Utah athletic director Mark Harlan speaks during the Utah Utes Hall of Fame 2023 Ceremony in Salt Lake City on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. | Hunter Dyke
Editor’s note: First of a two-part conversation with Utah athletic director Mark Harlan.
In one of his first interviews since his postgame comments following the BYU-Utah football game, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan addressed his actions the night of Nov. 9 at Rice-Eccles Stadium, including his apologies to BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe, BYU football coach Kalani Sitake and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark.
Harlan made headlines following Utah’s 22-21 loss to then-No. 9 BYU after going onto the field postgame to confront the referees, then heading to the postgame media pulpit.
Much of the controversy stemmed from the game’s ending and a timeout call and defensive holding call that extended the Cougars’ final drive that ultimately led to a game-winning field goal.
Replays — especially fan-shot videos on social media (ESPN had just one replay of the called hold from a zoomed-out angle) would confirm that the referees made the right call on the defensive holding sequence, but in the heat of the moment, Harlan stepped into the press conference room and delivered a 30-second soundbite that became the latest chapter in the storied rivalry.
“I’ve been an athletic director for 12 years. This game was absolutely stolen from us,” Harlan said. “We were excited about being in the Big 12, but tonight, I am not. We won this game. Someone else stole it from us. Very disappointed. I will talk to the (Big 12 Conference) commissioner. This was not fair to our team. I’m disgusted by the professionalism of the officiating crew tonight.”
The next day, the Big 12 publicly reprimanded Harlan and fined him $40,000.
Two months later, Harlan reflected on his actions that…
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