Two losing seasons put the heat on BYU

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2004 | 9:33 a.m.

Head coach: Gary Crowton, 4th season, 21-17.

2003 record: 4-8 (3-4, tied for fourth in Mountain West)

Returning starters: 12.

Top player: Defensive back Aaron Francisco.

Key game: Sept. 4 vs. Notre Dame.

2004 MWC media projection: Tie for 5th.

Monday -- Air Force

Today -- BYU

Wednesday -- Colo. State

Thursday -- New Mexico

Friday -- San Diego State

Next Monday -- Utah

Next Tuesday -- Wyoming

(Second in a series previewing the Mountain West Conference)

It would be fair to say that fourth-year BYU head coach Gary Crowton is on the hot seat this year.

Make that a very hot seat.

Rarely has there been a quicker fall from grace in college coaching than that of Crowton, who dazzled the Mountain West Conference in his first year in 2001 by leading the Cougars to a 12-0 start behind the nation's No. 1 scoring offense. The Cougars were a win at Hawaii away from maybe even notching college football's Holy Grail, a BCS invitation.

But the Cougars, playing without injured star running back Luke Staley, were humiliated in that regular season finale by June Jones and company, dropping a 72-45 decision.

It has been downhill every since.

BYU had back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1970-71 including a 4-8 finish last year. The once-envied high-powered Cougars offense averaged a pitiful 16.3 points per game, which ranked dead last in the MWC and 109th out of 117 Division I teams. Even more startling was the fact that the Cougars had almost twice as many interceptions (22) as touchdown passes (13) and ranked last in pass efficiency.

Oh, where have you gone Jim McMahon, Steve Young and Ty Detmer? Even Air Force option specialist Chance Harridge finished higher than Cougars quarterbacks in conference passing stats.

As if Crowton didn't any more problems, BYU's offseason has been beset with off-the-field problems including allegations last week by a 17-year-old girl that she was raped by several BYU football players after the group drank alcohol and watched a pornographic video.

Not exactly the kind of distraction that Crowton needed entering a Murderer's Row non-conference schedule that kicks off on Sept. 4 with a home game against Notre Dame and includes defending national co-champion USC, two-time WAC champ Boise State in Idaho and Stanford at Palo Alto.

Crowton brought in a recruiting class that included 11 junior college transfers, which is usually a red flag that it's win-or-else time for the head coach. Two of them, wide receivers Todd Watkins and Michael Morris, are expected to provide big-play potential to an offensive in dire need of it.

Overlooked in last season's downhill slide was the performance of tight end Daniel Coats, who earned Freshman All-America honors after catching 30 passes for 378 yards and four touchdowns and appears to have an NFL future.

The big question is who will be throwing the passes to Coats and company?

Crowton announced that sophomore John Beck, who started four games last season as a true freshman, would go into fall camp as the No. 1 quarterback, but junior Matt Berry, who refused a request to move to tight end, has bounced back from a hand injury and is making a bid for his old starting job. And junior college transfer Jason Beck and junior Jackson Brown are still in the mix.

BYU's best chance for turning things around this year revolves around a veteran defense led by all-MWC defensive end Brady Poppinga, who could also see some time at linebacker, and hard-hitting safety Aaron Francisco. The Cougars have six starters back from a defense that ranked 14th in the nation in total defense and 33rd in rushing defense.

Crowton says he looks at BYU daunting schedule as an "opportunity" more than a negative.

"I like playing Notre Dame and USC at home," he said. "We have an opportunity to play against two of the most storied football programs in the history of college football, and we get to play them on our own field.

"This will be a challenging schedule. ... We'll have to work hard and remained focus throughout the entire season."

And win more than their fair share of share of them if they want to keep their head coach around for another year or two.