BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe almost had some explaining to do when he turned in his travel expenses last month.
At his annual Education Week address on the state of BYU athletics Wednesday, Holmoe, 64, told an overflow audience in a Kimball Tower auditorium that he was in the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport the afternoon of Aug. 8 when BYU alum Kenneth Rooks won a silver medal in the steeplechase at the Summer Olympics.
“The only place where there was a TV was in a bar,” Holmoe recounted, as a few audience members gasped, and others laughed loudly.
“When he won (silver), I went crazy, bought everybody drinks,” Holmoe continued, as the laughter grew louder. Then he quickly added, “Noooo, not really.”
As he always does when he faces a room full of BYU boosters and supporters, Holmoe entertained, educated, enlightened and also encouraged audience members to continue to be lifters and admirers of the department and the 631 student-athletes he has overseen since 2005.
Read more about Holmoe’s annual report on BYU athletics.