Fun article about Pope and the Reid's

Very cool. I remember Randy and Robbie well as I was a student there when those two were playing. I’ll always remember Robbie’s clutch play against Utah one year. I think he hit a big go ahead 3 with under a minute left to give us the lead that we would not relinquish. Some of you may remember that game.

We’re reasonably close to the same age. My dad asked me how much money I had in savings, and I said, “$200 or so.” He said, “Want to go to the first round of the NCAA tournament at the Rosemont Horizon (DePaul)?” You bet! It featured BYU, SMU, Kansas, and another team. Our ticket let us watch both games. It was a blast! BYU beat SMU with Randy Reid and Gary Trost. We then lost pretty easily to Kansas in the next round. My mom was mad that I had dipped into savings, but it was worth every penny. We were seated near the tunnel BYU entered and exited out of, and Roger Reid was very gracious and willing to talk to fans (especially pre-game). Gary Trost also gave us high fives and talked on his way out.

A well-spent day for a Chicagoland sophomore!

I was really sad and disappointed when there was the player revolt (if I remember right, Kevin Nixon and Russell Larson were prime movers) that led to Reid’s ouster. Fans were definitely calling for his head, but there was pretty clearly some bad attitudes and bad things behind the scene with players. The awful start was bad, but Reid’s history, record, and winning percentage was too-easily cast aside, I thought.

I was too young to really remember the Frank Arnold days (I remember the Catholic Chris Niktevich (sp), who my father thought was a prima donna hot dog), so my fond childhood and young manhood memories are the LaDell Anderson and Roger Reid days. Steve Cleveland did all right, and Dave Rose started off all right, but I grew to really hate his lack of interest in defense, failure to use and develop his bench, and his tendency towards huge scoring droughts and huge offensive runs for opponents.

Trost was a great player for us. There was a controversy around that time with a big time recruit named Ryan Cuff transferring out to ASU. At the time, the general belief was that it had to do with Coach Reid intending to play his sons more than Ryan.

I thought Cuff transferred in the aftermath. He never really lived up to his billing, here, or with ASU.

I seem to remember Nixon and Larson were the two who led the player rebellion.

I think both Randy and Robbie’s performances spoke for themselves. It’s always a tough situation when kids play for their dad — sometimes, the door swings the other way, and the dad is too hard and demanding to prove that he’s not playing favorites.

I remember Randy had a weird shot — a weird release. They both played well, though. How did Robbie end up doing at Michigan?

Yes, Randy had a strange release, but he was a good player. I thought Robbie was a slightly better overall player. Robbie did well at Michigan averaging 13 points per game his senior year.

Yes, I do remember hearing about some messy behind the scenes stuff regarding Roger Reid prior to his departure. He was never good at PR. Coach Steve Cleveland, on the other hand, was charming and great with the media…but his teams usually weren’t great.

There were some accusation against both Larson and Nixon led the revolt, but there was never any proof that they actually went to the AD to demand Reid’s firing. If you talk to both of them today, they have fond memories of Reid.

I do know for a certain fact, the Ryan Cuff was part of the issue. He thought he should have started over Reid’s son, but the fact Cuff was offensive minded and not defensive minded did not sit well with Reid as the coach. That was one reason Cuff left.

Reid’s issue was simply, he was not a people person, especially with the brass at BYU. He “knew” X’s and O’s better than most coaches, but the PR game was never really his game. From what I heard, maybe fish can verify, is that Reid upset some boosters “big time”, they are actually the ones that led the revolt of the players.

but again, only rumor…

Greg McDermott said something really wise about coaching a son in college basketball many years ago. He said, “When Doug was in high school, I asked many coaches who had coached their sons in college how it went and sought their advice on whether it would be good for Doug for play for me at Creighton. They basically said it’s fine to coach your son if he’s the best player or one of the 2-3 worst guys on the team. But anything in the middle is a total nightmare that you will all regret.”

Craig and Floyd, What both of you bring up is true.

I lived for many years next to the Berges. They were a Mr. Basketball type family here in Orem, much like Tj’s family. I was very tainted towards Reid as a coach, mostly over the Cuff and Bergess mess. Austin Berge played for him at Snow I think, before Roger came over to BYU as the head coach. Austin set me straight about Roger.

As McKey points out, Roger’s record, Xs and Os have been trampled on. Not only was Roger and elite coach, his assistant, Tony Ingle went on to win national titles at Kennesaw and Dalton St colleges. BYU would not look at hiring Ingle after they let Roger go. (big mistake)

Pope was very gracious in bringing Roger back into the BYU limelight. Love Pope

I always wondered why Ingle wasn’t made the head coach at BYU. I guess it will remain a mystery.