1972 BYU Cougars football team
The 1972 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University (BYU) for the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. It was their first year under head coach LaVell Edwards and the Cougars finished over .500 for the first time since 1969. Preseason. Defensive coordinator LaVell Edwards was promoted to head coach in January to take over for the departed Tommy Hudspeth, who ended up as the head coach at UTEP by season's end. BYU was returning 28 players from the previous year but Golden Richards would not be one of them. Richards claimed it  was because the Cougars were still a run-oriented offense while BYU and Edwards said it was because Richards had trouble keeping with his academics. Awards. All-WAC: Dave Atkinson, Dan Hansen, Paul Howard, Paul Linford, Ron Tree, Pete Van Valkenburg WAC Coach of the Year: LaVell Edwards