As night falls over BYU's campus, students trade in their textbooks to hit the intramural fields to chase championship T-shirts and bragging rights.
Among those students are BYU football’s Bear and Tiger Bachmeier.
The quarterback-receiver duo coach a women’s intramural flag football team, having traded helmets for "headsets."
Tiger leads the defense, Bear commands the offense.
“It’s really fun having Bear as a coach because he’s so engaging,” said player Abigail Hooper. “He’s all-in on practices and games, and he enjoys it. You can tell he’s passionate about coaching — he really gets into it.”
“Being coached by Tiger and Bear is super fun,” added teammate Maddie Larkins. “They care a lot about flag football, which makes it a lot more exciting and like it actually matters. It’s just taught me they’re super nice guys who are willing to give up their very limited free time to come out and coach our team.”
For the team as a whole, this adventure has been about a lot more than just the potential of earning the bragging rights of an intramural T-shirt.
“They’re just there to play football and coach football because they love it,” Hooper said. “Something I think is super cool about them is that they’re normal — just so normal. They want to have that college experience, and coaching a flag football team is one of the ways Bear talks about doing that.”
Bear Bachmeier has thrown for 1,693 yards and rushed for 408 more this season, earning five Big 12 Freshman of the Week honors. Tiger, meanwhile, has been a reliable target in the passing game, showcasing what many call an instinctual brotherly connection with Bear.
“They are just good guys,” said team captain Mia Chambers.
Despite their demanding schedule during the BYU football season, Tiger and Bear Bachmeier choose to engage in some lighthearted fun — or perhaps just another outlet for their competitive natures.
“This experience is definitely unique and super fun,” Chambers said. “One key memory was one of our practices in the rain. Our coaches wouldn’t let us leave unless we weren’t truly committed to the team, so we practiced in the pouring rain for like 45 minutes. It was still pretty fun.”
Coaching one more offense doesn’t seem to faze Bear, and directing a defense doesn’t weary Tiger.
“Both of them are really patient,” said Hooper. “I’ve never played flag football in my life. I play a lot of other sports, but football just isn’t my thing. They were really patient with me and taught me a lot about foundational skills, which was really impressive.”
That patience has made a noticeable impact on the team — and it’s clearly needed. But their patience doesn’t mean the brothers stay quiet on the sidelines.
“They’re super kind when it comes to dealing with our lack of football knowledge,” said team captain Mia Chambers. “And it’s funny to see how into the games they get.”
“He’s really funny during games — especially because he’s so intense,” Hooper said about Bear. “I play sports, so I’m always intense. I understand high-pressure situations, but it’s funny because he has such a mind for the game. He’s really good with situational IQ and play calling. A lot of it goes over my head. I’ve only been playing flag football for about four weeks.”
Though the players may not always know what they’re doing, or match the football IQ of the Bachmeier brothers, the team has learned a lot more than just football from them.
“You can definitely tell that they're athletes, in the way that they work hard, but also have such a growth mindset in the sense of they always want to do better and they always want to improve and they're really competitive," Hooper said. “For example we lost one are games and Bear was heartbroken. It was super cool for me to see. Because it showed me a lot about how he is as an athlete. Like he doesn’t like to lose and he always want to win, but you know the quote that’s like, 'I hate losing more than I love to win.' That’s how I would describe Bear.”
The Bachmeiers' intensity has been overwhelmingly positive, the players say.
“It’s intramurals, but it feels like such a big deal because we all care so much,” said Larkins. “It’s actually so fun!”
The team has started to get creative.
“At practices, (Bear) likes to say we’ve got to grind and know the plays, but he’s fun with it,” Hooper said. “We come up with fun names for the plays. For one practice, all the names were based on Bubble Guppies, the TV show. We kept naming them after characters — one was Bubble, one was Guppies, another was Lunch because they always say, ‘Let’s go to lunch.’ Bear knew it super well. It was just really funny.”
Chambers added to the humor and culture the brothers have created, noting that the best part for her has been the relationships.
“My favorite part has been meeting new people and forming new friendships — and actually just playing football, because I never really played growing up,” she said.