Coach with years of Ben lomond High ties takes his story to BYU’s football team
Nick Howell
1003-45 Athletic Staff Portraits Howell, Nick 006 BYU secondary coach Nick Howell ? a former Ben Lomond High graduate and football coach ? will be on the sidelines as BYU hosts Weber State on Saturday in Provo. March 24, 2010 Photo by Kenny Crookston Copyright BYU PHOTO 2010 All Rights Reserved 801-422-7322 photo@byu.edu
PROVO — Given his family’s long history with Ben Lomond High School, Nick Howell seemed like the perfect fit when he was named the Scots’ head football coach in 2005.
After all, his father, Roger, was a former Ben Lomond coach and longtime athletics director, but after only two years at the helm of the Scots football program, Nick Howell set out to establish a history of his own.
When Weber State plays in-state foe BYU at 1 p.m. today at LaVell Edwards Stadium, Howell will be in blue as an assistant coach over the Cougars secondary and special teams as they face his hometown team.
Though Howell, 32, grew up in Ogden, has a degree from Weber State and counts Wildcats athletics director Jerry Bovee as a close family friend, his allegiance is to BYU, the school that gave him his break to become a college football coach.
“I wasn’t looking to leave Ben Lomond. I love Ben Lomond High School, I was passionate about it, we were doing some good things there and kind of had the thing started turning the corner, but the timing was right and the opportunity came,” Howell said.
“When you feel that it’s right in your heart to make a move, you follow it. Six years later, it’s awesome. It’s been a great experience.”
After serving as an intern for one year and grad assistant for two years, Howell was promoted when longtime BYU assistant Barry Lamb left the program.
“Luckily enough, the timing was right and I fell into the right spot,” Howell said.
He has been around the coaching business since he was a baby.
“I was in diapers at Ben Lomond. That’s all I remember. When I was in elementary school, I remember my mom dropping us off at football practice and jumping on the bags. At baseball practice, we’d bring bubble gum to the players and play catch with my brothers,” Howell said.
“Basketball games, I can remember sitting behind Kurt Miller, Eddie Green and coach (Evan) Excel. That thing used to be packed; great games, the Ogden-Ben Lomond games.
“That’s how I grew up. That was home.”
Howell can still rattle off the names of other Scots coaches he grew up around. He went to Snow College to play football, but his career was cut short when he was injured, so he followed his dad into the coaching profession.
He was an assistant at Sky View and Weber High before moving to Ben Lomond, but he hadn’t spent much time around college programs before being hired as an intern at BYU.
Howell remembers his three years as an intern and G.A. as fun, but they weren’t easy.
“It was a time in my wife (the former Brooke PoVey) and my life where things were hard. You don’t get paid a whole lot, but man, you were learning and growing and having all these experiences,” he said.
“It’s probably a time in my life where I grew as a coach, but our family grew a bunch together.”
There is another BYU-Ben Lomond connection.
Howell’s brother-in-law, Skye PoVey, was a Scots quarterback who is again under his charge as a BYU defensive back.
PoVey, who was at T.H. Bell Junior High when Nick and Brooke married and whose father coached Nick in football at Ben Lomond, has an injured foot and will not play against Weber State.
Nick and Brooke Howell have four children: Dakota, Kayla, Autumn and Zion.
Howell said he focuses on making every day game day, as BYU’s slogan goes now, whether it’s against his hometown school or anyone else.
“You only get 13 opportunities to play college football (in a season),” he said.
“Doesn’t matter if it’s Alabama, doesn’t matter if it’s the University of Utah, if it’s Weber State, if it’s Ben Lomond High School, you have 13 chances to play football.”
And 13 chances to add to a history of his own making.