Dr. Matthew Bowman, the Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University discussed his new book, Game Changers: AJ Dybantsa, BYU, and the Struggle for the Soul of Basketball, which he co-authored with BYU alum Wayne LeCheminant. Their fascinating conversation peeled back the historical layers of basketball, revealing that the sport was intentionally designed to promote religious virtue/
Invention of a “Christian” Sport
While many fans know that James Naismith invented basketball using peach baskets in Springfield, Massachusetts, few realize that Naismith explicitly designed basketball to produce “Christian gentlemen”.
Naismith was a frustrated minister working at a YMCA training school during the dead of winter. His students were bored with indoor calisthenics, but it was too cold for outdoor sports. To keep them active, Naismith created basketball, drawing heavily on the popular 19th-century concept of “muscular Christianity,” which taught that developing a healthy body was just as important as developing a healthy soul.
Unlike other popular sports of the era, Naismith structured basketball around self-sacrifice and fellowship. He believed baseball was too individualistic, focused largely on the isolated duel between pitcher and batter. By contrast, basketball was designed as a game of unending cooperation. The earliest rules only allowed passing or shooting—no dribbling—forcing players to subordinate their individual egos for the good of the team.
Civilized Alternative to Football
In the 1890s and early 1900s, football was wildly popular but incredibly violent. Without modern helmets or pads, the sport was literally killing dozens of players each season. In 1905 alone, 18 football players died, leading multiple states to consider banning the sport entirely.
Because of this brutality, the board of trustees at Brigham Young Academy (now BYU) voted to ban football in 1901. Basketball was championed as the perfect, civilized alternative. It allowed for vigorous physical activity without the deadly consequences, aligning perfectly with the moral framework desired by religious leaders.
LDS Church Has Basketball Court
As the LDS Church looked to expand out of Utah and into urban centers across the country, basketball offered a logistical advantage. While baseball required large outdoor fields, a basketball court could easily be placed inside a church building right in the middle of a city.
During the presidency of Joseph F. Smith, the Church built the massive Deseret Gym in Salt Lake City (where the Conference Center stands today), featuring multiple basketball courts. By the 1920s, the Church formally recommended that wards build “recreation halls” or “amusement halls” under the same roof as their worship spaces.
The primary goal of these courts was to attract the youth. Church leaders believed that by offering basketball, they could bring young men off the streets and into the Church building. Because young men were priesthood holders necessary for the formation of new wards, keeping them engaged in wholesome, cooperative activities was seen as crucial to the church’s growth.
To hear the full interview and learn more about how modern money is reshaping BYU’s basketball legacy, check out the full episode on Gospel Tangents!
What’s Next?
Basketball’s role in the Church evolved deeply throughout the 20th century, leading to massive All-Church tournaments and a prominent NCAA footprint at BYU. However, the landscape of college basketball is shifting. Today, athletes like BYU’s AJ Dybantsa are navigating an era of millions of dollars in NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) money and “one-and-done” draft prospects—developments that past leaders like Ernest Wilkinson would likely have hated.
The Golden Era of the All-Church Tournament
Before March Madness dominated the spring, the All-Church basketball tournament was a massive cultural phenomenon. Flourishing after World War II, the tournament featured thousands of teams from wards all over the globe, with regional champions flying into Salt Lake City to compete in the finals at the Deseret Gymnasium. The tournament was so prestigious that Marion D. Hanks actually quit the University of Utah basketball team just to play in the All-Church tournament. The competition was incredibly fierce—wealthy members would even offer jobs and build houses to lure talented players to move into their wards to stack their local team roster.
Hoops Diplomacy: Missionaries Take the Court
Long before the controversial “baseball baptisms” of the 1960s, LDS missionaries were using basketball as a grassroots tool for international diplomacy. As Americans who had grown up playing the sport, missionaries arriving in places like Europe, Argentina, and Australia were often vastly superior to local club teams. Using the Protestant language of “muscular Christianity,” missionaries challenged local YMCA and national teams, using the games to break down anti-Mormon prejudices and build bridges. Sometimes, they were so good they ended up coaching or playing for national teams. Missionary Ralph Larson, for instance, stayed in Argentina and became a celebrity playing for the Argentine national team.
The Battle for BYU’s Soul: Watts vs. Wilkinson
As college basketball grew into a lucrative business, a massive ideological battle took place at BYU. On one side was university president Ernest Wilkinson, who fiercely believed in the pure amateur ideal. Wilkinson believed sports were strictly for the personal edification of current students; he despised the idea of athletic scholarships, recruiting players who didn’t fit the university’s academic mission, or bringing in non-LDS ringers.
On the other side was legendary BYU basketball coach Stan Watts, who wanted to modernize the program and compete at the highest level. Watts pushed for scholarships, brought the fast break to BYU, and led the team to an NIT championship at Madison Square Garden. This massive victory brought immense publicity and booster money to the school, eventually paving the way for the massive Marriott Center to be built.
The Original AJ Dybantsa: Kresimir Cosic
Ultimately, Stan Watts’ vision for a modern, competitive basketball program won out over Wilkinson’s strict amateurism, culminating in the arrival of Kresimir Cosic. Arguably the greatest player in BYU history, Cosic was an incredibly gifted 6’11” forward from Yugoslavia who played with the ball-handling skills of a modern guard.
Cosic was not LDS and didn’t even know BYU was a religious school when he decided to come. He met a Finnish BYU player at a European tournament, defected during a game in Italy, hopped in a cab, and flew to New York, calling Coach Watts from the airport to announce his arrival. Cosic was so talented he was drafted into the NBA twice, but turned it down to return to his home country. He eventually embraced the LDS faith enthusiastically, forever changing the trajectory of BYU’s basketball program and proving that international, non-LDS talent could thrive in Provo.
AJ Dybantsa and just declared for the NBA draft. We discuss why AJ Dybantsa picked BYU. He’s likely top NBA prospect, and he is reportedly earning millions to play in Provo. Dr. Matthew Bowman, author of Game Changers, dives into the modern reality of college sports and its collision with BYU’s historical values. We explore the massive shifts brought about by NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals and how BYU continues to rely on its unique religious culture to recruit top talent.
NIL Revolution and the End of the “Student-Athlete”
For decades, the NCAA heavily enforced strict amateurism rules—sometimes to absurd lengths, such as penalizing a player for putting cream cheese on a bagel provided by a coach, or suspending players if a fan took them out to dinner. However, recent lawsuits, spearheaded by former players like Ed O’Bannon, have completely dismantled this restrictive system. Today, athletes can legally profit from their likeness and sign massive endorsement deals. Through BYU’s NIL collective “The Royal Blue,” as well as sponsorships like Crumbl Cookies, AJ Dybantsa is set to make around $5 million to play at BYU.
More Than Just a Paycheck
While the massive payday is undeniable, Dybantsa’s family stated they requested the exact same monetary offer from all the schools recruiting him—including heavyweights like Kansas and Arkansas—so that his final decision wouldn’t strictly be about the highest bidder. Ultimately, Dybantsa chose BYU because of its strong emphasis on family and its supportive environment. His parents, Ace and Chelsea, actually toured the campus first and were highly impressed by what they saw.
This family-centric appeal isn’t just for players. Head coach Kevin Young left a highly promising NBA career trajectory to coach at BYU, specifically because the university environment offered a better work-life balance for his family, including not having to work on Sundays.
Navigating Race and Religion on Campus
Let’s look at the complicated history of race in BYU athletics. During the Ernest Wilkinson era in the 1960s and 70s, the school faced federal investigations and intense protests—such as the Wyoming 14 incident—over its virtually all-white teams and the church’s racial priesthood ban. It wasn’t until the last decade that BYU fielded its first all-black starting five in basketball.
Today, recruiting has shifted in fascinating ways. While BYU has historically struggled to recruit Black athletes due to the cultural difficulties of the Honor Code, the university is increasingly finding success by recruiting religious non-LDS players. Many Muslim athletes, for instance, find the Honor Code’s strict ban on alcohol perfectly aligned with their own faith. Dybantsa, whose parents have Catholic roots from the Congo and Jamaica, similarly found BYU’s faith-based environment appealing. Other religious players, like Eastern Orthodox athletes, have also explicitly praised the school for supporting their strong personal faith.
The Struggle for BYU’s Soul
As BYU competes in the Big 12, it faces a philosophical crossroads. Some Ivy League schools chose to stop chasing athletic scholarship money, allowing their sports programs to recede into purely amateur, educational endeavors. But BYU has taken a different path. The university is now grappling with the tension between its original religious mission and the modern reality of operating what critics call “professional teams with schools attached.”
Are big money sports compatible with BYU and the Church’s mission?
Wheat & Tares 
This article was so discouraging. Not surprising in any way, unfortunately. It’s good that BYU can be seen as supporting the values of athletes from other religions. But on the whole…
The focus is on money and fame. With a side emphasis on the importance of men.
I can’t really speak to whether big money sports is compatible with BYU’s mission. I didn’t read much in this article that is compatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Fascinating conversation. “Church Basketball” is a significant aspect of the 20th century LDS church. Not only did the basketball movement encourage the addition of “gyms” in LDS chapels but the gym space / “cultural hall” has allowed a great variety of activities to take place at LDS churches that otherwise would not have been possible.
American Football and American Basketball are the two huge money making sports for American universities. BYU has had success – recent success – in both sports. This is rather remarkable given how much the landscape of college sports has changed the last 50 years. In fact, the change of college sports to becoming “professional” has allowed BYU to elevate its athletic program maybe more than any other university. Twenty-five years ago I don’t think BYU fans would have thought this could happen.
As mentioned in the conversation, in the early 2000s, Coach Crowton made a push to expand recruitment of “better athletes” to BYU football. A major honor code scandal followed and this likely contributed to Crowton’s firing. What is impressive with the “New BYU Formula” is the school seems to be able to recruit top athletes who support BYU’s honor code. The BYU culture is actually a draw to top athletes. The professional leagues want disciplined athletes and the moral code at BYU is a positive in this regard. And preparing top players for the NBA has become a selling point for BYU basketball.
So it is fascinating to consider how the church / BYU has benefitted from the professionalization of college sports. At the same time, the church has lessened its support of amateur sports – I suspect the number of stakes that support organized church basketball is much lower than it was 25 years ago. Church basketball is still played but not with a coordinated schedule of teams and tournaments. I think this mainly reflects the decrease in youth in church units and changing social preferences. I will not be surprised if the next generation of church buildings don’t have a basketball court.
Between the ages of 12 and 32, I probably spent nearly as much time in church buildings playing basketball than attending religious services. (And I went to church every week!) If we’d had 2 hour church back then, I’d be confident that the balance would have tipped to basketball. Eventually I had to move on to things that didn’t hurt so much.
Universities and coaches pocketing millions of dollars from athletes play, while those athletes received scholarships and penalties for accepting a free lunch was never a just system. Perhaps far enough in the past there wasn’t any significant lucre for any party involved, but that hasn’t been the case for decades. At the same time, universities are now sponsoring professional sports teams with players that don’t seem to even be students anymore, have 5, 6 or 7 years of eligibility, and switch teams every off season for a bigger payday. That system also sucks. But it makes money for people, and does fund other sports that don’t generate profit.
I went to a BYU basketball game this year and while watching I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the players had any real connection or affinity for BYU. Most of the players were in what I expected to be their only year with the team. I think it has become debatable the extent to which players represent the schools anymore.
BYU has been trying to be compatible with big money sports for decades, and it’s been a mixed bag of athletic success combined with honor code problems. There is a case to be made that it would be better for the university to focus on other aspects of the university experience, but it’s all clearly very popular with enough of the students, alumni, and some of the general authorities who have final say over these decisions that I guess we’re going to continue to pursue this path. The only real change we’re seeing right now is that some of the big money can now go to players and not just coaches and absurdly nice facilities. Every time there are honor code problems with non-Mormon athletes, it raises questions about whether this is a good idea, now with more dollars attached than before. For those reasons, I was a little skeptical of the recruitment of Dybantsa initially, but he seems to have genuinely had a positive experience and came because he wanted that environment. So the question is, how many more of him are out there? Can BYU develop itself into a destination for a particular type of athlete who wants to choose a particular type of environment? I think that’s their best path forward, but it’s unclear whether there are enough top recruits who find that appealing to achieve the level of success that the deep pocketed alumni who are funding this are hoping for. Are they ready to accept that there might be limits?
There exists a real tension between paying athletes and how BYU frames its mission and identity.
BYU’s mission supposedly emphasizes spiritual development, character building, and education grounded in the values of Mormonism. Athletics are officially supposed to support—not overshadow—that purpose.
During the basketball season, a Texas client emailed me pointing out the hypocrisy of an institution supposedly worshiping the teachings of Jesus Christ paying exorbitant sums in the name of winning. I did not disagree with his findings. What is even more hypocritical is how BYU and the Church attempt to rationalize this practice.
BYU likes to think of itself as different. But it’s not that different when it comes to sports: alums bankrolling big expensive players who hardly relate to the school at all. Just there for the money and to move to the NBA / NFL. I’m not knocking it. Just saying BYU is not as unique as it thinks it is anymore
My comment that was complimentary of Rick and the conversation about the church and basketball has gathered 4 down votes and zero up votes. Are people offended that I opined that future LDS church designs may eliminate the basketball court? Please share your point of disagreement!
Why the thumbs down to “A Disciple”?
You seem to be cheering on the BYU athletics program. That’s probably why you get thumbs down. I’m guessing most of those commenting at Wheat and Tares don’t agree with the Church and BYU’s idea that prowess on the court and field equals commitment to Jesus.
For me the money given to the school from donors and whatever amount invested from the Church could do a whole lot more on education, tuition subsidies and other chruch related activities, humanitarian and community support.
The hypocrisy of asking non-member athletes to reflect the standards of BYU is most often a failure. If not seen from the crowds, it is definitely seen by the other schools athletes and coaches. My son, a few years back, was an equipment manager for a Utah university football program that plays BYU regularly. He says that BYU players have a special kind of foul language and nasty attitude that goes beyond any other university team they had in their schedule. The hoped for missionary effort is failing there.
James,
I am complimenting the BYU athletic program for what appears to have been a very successful effort. In each of the past two seasons BYU basketball recruited two very highly touted non-members to play for the team. Igor Deming was a top-10 draft pick last year and AJ is expected to be a #1 NBA pick.
Both players and family have been supportive of BYU! AJ especially has been everything good BYU officials could imagine for the school and basketball program. This success is remarkable given how competitive athletic recruiting is. Somehow BYU succeeded. Not just in recruiting top players but having those players represent well the university.
BYUs involvement in big money college sports could someday backfire. The church leadership could decide that the money and the entanglement with professional sports is a distraction. These are valid possibilities. Other comments discuss these concerns and I agree with them.
Somewhere in this consideration of the Cougars and their school’s church some mention of the extinct Vikings and Seasiders seems relevant.
John, I did mentions the Ricks Vikings in part 4, coming out later today (along with a wild rumor about UVU football.) I didn’t know the Seasiders were extinct.