Bring Back The "Kittens"

Lots of fans want a return of the "Good Ole Days".



As I see other teams seemingly have an endless stream of QBs, RBs, WRs, FBs, and TEs as backups ready to step up at a moments notice - and given that the current coaching staff has been reticent since at least 2009, to put in the back-up QB, run the system, throw the ball, even at the risk of running up the score a bit - I recalled something from those "Glory Years" that has gone away.



BYU used to have essentially a farm system. They had nicknames like "The Kittens", "Baby Cougars", etc. It was basically a JV team that played real games. IIRC, they played 6 or 8 games vs teams like Ricks College, Snow College, Dixie College, College of Eastern Utah, etc. Junior College level of play. They kept a sharp, nasty edge. They gained experience.



IDK if this went away because of Title IX, budget, NCAA Rules, JC opponents nearby becoming 4-year colleges, or some other reason.



I think this loss hurt the program.



Anybody else remember this and why it became extinct?



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In the post-Title IX world, it was just too expensive (lost revenue) to maintain. Additionally, since the players were "competing" against other schools, it was lost eligibility, so you couldn't have guys you wanted to redshirt suit up and play Panguitch High School with the JV teams.



Crowton gave it a go for a year, and then dumped it. Bronco tried doing intra-scout team scrimmages on Thursday nights for a while, but it started wearing on team unity a bit and there were some injuries, so it never came back.



I think any "development pipeline" BYU had in the glory days was more a function of Ricks and Snow College than any JV teams.

snoscythe wrote:
In the post-Title IX world, it was just too expensive (lost revenue) to maintain. Additionally, since the players were "competing" against other schools, it was lost eligibility, so you couldn't have guys you wanted to redshirt suit up and play Panguitch High School with the JV teams.



Crowton gave it a go for a year, and then dumped it. Bronco tried doing intra-scout team scrimmages on Thursday nights for a while, but it started wearing on team unity a bit and there were some injuries, so it never came back.



I think any "development pipeline" BYU had in the glory days was more a function of Ricks and Snow College than any JV teams.

They had all of that - Kittens, Ricks, Snow, even Dixie, and BY High. BY High was a small private school in Provo - loaded with rich kids, BYU Coach and Faculty off-spring and such. Though small - athletically competitive. It folded when I was a junior at Provo High School and most of the students moved over with us. I suspect that Dave Atkinson was one of the very first Provo High School fruits off that tree. Had more of a monopoly on the Kahuku and La'ie kids back then too.



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