Opinion: BYU should be careful considering its recruits

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:46:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

The honor code at BYU is a lot like starting a neighborhood restaurant: good idea, but tough to execute.

On the positive side, if a person doesn't drink, smoke, take drugs, cheat in class, break the law or have sex outside marriage, how much trouble can he make? The worst he can do is overeat.

On the down side, not everybody honors the code. That's when things get messy. In a Deseret News story, last week, assistant football coach Joe DuPaix said BYU wants to expand its recruiting pool to include more non-LDS players. The Cougars are looking for all the chaste, non-drinking, non-smoking All-Americans they can find. But it's risky business to widen recruiting just when BYU should be narrowing, or at least keeping things static.

The last thing BYU needs is more honor code publicity.

DuPaix isn't wrong in saying there are top non-LDS athletes who would embrace BYU's standards. There just aren't many of them. But it's not just the honor code, it's the other stuff. How many non-LDS players want to take religion classes as part of their curriculum — especially if it's not their religion?

Mormon Life - Honor Code tag

Opinion: BYU should be careful considering its recruits