BYU Athletic Director Tom Holmoe Addressed Reported Game Against Alabama
Jul 20, 2020, 10:50 AM
BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe meets with reporters for his semiannual media Q&A roundtable in Provo on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018. Nate Edwards, BYU photo
PROVO, Utah – Will BYU take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2020 College Football season? BYU Athletic Director Tom Holmoe didn’t rule it out.
Holmoe joined BYUtv’s BYU Sports Nation on Monday for what would have been his annual State of the Program address at the since-postponed BYU Football Media Day.
One of the first questions asked by the Sports Nation hosts was the validity of reports that BYU and Alabama would square off in week one of the 2020 college football season. Holmoe didn’t deny the reports, but also didn’t confirm the reports.
Tom Holmoe on reports of #BYU playing Alabama.
"I've had a lot of conversations with a number of people. Some have been reported from their side. And I think that they'll continue today and tomorrow and until this goes to the point where we're playing football."@kslsports
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) July 20, 2020
“There’s been a lot of communications, a lot of conversations with people. You got to look at it this way, it might take me a year, year and a half to put together a schedule normally. When those two conferences, the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced that they were going Conference-Only and opened up games. It’s not just me but most of those athletic directors and coaches that have had their games canceled had to all of a sudden start sprinting. So I’ve had a lot of conversations with a number of people. Some have been reported from their side. And I think that they’ll continue today and tomorrow and until this goes to the point where we’re playing football.”
The last time BYU and Alabama squared off was in 1998 in Tuscaloosa. A game that BYU lost 38-31. If BYU and Alabama meet this fall, it would mark only the second time in program history the two schools have met on the gridiron.
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne previously worked at the University of Arizona. While with the Wildcats, Byrne and Holmoe scheduled a three-game series between the two programs.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
