Andy Reid goes way back with Tom Holmoe.
The two played football together in college, suiting up for Hall of Fame head coach LaVell Edwards as BYU football players in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Their careers crossed paths again when Holmoe was playing in the NFL for the San Francisco 49ers and Reid was an offensive line coach at San Francisco State in the mid-‘80s.
Their paths have crossed plenty of times since then as well. That makes Reid, the longtime NFL head coach, an informed expert on the legacy of BYU’s longtime athletic director who is set to retire later this year.
“I have a ton of respect for Tom,” Reid said about Holmoe before the 13th annual Governor’s State of Sport Awards ceremony Friday evening at the Delta Center, where Reid was a special guest.
During those days in San Francisco, Holmoe spent some time as a practice squad player with the 49ers, and during that stretch he would coach with Reid at San Francisco State on game days, the Kansas City Chiefs three-time Super Bowl champion head coach shared.
“He’s had a phenomenal career. Things he’s done for BYU are just off the charts. I’m so glad that he stuck around to guide them into that new phase, with that new conference.”
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid, on BYU AD Tom Holmoe
That gave Reid the impetus to try to get Holmoe into coaching. It worked for a while, and Holmoe eventually became head coach of the Cal football team.
Holmoe’s true love, though, was in administration. Turns out, Holmoe found that role at their alma mater, BYU.
He was instrumental in leading BYU through leaving the Mountain West Conference and into independence in football and the West Coast Conference in most other sports in 2011.
He was then the linchpin in the Cougars maneuvering into a Big 12 invite a dozen years later.
And now Holmoe is calling it a day. He’ll retire as BYU’s athletic director, a position he’s held since 2005, in August at the end of his current contract.
“He’s had a phenomenal career. Things he’s done for BYU are just off the charts,” Reid said of his longtime friend. “I’m so glad that he stuck around to guide them into that new phase with that new conference.”
The state of sports in Utah
That friendship — and Holmoe’s success in two decades as BYU’s athletic director — was one of several topics, many of them BYU adjacent, that Reid discussed during a 10-minute media scrum before the State of Sport Awards events kicked off.
Reid was one of the keynote speakers on the night and was honored during the ceremony that also recognized 14 others in categories that ...
