PROVO, Utah — When Gary Crowton began playing football for Orem (Utah) High School as a sophomore in 1972, a young coach named LaVell Edwards was hired to take the helm of the football program at nearby BYU. Crowton, a longtime BYU fan, himself dreamed of someday being the Cougars' head coach. Edwards' legendary success and subsequent longevity sent Crowton on a 29-year odyssey that eventually took him back to Provo, his dream fulfilled.

A member of the Church and former missionary in Korea, Crowton was named to replace the retiring Edwards as BYU's head football coach on Dec. 6, 2000.

In a Church News interview on Aug. 10, just 15 days before leading the Cougars into action for the first time, against Tulane in LaVell Edwards Stadium, he explained how he reached his goal: "First of all, it takes a lot of hard work."

Then, leaning back in his chair in his Smith Fieldhouse office, he continued: "It doesn't just happen. You have to be willing to make sacrifices. If you want to reach tough goals you have to be willing to make sacrifices.

"I was willing to leave the state and go coach in places like New Hampshire, Illinois, Massachusetts, Georgia and Louisiana. What I had to do was build a resume. Then I had to have success in these areas."

He didn't just dream; he made a commitment to prepare himself to be ready when the ultimate opportunity came along. As Edwards became a fixture at BYU, Crowton was patiently hopping around the country. (See accompanying map.)

He said he knew a lot of colleagues in the coaching profession who didn't want to follow the long path upward. That didn't necessarily appeal to him, either, but as he did he found he enjoyed each place. Sometimes that was quite a trick. Macomb, Ill., the home of Western Illinois University, was just a small town with not a lot to do for Crowton's young family, he recalled.

The next move, to New Hampshire, was no easier, the 44-year-old coach said. "I didn't know where that was. I hadn't studied the New England States since sixth grade. We just had to find a map, pack our bags and go."

And gain experience at each stop as everything from a volunteer assistant to an offensive coordinator.

Making it easier was the support of his wife, the former Maren Peterson from Bountiful, Utah, who he met at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. Crowton said some people look at moves such as his as "dragging your wife around for your career." Such was not the case, he emphasized.

"My wife liked to travel; she wanted to go out and experience some things outside of Utah. She's just a very curious person. She's not one who likes to settle in. We had a good time doing it too. She was very supportive. Sometimes she'd be the one telling me, 'We've got to go for it.' She went into the whole thing looking at it like it would be a fun experience."

A side benefit of regularly moving to new places where they didn't know anyone was that it brought them together as a real team, he said.

Although he enjoyed the journey, he was in control of his charted course. He had head-coaching opportunities at Utah State and the University of Arkansas, but passed on those branches in the road because they weren't where he really wanted to go.

But the head coaching experience he needed did come at Louisiana Tech where he was promoted from offensive coordinator in 1996. In three seasons he had a 21-13 record including 9-2 in 1997, the most wins the Bulldogs had ever had in NCAA Division 1-A. He and the school were happy with each other as he improved the team and the school improved the football program by such moves as joining a conference and improving physical facilities.

"I told the athletic director and the president that the only job I would leave for in the college ranks was BYU," he said. That option didn't become available, but another opportunity opened up — a move to the NFL. He did some final honing on his coaching skills as offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears for two seasons before following his heart back to BYU.

While his dream was to be the head coach at BYU, Crowton said that isn't his final goal. "Reaching the goal is doing well while I'm here," he said.

And he knows the expectations are high in what has become a tradition-rich program. Just outside his office door are national championship trophies, a Heisman Trophy, conference championship plaques and trophies, and bowl-game trophies.

"It's not just the fans who have high expectations," said the coach, who comes across with an air of quiet confidence. "It's everybody who's here. I have high expectations and our staff does and I think the players have high expectations. We're just going to focus in on our daily task. We've made goals. I expect setbacks. But I also expect to do well and I think that the players and coaches do too."

So now he is ready to take on the opportunities and challenges associated with BYU football.

"I think this is a wonderful university and that it doesn't have any more challenges than any other university. I just think that some of them are different. I believe that the character that this university portrays is a strength. People talk about the honor code, and sometimes you're going to lose a young man for making a mistake where you might not have at some other schools. But we have very few problems compared to other universities. The character of the young men here is very strong. They're smart and they're dependable."

Giving a quick thought to what he would consider a successful career as BYU's head football coach, Crowton said, "What I want to do is serve this job as a person who has integrity and be able to say I did the best I could, and do it in a way where I'm honest in my dealings with people. I think the rest will take care of itself. Hopefully, we'll win a lot of games. I expect to. But that's not always the tell-tale of whether you've been successful."

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