Thursday, Oct. 23, 2003 | 11:01 a.m.
It's probably not much of a reach to say that two years ago Gary Crowton probably could have been elected the governor of Utah. Or, at the very least, the mayor of Provo.
The replacement for legendary head football coach LaVell Edwards hit the ground running in his first year at BYU. Using an imaginative, wide-open style of offense that featured its share of razzle-dazzle and alumni-pleasing trick plays, the Cougars started the season 12-0 and were making a strong case for a BCS bowl bid.
Then came a crushing 72-45 season-ending loss at Hawaii followed by a disappointing 28-10 setback to Louisville in the Liberty Bowl. And it's fair to say it has been all downhill since for Crowton and company.
The Cougars (3-5, 2-3), who face UNLV (4-3, 0-2) on Saturday afternoon at Sam Boyd Stadium, have gone a dismal 8-14 since that 12-0 start. And barring a remarkable turnaround in the final month of the season, BYU could be facing back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1970 and 1971.
Crowton, once labeled as an offensive genuis, now hears terms like egomaniac, arrogance and incompetence from his own booing fans. The Cougars rank last in the Mountain West Conference in scoring and 102nd out of 117 Division I-A teams with an average of just 17.9 points per game. And after losing at Wyoming, 13-10, on Saturday, BYU found itself ranked fifth in ESPN's Bottom 10 poll this week behind only Buffalo, Army, SMU and Eastern Michigan.
Not so surprisingly, a website -- www.firecrowton.com -- appeared a few weeks ago but was taken down after 75 percent of the visitors voted in support of the third-year coach. It has been replaced by a KeepCrowton.com site reportedly run tongue-firmly-in-cheek by a Utah fan.
Crowton admits his team's mental state is fragile coming into Saturday's game but says "there's nothing a few wins can't cure."
The question is can the Cougars get those wins this season?
Besides Saturday's game against a UNLV team that nearly shut them out last year in Provo, the Cougars host WAC heavyweight Boise State in Provo on Thursday night on ESPN, then travel to Notre Dame before ending the season against red-hot Utah.
"I don't worry about the newspapers and media and that," Crowton said when asked about the heavy criticism he's been receiving in recent weeks from the Salt Lake area media. "They have a job to do, and I have one to do. I don't read it, and I don't worry about it."
Asked if he felt any more pressure now to win, Crowton responded, "I do not."
The players apparently do.
After throwing a late interception on a deflected pass within range of a potential game-tying field goal try at the end of the Wyoming loss, quarterback Matt Berry tried to shield the blame from Crowton.
"I'll take responsibility for this loss," Berry said. "I don't want you (media) guys to talk bad about coach Crowton. You guys can put this on me."
Crowton's supporters point to a number of reasons.
The biggest problem has been at quarterback where injuries have hurt the Cougars severely each of the last two seasons. Berry, who began the year as the starter, is just returning after missing over a month with a broken bone in his throwing hand that still isn't 100% healed. His replacement, John Beck, is only a freshman who spent the two previous years on a LDS Church mission.
"I think that's the most difficult thing for any of us," Colorado State coach Sonny Lubick said. "When you go in there with a young quarterback with no experience, it takes some growing pains. It won't take them long to bounce back."
The 2001 squad was a senior-laden team that featured an NFL running back in Luke Staley and a savvy senior quarterback in Brandon Doman, who almost single-handedly pulled out three victories at the end of close games, including a 35-31 comeback at UNLV.
Crowton has had to not only rebuild the past two years but many of his top recruits, including star quarterback Ben Olson, regarded by some scouting services as the nation's No. 1 prep quarterback in 2001, have yet to play a down because they elected to go on their two-year LDS Church missions first.
Throw in the fact the Cougars have long been regarded as the marquee program of the old WAC and now the Mountain West Conference and they usually get their opponents' best shot each week.
"I think everybody in the league has the feeling when you play (BYU) that maybe you're going against the big dog," Wyoming coach Joe Glenn said. "BYU probably gets a little bit better Sunday punch from everybody because of who they are and the level of prestige they have in our league. They've earned it. Because they are, so to speak, the Notre Dame of our league -- a private school that probably draws double of what everyone else draws and recruits with the success that they do."
However, with the 85 scholarship limit, the Cougars can't stockpile the talent they might have been able to do back in the good old days.
"I think now our conference has so much balance and parity," Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry said. "Everybody's got good players."
Still, no one expected this rapid of a fall. The Cougars were ranked as high as No. 8 in the nation in 2001 before their season-ending collapse.
"That was a pretty good bar," Crowton said. "I want to go back."
The question many are wondering in Provo these days is will he get that chance?
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