Early history BYU traces its football roots back to the late 19th century.
Benjamin Cluff became the third principal of Brigham Young Academy (the precursor to BYU) in 1892 (the school was converted into a university in 1903) and was influenced by his collegiate studies at the
University of Michigan to bring athletic competition to Brigham Young. The first BYU football team in 1896 played the
University of Utah (winning 12–4), the Elks, the Crescents, the
YMCA of Salt Lake City, the Wheel Club of Denver, and
Westminster College; and it ultimately won the championship. In its second year of competition, the BYA football team won the championship too, but as a result of an accidental football-related death in Utah in 1900, football was banned from all LDS Church schools until 1919. After a 20-year ban on football, the sport was brought back to BYU on an intramural basis in 1919, and intercollegiate games were resumed in 1920 under coach
Alvin Twitchell. BYU was admitted to the
Rocky Mountain Conference in 1921 and had its first winning year in 1929 under the helm of coach
G. Ott Romney, who BYU recruited from
Montana State University the year before. Romney and his successor
Eddie Kimball ushered in a new era in Cougar football in which the team went 65–51–12 between 1928 and 1942. In 1932, the Cougars posted an 8–1 record and outscored their opponents 188–50, which remains one of the school's finest seasons on record. The university did not field a team from 1943 to 1945 due to World War II, and in 1949 suffered its only winless season, going 0–11. The team began to rebuild in the mid-1950s, recruiting
University of Rhode Island head coach
Hal Kopp to lead the Cougars, who achieved back-to-back winning seasons in 1957 and 1958, led by southpaw quarterback Jared Stephens and nose tackle Gavin Anae. In 1961,
Eldon "The Phantom" Fortie became the school's first All-American, and in 1962, BYU moved to the
Western Athletic Conference. In 1964, Cougar Stadium was built, which included a capacity of 30,000, and in 1965, head coach
Tommy Hudspeth led the Cougars to their first conference championship with a record of 6–4.
LaVell Edwards era (1972–2000) In 1972, assistant coach
LaVell Edwards was promoted to head coach, succeeding Hudspeth. Edwards and his staff installed a drop-back passing game considered to be an early implementation of the
West Coast offense, resulting in Cougar
Pete Van Valkenburg as the nation's leading rusher for that year. The following year, the Cougars struggled to a 5–6 finish, but this would be Edwards' only losing season during his run as BYU coach over the next three decades. In fact, the Cougars won the conference championship every year except one from 1974 to 1985, including the national championship in 1984. However, the Cougars lost their first four bowl games. Their first post-season win came in the
1980 Holiday Bowl, which has become known as the "Miracle Bowl" since BYU was trailing
SMU 45–25 with four minutes left in the game and then came back to win. BYU would win its 1981, 1983, and 1984 bowl games as well; and it earned the nickname "
Quarterback U" for consistently producing All-American quarterbacks, which included
Gifford Nielsen,
Marc Wilson,
Jim McMahon and
Steve Young. During this period, Young finished second for the
Heisman Trophy in 1983 and McMahon finished third for the trophy in 1981. In
1984, BYU reached the pinnacle of college football when it was recognized as college football national champions, being the only unbeaten, untied team in the nation. The undefeated Cougars (12–0–0) opened the season with a 20–14 victory over
Pitt (3–7–1), ranked No. 3 in the nation at the time and finished the season with a victory over the
Michigan Wolverines (6–5–0). The victory over Michigan, 24–17 in the Holiday Bowl, marked the only time a national champion played in a
bowl game before New Year's Day, and the second-to-last time a national championship was determined by a team from a non-power 5 conference. Coupled with the 11 consecutive wins to close out the
1983 season, BYU concluded the 1984 championship on a 24-game winning streak. At the end of the season, BYU was voted National Champion after being number one in all four NCAA sanctioned polls
AP,
Coaches,
NFF, and
FWAA. In 1985, quarterback
Robbie Bosco finished third in the Heisman balloting; in
1986, defensive lineman
Jason Buck became the first BYU player ever to win the
Outland Trophy; and in 1989, offensive lineman
Mo Elewonibi also won the Outland Trophy. In
1990, the Cougars achieved their first victory over a top-ranked team when they defeated the No. 1
Miami Hurricanes early in the season, and the season culminated with quarterback
Ty Detmer becoming BYU's first and only
Heisman Trophy winner. In 1996, BYU won the first ever
WAC Championship Game in
Las Vegas and earned a bid to play in the
Cotton Bowl against
Kansas State of the newly formed
Big 12 Conference, making it BYU's first ever New Year's Day bowl game, which they won 19–15. BYU finished ranked No. 5 in both the Coaches and AP polls, and became the first team in NCAA history to win 14 games in a season.
Mountain West era (1999–2010) In 1999, BYU left the WAC along with seven other teams to form the
Mountain West Conference, with the Cougars winning a share of the inaugural MWC championship. With the change of conferences, BYU also debuted a new color scheme, featuring a darker shade of blue, a redesigned cougar logo, and the introduction of tan as an accent color. 1999 also featured the controversial "bib" home uniforms, which only lasted for one season. Just prior to the 2000 season, Edwards announced that it would be his final year as the program's head coach, and prior to Edwards' final home game,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Gordon B. Hinckley announced that Cougar Stadium would be renamed "
LaVell Edwards Stadium". After punter Aaron Edwards threw a last second touchdown pass on a fake punt, Coach Edwards was carried off the field following the season closer against the
Utes. in 2009 after No. 19
BYU beat No. 21
Utah 26–23 in overtime in
Corvallis, Oregon in a 2011 game against
Oregon State, which the
Cougars won 38–28. Former
Chicago Bears offensive coordinator
Gary Crowton was hired to replace Edwards. His
first season in 2001 was successful, earning a 12–2 record and running back
Luke Staley earning the
Doak Walker Award, but the Cougars posted losing records the following three seasons (including only nine conference wins)–BYU's first losing records in three decades. His teams also received negative publicity for infractions of the
university's honor code. He was forced to resign on December 1, 2004. BYU originally offered the job to Utah defensive coordinator
Kyle Whittingham, who had played for Edwards in the late 1970s. However, when Whittingham opted instead to become head coach at Utah, the Cougars instead offered the job to BYU defensive coordinator
Bronco Mendenhall, who accepted. Bronco Mendenhall brought stability and success to the BYU program after the Crowton years. At the time of his hiring, the 38-year-old Mendenhall was the second youngest Division 1 football head coach in the country. As the legendary LaVell Edwards told him shortly after being hired, "‘You have a tough job.’ Then there was a pause and silence,” says Mendenhall. “It wasn't very comforting to hear that. But then he just said, ‘But it's a great job.’” Mendenhall led BYU to a bowl game every season he was head coach and saw Top 25 finishes in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009.
Independent (2011–2022) On September 1, 2010, BYU announced it would begin competition as a
football independent starting in the 2011 season, primarily due to years of frustration with the lack of TV coverage in the Mountain West Conference and the University of Utah's departure for the Pac-12 Conference. That same day, BYU announced an 8-year contract with
ESPN in which 11 games would be broadcast on one of the ESPN networks and BYU would retain the rights to utilize its on-campus broadcasting facilities and
nationally syndicated station. The Cougars were reportedly considered for invitations by the Big XII Conference and former Big East Conference for all sports during this period, but neither opted to add BYU. In February 2011,
CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award-winner
Ben Cahoon joined the coaching staff as the wide receivers coach. In
2011, BYU changed quarterbacks mid-season from sophomore Jake Heaps to junior Riley Nelson, and in
2012 three different quarterbacks were utilized at different points in the season. During the 2012 offseason, graduated defensive end
Ziggy Ansah was drafted as the No. 5 overall pick of the
2013 NFL draft, tied for the highest draft BYU alumnus with
Jim McMahon '82. For the 2013 BYU football season, the Cougars were slated to compete against four pre-season-ranked teams. In January 2015, the
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), which had previously announced that from 2017 forward all members had to play at least one non-conference game each season against a "
Power 5" team (i.e., a school in the ACC,
Big Ten,
Big 12,
Pac-12, or
SEC, plus
Notre Dame, an FBS independent but otherwise an ACC member), announced that games against BYU would not count toward the "Power 5" requirement, a stipulation also held by the SEC. Weeks later, both leagues reversed course and opted to count games against BYU and the other remaining FBS independent at that time,
Army, toward meeting the P5 provision. In the case of the SEC, this change in policy was driven more by the trend of "Power 5" leagues requiring nine conference games. At the time of the report, the Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-12 either had nine-game conference schedules or were introducing them in the near future. The ACC has an eight-game schedule, but also has a scheduling alliance with Notre Dame that has five ACC members playing the Fighting Irish each season. Additionally, three SEC teams had a total of five games scheduled with BYU from 2015 to 2020. In July 2015, the Big Ten announced that games against BYU would count toward the conference's "Power 5" scheduling requirement that takes effect in 2016. In late 2015, the Big XII Conference added a Power Five non-conference scheduling requirement and stated that BYU would not count toward filling that mandate. On December 4, 2015, Mendenhall accepted the head coach position with
Virginia in the
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). His 99 wins in 11 seasons are second all-time in school history, behind only Edwards. BYU spent more than a week courting
Navy Midshipmen football head coach
Ken Niumatalolo to take over the Cougars program. After several days, which included a visit to Provo and public remarks about considering the job, Niumatalolo ultimately declined BYU's offer in order to remain with Navy. Athletics director Tom Holmoe moved on to several other potential candidates and on Dec. 19 introduced
Oregon State defensive coordinator and former Cougars fullback
Kalani Sitake as BYU's next head coach. At the time of his hiring, Kalani Sitake said, "I'm grateful for everything BYU gave me as a player. It's a dream come true for me to return home." While many have questioned whether independence long-term is sustainable, from a financial perspective it appeared to be so. BYU's ESPN contract was worth somewhere between $6–10 million annually, which was on par with what ACC teams received from a contract also negotiated around the same time. ESPN was happy enough with its contract with BYU that it exercised an option to extend the deal through the 2019 season. ESPN also helped BYU line up bowl deals, since as an independent, BYU was not part of any league bowl tie-ins. BYU's estimated $67 million in annual revenue placed it 55th in total revenue in 2018. That was comparable to the lower half of the Pac-12 and more than any Group of Five school, including every Mountain West institution. In fact, the highest earning Mountain West school, San Diego State, generated $30 million in revenue, with more than 46% of that subsidized by the state of California. The Group of Five school with the most revenue without a subsidy was the
University of Connecticut with $43 million, still nearly $20 million below BYU. As an independent, BYU was one of just a handful of schools in all of college athletics to generate a profit, enjoying five times the Group of Five average revenue ($13 million).
Big 12 (2023-present) On September 10, 2021, the Big 12 Conference announced they had invited BYU to join the conference, along with Cincinnati, UCF, and Houston. BYU accepted the invitation and began competing in the conference in the 2023 season. BYU struggled during its first season of Big 12 play in 2023, finishing 5–7 overall with a 2–7 conference record. The Cougars improved significantly in their second season of Big 12 play in 2024, finishing in a four-way tie for first in the conference with a 11–2 overall record (7–2 in conference). They ended the season with a 36–14 win over a ranked Colorado team in the
Alamo Bowl, and finished ranked 14th in the Coaches' poll and 13th in the AP poll. In 2025, BYU started the season 8-0 for the second year in a row (the first pair of consecutive starts of 8-0 or better in program history) and reached a peak AP rank of No. 8 before losing their first game to No. 9
Texas Tech. This would be BYU's only loss of the regular season, as they finished 11-1 and tied with Texas Tech for first place in the Big 12 standings. BYU qualified for the
Big 12 Championship Game against Texas Tech, making their first conference title appearance in the Big 12. The Cougars lost to the Red Raiders and were left out of the final
College Football Playoff field as a result, finishing at No. 12 in the playoff rankings. BYU was invited to play in the
Pop Tarts Bowl against No. 22
Georgia Tech. The Cougars won that game 25-21 and finished the season 12–2, completing their first 12-win season since 2001. During the offseason following the 2025 season, Kalani Sitake received an offer from
Penn State to become the Nittany Lions' new head coach. While there was initially mutual interest between Sitake and Penn State, he ultimately chose to remain at BYU and agreed to a long-term extension which included a substantial pay raise. On January 1, 2026, BYU defensive coordinator
Jay Hill announced that he had accepted the same position at
Michigan. Defensive backs coach Jernaro Gilford also accepted the same role at Michigan. On January 7, BYU announced the promotion of defensive ends coach and special teams coordinator
Kelly Poppinga to the position of defensive coordinator, and the hiring of Boise State defensive backs coach
Demario Warren for the same position at BYU. == Conference affiliations ==