Yesterday's DNews has a long question and answer article with Bateman. He claims the flags at the games will not go. He just thinks that the fans should show restraint. (I respect his opinion here.) However, I did not like his response about why LDS players should go to BYU. He seemed to imply that you were letting the church down if you are a great athlete and attended college somewhere else. (That's bunk Bateman.)

From Sunday's Snooze

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,175009317,00.html?

Deseret News: There are many thoughts and opinions among fans about the role of BYU athletics within the LDS Church framework. It has been said by some BYU officials that BYU sports is a missionary arm of the church. When basketball player Chris Burgess chose to attend Duke over BYU a few years ago, there were some BYU fans who condemned his decision and reasoned that he "must not be a very good member of the church" because he didn't select BYU. How do the Board of Trustees and the administration view BYU sports in terms of furthering the mission of the church?
Merrill J. Bateman: First, the board and the administration recognize that every person has his agency and has the right to choose for themselves. Whether a young person chooses to attend BYU or another school, that is their choice. It's my honest opinion that every board member I know and every university official would respect that. That's the way we want to operate. At the same time, we hope that we will have the quality of program that strong LDS youth will want to be a part of. It's our responsibility to see that our programs are attractive to the point where a very good athlete will want to come here without having to be coerced. We want to have a win-win situation where a young person sees BYU as a competitive place with high standards who wants to come here because of their LDS values and the university has that kind of program to offer. What I do know is if a strong young LDS person comes here and performs at a very high level, they carry the BYU and the church brand with them the rest of their lives. That is seldom true if they happen to go somewhere else. I'm not saying that every great LDS athlete should come to BYU. What I am saying is that they have the right to choose, but we have a responsibility to have a quality program that is attractive for them.
The board is a very wise group that wants to honor people's agency and at the same time, my feeling is they would like BYU athletics to represent the university and the church well.

I read it the other way. He seems to be putting the burden on BYU, even though he is the President of BYU. He's saying BYU must make its programs attractive so that great athletes would want to go there. BTW, if you're LDS, show a little more respect for a GA; if not, then accept my apologies.

Bateman's response

It is the following sentences that bnother me.

We want to have a win-win situation where a young person sees BYU as a competitive place with high standards who wants to come here because of their LDS values and the university has that kind of program to offer. What I do know is if a strong young LDS person comes here and performs at a very high level, they carry the BYU and the church brand with them the rest of their lives. That is seldom true if they happen to go somewhere else.

Why can't I live my values at another school. The LDS church is a missionary church. How better to live your values than to go to a place where not everyone is LDS.

This is starting to tread on very sensitive ground, and so I am going to word my response carefully in hopes of not offending anyone or starting a war over who's a good loyal Latter-day Saint and who isn't. If I do offend anyone, I assure you in advance,that's not my intention. Here goes:

I think Pres. Bateman [who is a University of Utah grad, BTW-- ;-)]was trying to say that when someone graduates from BYU, that fact (or "brand") and the Church affiliation of almost all BYU grads, follows them all their lives. In my experience, that is certainly true. At my firm, when we interview anyone for any job, whether as a lawyer or secretary or paralegal, if that person went to BYU, it's noticed and everyone is very aware of that fact. (Sadly, it is also noticed-- and commented on-- if that person does not live Church standards. High standards, plus the intense BYU effort to publicize those standards, means people are going to watch closely for hypocrisy or failure to meet the standards.)

So, far, so good. The only problem I have with Pres. Bateman's statement is where he says, "That's seldom true if they go somewhere else." Certainly a non-BYU grad is not going to carry the "BYU brand" with him or her, but it is very hard, if not impossible, for an LDS person not to carry the LDS Church "brand," if he or she takes being LDS seriously. I didn't graduate from BYU, but my personal experience is that anyone who knows me very well at all knows I am LDS and knows that affects everything I do. The same is true for thousands of others who are LDS but did not attend BYU. So if Pres. Bateman was trying to mix the LDS brand with the BYU brand and say they're inseparable, he's simply wrong. I suspect he didn't mean that. It doesn't make sense in a world in which a smaller and smaller percentage of the Church's members are going to be graduates of BYU.

So, to the extent his statements represent the rather typical BYU approach to recruiting anyone-- whether athletes or scholars-- by suggesting that if they are uniquely talented, they owe it to the Church to take their talent to BYU, then I object. Pres. Bateman has said, by the way, that when he's acting as BYU president he's wearing that "hat," not his general authority hat, so I don't think people should feel uncomfortable publicly disagreeing with him about non-ecclesiastical matters.

I am confident that some others will disagree. Oh, well.

In the words of Ancient Ute: Deposit two cents.

Your post is very well thought-out, and I agree with just about everything you say. I do however disagree with your interpretation of what he was referring to in the original quote above regarding the "BYU brand". President Bateman was confining his observation to athletes who have gone on to the pro level or post-graduate celebrity such as hall of fame, etc. Everything else you say about being a BYU grad, and the expectations of others is (un)fortunately dead on.

but probably will be seen as such anyway.

So are you saying athletes wear the church label but other don't?

Is there a pro-athlete in football, baseball, basketball or hockey that is/was active LDS that didn't attend BYU?

Both Mark Madsen and Britton Johnsen have gotten a lot of mileage out of being LDS returned missionaries. It just isn't true that the church label sticks to the athlete because of BYU. It just isn't.

IMO he is thinking of people like Steve Young or other BYU NFL quarterbacks - who are the exception rather than the rule. Young was the NFL MVP and won a Super Bowl - which creates a high profile position. But, IMO if Steve Young had played for Miami or Notre Dame instead of BYU - it still would be a big deal that he is a Mormon. So - I just don't see that BYU "brand" being a big deal.

If Britton Johnsen ends up in the NBA - it will be a big deal that he is LDS.

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