By Holly Hunt
There are mixed feelings among BYU faculty and students regarding the sudden resignation of Coach Crowton Wednesday.
'He was clearly forced , there''s no question about that,' said Ken Rodham, a BYU computer science professor.
Chris Kelly, a BYU administrator, said he felt Crowton received unfair treatment because nobody in the coach''s position would have performed better. Kelly also said Crowton deserved one more year to finish out his contract.
'Next year the team will have more upper-classmen, and a better team,' Kelly said. 'It''s built up to that, and he won''t get to coach it.'
Rodham said it looked suspicious because after the University of Utah game Crowton was emphatic about remaining with BYU next year, and then, all of a sudden here is a 180-degree change of ''I need to go.''
'Sounds like they put the words in Crowton''s mouth because he and the interim athletic director said almost the exact same thing, ''BYU football needs to move in a different direction,''' said Aaron Towers, a senior, majoring in biotechnology.
Towers said he felt if the football program plans to move in a new direction, then BYU should be more honest about it because the only direction he saw included a new head coach and no plan.
James Hales, a chemical engineer student, said his only concern was if BYU would find a decent coach to replace Crowton.
'It''s easy to let someone go who''s had losing seasons, but can you find somebody who will actually turn that around,' said David Paxman, a BYU English professor.
Hugo Ruiz, an international relations student from Mexico, said he has always been a BYU fan, but is disappointed that everything has become more political and image driven than spiritual.
Football is a peripheral activity that contributes to education, but the university community loses perspective when it becomes the focus, Paxman said.
However, despite some sorrow with the recent farewell, others felt the time had come for a change.
Brad Macbeth, a junior, majoring in exercise science, said he was not worried whether or not the university could find another talented coach to replace Crowton.
'I think that any LDS coach''s dream would be to coach at BYU,' Macbeth said. 'So, they should have no problem finding recruits to apply for head coach.'
Zac Powell, a political science major, said he felt good about the change because under a better coach there would not have been as many fumbles this year. He said the team''s performance showed a lack of discipline at practice.
Although Ruiz had mixed feelings on the matter, he agreed it was time to move forward.
'New coaches always bring something new that they see a team lacking,' he said.