Changing times

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2000 | 10:22 a.m.

LaVell Edwards turns 70 in October, so it wasn't surprising at Tuesday's Mountain West Conference football Media Day that the dreaded "R" word came up.

That's "R" as in retirement.

Edwards, college football's third-winningest active coach with 251 victories, is in the first year of a five-year contract extension. And although he maintains he will continue coaching BYU as long as he enjoys putting a team together, Edwards seemed to hint his head coaching days are numbered.

"It's obviously getting closer," said Edwards, who begins his 29th season as head coach at BYU.

Then Edwards added a little bit of dark humor to his answer.

"Hey, one of these days I'm going to die," Edwards chuckled. "I hope not. The days ... I'm starting to run out of time here.

"No, I still enjoy coaching. I'm excited about the season. I'm obviously excited about this group of players. We had probably as good an off-season as we've had in the last few years. I'm excited about this year.

"I'll address that situation (retirement) down the road."

The Cougars, picked to finish third behind Utah and Colorado State in both the coaches' and media preseason polls, play a brutal nonconference schedule that could force any coach into retirement.

BYU opens its season Aug. 26 in hot and sticky Jacksonville, Fla., against defending national champion Florida State in the Pigskin Classic. The following week the Cougars fly back to the East Coast again to take on Virginia.

Then it's off to Colorado Springs for a key Mountain West Conference game against Air Force. Five days later, the Cougars host Mississippi State on ESPN.

After hosting UNLV on Sept. 23, the Cougars travel to Syracuse for an ESPN2 game on Sept. 30.

Yikes!

"It'll make us a good team if we can stay healthy," Edwards said. "Playing two (nonconference) games is good. Four is too much. We had three scheduled. Then the opportunity to play Florida State came up. You don't get the opportunity to play the No. 1 team very often. It'll be tough."

Edwards said the Cougars originally were supposed to have a bye on Sept. 9, giving his squad 12 days off before the Mississippi State game.

"But then (the Mountain West Conference) stuck Air Force in there, for whatever reason," Edwards said.

The only break during that stretch for the Cougars is a nine-day span between the Mississippi State game and the UNLV contest.

"We've got to make sure we're ready to play (UNLV)," Edwards said. "If there is a team that is a sleeper or could be a surprise team this year, it could be UNLV."

"We've spent a lot of time talking about it," Thompson said. "We probably need to move the game until after Christmas. We're looking at a game on the 26th or 27th of December. I'm told after the 28th you can't get a hotel room in Vegas (because of New Year's Eve)."

Thompson said he would also like to boost the bowl's current $750,000 payout to attract a more glamorous opponent, preferably a conference with Bowl Championship Series affiliations such as the Big 12 or Pac-10.

The Las Vegas Bowl has two years remaining on a deal that pits the Mountain West's No. 2 team against an at-large team.

"Actually, it's almost expected," Greer said. "Most of the time they base that on last year's statistics. I guess we're the secret of the league.

"People are going to be surprised," Greer continued. "That's the great thing about it. Sometimes it's better to be the underdog because people don't know what to expect."

"Kevin is starting to get the notoriety that he deserves," Robinson said. "He's just a natural cover guy. But he's got a problem in that no one from UNLV has been preseason defensive player of the year -- ever -- I believe. Hopefully the notoriety that comes with that doesn't stress him."