I teach at ALA-Ironwood, the “farm team” for the other two ALA schools (Queen Creek and Gilbert North both narrowly lost in the state semifinals this year, but both almost pulled off upsets). Queen Creek won the 3A state championship two years ago and moved up to 4A, and lost 29-26 to reigning 4A champ Mesquite. Gilbert North surprised and only lost to Snowflake 28-27 in overtime. Anyone who is any good at our school transfers to Queen Creek, so we’re kind of the Kansas City A’s for the New York Yankees.
I had mentioned before that Ty Detmer is our district AD. I’m thrilled that he will be coaching again, with Max Hall as his OC at ALA-Queen Creek. I expect them to give other teams fits on offense.
I think Ty should have been given more of a chance at BYU, especially given how much of a chance Tuiaki has been given. I think he was forced to play a mentally shot Tanner Mangum, which was a big part of his struggles with the offense. And, he was forced to take certain personnel by Holmoe and Sitake (i.e., he didn’t get to be OC with a free rein). Oh, well.
McKay, I agree with you that Detmer got screwed by BYU. I have some close connections with the program and I think a lot of people–including players–were surprised that Sitake threw Detmer under the bus they way he did. Detmer was already making MAJOR inroads in recruiting, because apparently everyone but Sitake loves the dude. Detmer also had a “Bronco-esque” commitment to academics and to the HC. Parents were lining up to have their kids sign with BYU, because parents love a humble, highly accomplished, smart and friendly guy like Ty Detmer. LET’S ALL NOTE that almost all these sophomore and junior RM studs we have on offense: Allegeir, Rex, Jalen Hall, Romney, Milne, etc. were Detmer recruits. You are dead right: Kalani was in over his head, the program was reeling, he needed a scapegoat, and he picked Detmer. I think Grimes is great, but he never had noteworthy success until this year when we played a bunch of cupcakes.
Disclaimer: I have not met Ty Detmer, but I flew down and met with Jason Ah You and was able to finagle invites to BYU’s special invite camp for my QB and RB/WR, both of whom were incoming sophomores at the time and now on D1 football scholarships. Both are non members; both kids and their dads (both former D1 scholarship athletes) came home RAVING about how awesome Detmer was in every way. I am very close with both kids, and both say working with Ty was a highlight of their football experience. My daughter (who was working in the Ath Dept) took them all out to dinner talk about the HC and academics (both kids were valedictorians in HS). Knowing they were non members, she started talking about the HC, and both kids piped up and said Coach Detmer had pulled them aside the day before and said he knew they were not LDS but wanted them to know how much the Honor Code meant to him as a non-member recruit to BYU. Both kids were floored by his honesty and vulnerability when most football coaches–especially at camps–run around screaming and yelling and cussing at everyone to ‘pump guys up’. Both kids were already on Pac12 recruiting radars and had already heard the anti-BYU stuff, but after working with Detmer they left loving everything about BYU.
I liked Grimes. I thought he did a great job. My friends who work directly with him say he is an awesome guy. But I still think Detmer got an absolutely raw deal at BYU, and had he been able to stay long enough to work with his own recruits, I think he would have not only done great things, but done so with a commitment to academics and the HC that matched Bronco’s–and which has been MIA for much of the last 4 years in BYU football.
I am Queen Creek Football’s newest fan, because I think football–at every level–needs more people like Ty Detmer.
Just a slight clarification: ALA-Queen Creek is separate from Queen Creek High School.
The public high school in Queen Creek (Queen Creek High School) had an LDS quarterback years ago who made headlines. A handicapped girl was being picked on, and when he learned about it, he dealt with the bullies (appropriately, but firmly), had the girl eat with him and teammates at lunch, and had her on the bench with them at games. They gave her a shirt with four of their names on the back as “my boys.”
The boy’s mother — a single mother with several kids — ended up marrying a divorced father in our ward a few years ago. She really did a good job as a single mother!
I remember reading about
Yoeli Childs did exactly like that to rescue for this one handicap person at Bingham HS who was being bullied. They became friends and hung around many times and at school lunch.
Tom… I think you may be hitting that magical point in life where you repeat the same stories several times because you can’t remember if you told it already or the people you are telling it to have heard it. It is happening to me once n awhile. I love this story but have heard it several times now.
It’s okay though, if you tell it again I will act like I am hearing it for the first time… I promise.
Right on and some people need to hear it again because they forget it. That covers a lot of us here. I love the stories and I love hearing them again with added details. Don’t stop, even if some knucklehead gives you a hard time about it.
BYU needs more Ty Detmers, Jernaro Guilfords, etc–kids who come to BYU as non members and leave with the church and BYU held in the highest esteem. I’m friends with Mike Hall, another stud non LDS kid who came to BYU without knowing much about BYU, became a star on the basketball team, married in the temple, active family, and has held a variety of very important positions in the BYU Athletic Dept. Those success stories are what non-LDS recruits need to hear about, and hear it from those who have lived it.
