett married the late Josephine Whittaker of Stockport, England in 1959. They had four daughters (Alison, Shannon, Kendall and Erin), 10 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.