Author: Jesse

In spite of swirling punditry parsing the subtleties of pesky inflation, interest rate adjustments and potential tariff-induced calamities, the overall U.S. economy is showing persistent good stead.

And the Utah economy is doing even better, outperforming the nation on a slew of metrics and functioning at a level that is the envy of most other states.

Interestingly, data gathered in new statewide polling conducted by Deseret News in partnership with the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics finds Utah voters are of two minds when it comes to their feelings about our local fiscal health versus that of the nation.

U.S. economy solid but Utah better

More, mostly positive U.S. economic news emerged Thursday with the June jobs report from the Labor Department showing U.S. employers added 147,000 positions in June, easily outperforming pre-report estimates of around 110,000 new jobs. The national unemployment rate also defied an expected uptick, instead dropping a tenth of a percent to 4.1% last month.

While the headline numbers reflect a robust U.S. labor market, last month’s job gains were overwhelmingly driven by two sectors — health care and government — and some economists registered concerns that the concentrated growth areas mask lagging performance across the broader employment spectrum.

“The U.S. job market continues to largely stand tall and sturdy, even as headwinds mount — but it may be a tent increasingly held up by fewer poles,” wrote Cory Stahle, economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, per a report from CNBC. “The headline job gains and surprising dip in unemployment are undoubtedly good news, but for job seekers outside of health care and social assistance, local government, and public education, the gains will likely ring hollow.”

Utah has plenty to be happy about at the moment when it comes to its own employment landscape, with the latest data from the Department of Workforce Services showing the state added nearly 43,000 jobs in May, a volume that pushes the state’s year-over-year jobs growth rate to 2.5%, more than doubling the national annual rate of 1.1%.

The Beehive State is also easily outpacing most of the nation when it comes to unemployment, with the Utah jobless rate at 3.2% in May, a full percentage point better than the U.S. average of 4.2% that month.

“Utah continues to experience strong job growth, particularly in the private sector,” said Ben Crabb, chief economist with the Utah Department of Workforce Services. “While the unemployment rate saw a slight increase, the state’s economy remains robust.”

Economic slowdown

Gross domestic product is a value measure of all the goods and services produced in a certain time period and a common metric for assessing overall economic vitality and direction.

The latest U.S. GDP reading for the first quarter of 2025 showed a marked slowdown with growth moving into negative territory for the first time in three years.

But the 0.5% contraction in the first three months of the year comes with an asterisk. U.S. import volumes soared earlier in the year as retailers and manufacturers stockpiled inventory and raw goods aiming to beat a raft of new trade tariffs instituted by President Donald Trump. The collective value of imported items is subtracted from the overall GDP measure.

As of July 3, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow tracker estimates second quarter GDP growth is on pace for a 2.6% growth rate. GDP growth in the 2% to 3% range is considered to be a normal or healthy rate of economic expansion.

And while the U.S. clocked solid 2.8% GDP growth in 2024, Utah blew past that national rate, and every other state in the country, with a 4.5% year-over-year GDP jump last year and broke the $300 billion mark for the first time with $301 billion in economic activity in 2024.

Utah is also holding down the No. 1 spot in cumulative GDP growth over the last 10 years with a 64% rate.

How voters feel about local, national economies

The new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found Utah voters, overall, are mostly bullish on the local economy but much less so when it comes to the state of the country’s fiscal health.

When asked, “Do you think Utah’s economy is on the right track or is it off on the wrong track?”, 52% of poll participants said the right track, 34% said the wrong track and 13% reported they didn’t know or weren’t sure.

When pollsters asked the same question about the American economy, 51% said they felt the country’s economy was on the wrong track, 38% said the right track and 11% of respondents weren’t sure or didn’t know.

Parsed by self-reported political affiliation, poll participants were deeply divided when it came to their relative takes on local and national economic performance.

On the national economy question, 56% of Republican respondents said they feel the U.S. is on the right track, while only 18% of Democrats agreed. About a third of Republicans, 32%, were among the group of Utah voters who feel the nation is on the wrong economic track as were 78% of Democratic respondents.

Utahn’s collective difference of opinion narrowed a bit on the Utah economic questions as 64% of Republicans said they believe the state is on the right economic track against 38% of Democrats. About 1 in 4 Republicans, 23%, reported they believe Utah is on the wrong track, economically while 46% of Democrats shared that sentiment.

HarrisX conducted the poll of 805 registered Utah voters May 16-21. It has margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

What an expert has to say

Phil Dean, Public Finance Senior Fellow for the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, reviewed the Deseret News survey findings and said the results match up well with other data insights.

“The results definitely make a lot of sense to me given what I see in the current local and national economic climates,” Dean said. “The Utah economy continues to outperform the U.S. economy. And while we tend to move the same direction, Utah is operating at a higher level across the board.”

Dean noted Utah’s job growth rate, unemployment rate and GDP growth are all easily outpacing the national average and said he sees the same trends when it comes to voter sentiment in survey work conducted by Gardner analysts.

“It’s a consistent theme that shows up in our surveys,” Dean said. “In our monthly consumer sentiment tracking, our residents’ feelings about the economy follow national trend lines in movement but are consistently higher than the rest of the country.”

Dean said it appears the collective consumer worries about tariff policy changes and potential impacts on inflationary pressures spiked earlier in the year but have settled back as inflation readings have, thus far, held steady.

Dean said Utah’s diverse economic portfolio continues to provide underlying strength and resilience when it comes to the state’s fiscal health and believes the national economy is fundamentally strong but risks remain at both the local and national levels.

Housing issues, he said, remain Utah’s biggest challenge, though it is somewhat blunted by the state’s high rate of home ownership.

“I really do think housing represents a major risk to Utah’s economy over the long term but it’s one that has maybe not fully manifested itself,” Dean said. “While the bulk of our workforce has been here and are not paying today’s housing prices, our influx of new residents could be facing bigger constraints down the road.”

Doreen Woolley has a party trick. If someone gives her a rhythm, or just a few notes to start her off, she can make up a melody at the piano on the spot.

When asked how she does it, Woolley says, “That’s just how my brain works.” But she also has plenty of experience at the piano to back her up — nearly 90 years of it, in fact.

At 97 years old, Woolley is still using her unique skills as a pianist at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City. For the last 22 years, Woolley has played in the lobby of the Randall L. Jones Theatre before the festival’s matinee and evening performances — without sheet music, and usually while looking up to greet people as they walk by, all without missing a beat.

“Because I can do what I do, I can interact with people while I’m playing,” she explained. “I’m not having to focus on what I’m playing.”

And that’s how Woolley likes it. Though her skill at the piano has made her a staple at the festival, she says she’s not there to “show off.” Instead, she wants to help festivalgoers feel “comfortable” and “happy” — and this year, as she plays before seven shows each week, she’s just as committed to that as she has been for the previous two decades that she’s played for the festival.

A resume of service and showmanship

When Woolley first started volunteering at the Utah Shakespeare Festival (which is on its 64th season this year) in 2001, it was not as a pianist, but as an usher.

That was also the year she moved to Cedar City, after living all across the country and the world — her husband, Galen Woolley, traveled for his work with the military, and the couple also spent years serving as leaders in missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France and Hong Kong.

Woolley herself taught seminary classes for the church (she was a barrier-breaker, she says, in women teaching seminary full time and getting paid a full-time salary for it) and she earned a Ph.D. in gifted education.

Once settled in Cedar City, though, Woolley became enmeshed in volunteering for the festival. By 2003, festival founder Fred Adams was looking for volunteer pianists to perform in the theater lobby, and Woolley auditioned for R. Scott Phillips, who later became executive director of the festival until 2016.

She played eight bars of “All I Ask of You,” from “The Phantom of the Opera,” and Phillips told her, “‘OK, that’s enough, you’re hired,’” Woolley said.

But her experience with the piano started long before then. Growing up in Sandy, Utah, Woolley began taking piano lessons when she was 8 years old, though the lessons only lasted four years. Her mother took a job cleaning laundry in order to afford it.

“I didn’t have any advantages,” she said. “We were poor.”

She continued studying music in high school, however, and she later attended the University of Utah. While at the university, she needed a part-time job to help her afford tuition, and a friend suggested that she work as an accompanist at what is now the Children’s Dance Theatre, part of the Tanner Dance Program.

Playing for the dance program was part of what helped Woolley develop her skill for improvisation.

“The idea was that Virginia (Tanner, who founded the program) would give me a rhythm,” Woolley said. “And then I just had to make up the music.”

And so, Woolley’s party trick was born. She also found that she was able to carry on conversations while she was playing.

“I finally concluded that I have a talking brain and a playing brain,” she said.

And that’s been a huge benefit to her during her time at the Shakespeare Festival.

‘Sometimes they’ll smile back’

Woolley has plenty of people, playgoers and festival volunteers alike, that stop to talk while she’s in the middle of playing in the lobby of the Randall L. Jones Theatre, whether it’s to compliment her playing, to request a favorite song or even just to say hi. And to her, that’s as much a part of the “job” as the music.

“I can interact with people as they’re coming by,” she said. “And sometimes they come by with really grumpy looks. So I try to smile at them and talk to them. Sometimes they’ll smile back. Sometimes they’re still pretty grumpy.”

She remembers one occasion when a visitor asked her to play “Edelweiss,” from “The Sound of Music.” The festival happened to be performing “The Sound of Music” that year, and because of that, Woolley had been asked not to play any of the songs from the musical during her pre-show performances.

The visitor was insistent, however, so Woolley agreed to play it — even starting the song over in a new key when the woman told her “my husband can’t sing in that key.”

As she began to play, the woman’s husband began to sing along — and soon, Woolley said, the entire lobby joined in.

There are certain visitors that Woolley has come to recognize, because they return to the festival year after year — and request the same songs from her year after year, too.

“I have one guy who always comes and he always, always asks for ‘Moonlight in Vermont,’” Woolley says. “He just walks up and says, ‘Moonlight in Vermont.’” And Woolley will play it.

Her connections with the playgoers, the festival’s Executive Managing Director Michael Bahr told the Deseret News, are part of what makes Woolley such an integral part of the festival.

“What she plays, it’s ‘Edelweiss’ with an impact,” Bahr said.

‘Dear Miss Pianist’

Woolley has been pleasantly surprised by her connection with one group of festivalgoers in particular: kids and teenagers.

Woolley has amassed a collection of handwritten notes and even drawings that listeners have left for her at the piano in the theater lobby over the years. Many of them, she says, are from kids. She receives too many to keep all of them, but she does hold on to some.

One note that she kept was addressed simply, “Dear Miss Pianist,” and was signed by two teenagers. The teenagers wrote that they were “exhausted” after attending the festival’s annual student Shakespeare Competition, but after listening to Woolley play, they felt “refilled.”

“That has been one of the most amazing things to me,” Woolley said of the response from young people. “The kind of thing that I play, that these kids are responding to. Because this is not their milieu. This is not what they’re used to hearing.”

Yet she says that high school students in particular are some of the most enthusiastic about singing along to her music. Though some people may have worries about the next generation, Woolley doesn’t share those concerns.

“They’re just fine,” she said.

Looking ahead, Woolley isn’t entirely sure what the future holds, joking that she’s already “failed retirement.” But she’s certainly made an impact on many as she’s played with the Shakespeare Festival for over a third of its 64-year history.

“For me, Doreen is emblematic, metaphoric, the epitome of what the festival represents,” Bahr said. “A volunteer who has loved the festival and what it has, and has brought a standard of excellence in music and connectivity with the patrons. The fact she can list all of those individual patrons who come in and say, ‘Play this for me,’ … I think that’s what the festival is.”

As for Woolley, she also feels the importance of the connections that she’s made with people over the years.

“I’ve long since learned that my job is to help people feel comfortable and be happy and have a really good experience here,” she says.

Utah jumped to second in a federal database of states’ total toxic chemical releases – a rise mostly attributable to the Bingham Canyon Mine, one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world.

The Rio Tinto-owned mine produces copper used in electric motors and power lines, tellurium for solar panels and, in smaller quantities, other precious metals like gold and silver.

As it does, the mine also releases millions of pounds of arsenic, lead, selenium, mercury and other toxic chemicals – including some that can damage the brain and nervous system, cause insomnia and cancer – every year, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxics Release Inventory, or TRI.

Many of those chemicals come to rest in massive tailings ponds to the north, and Kennecott gathers and disposes of the crystals left behind as the water evaporates.

Because the mine moves “millions of tons” of dirt and rock with naturally occurring trace levels of metals reportable to the federal government each year, the facility manages a massive amount of waste that it must report as part of the TRI program, according to a statement sent by Jane Putnam, spokesperson for Rio Tinto Kennecott.

But the mine is doing what it can to reduce releases of TRI-reportable chemicals and compounds, Putnam said, including a switch to renewable diesel and continuous monitoring of emissions.

Second only to Alaska’s zinc mining

Facilities in certain industries – typically linked to manufacturing, metal mining, electric power generation and hazardous waste treatment – must report how they’re handling certain chemicals. Those reports, according to the federal government, must include treatment and environmental releases.

The EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory tracks those chemical releases, showing what chemicals facilities use in communities, how those facilities manage waste – including through environmental releases – and whether quantities of chemicals and releases have changed over time.

Based on the most recent TRI report available, facilities in Utah released 284.97 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the environment in 2023.

That’s the second most of any state behind Alaska, meaning Utah leapt past Texas and Nevada in a year. It’s also 103.1 million pounds more than facilities in Utah reported in 2022.

More than 90% of the toxic chemicals released in Utah came from the Kennecott copper mine and smelter. The increase in releases at the mine was also more than the statewide increase, meaning it canceled out drops at other facilities.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Kennecott mined more ore, according to the EPA, but rather that it pulled from sources with less usable material.

The EPA said small changes in ore composition based on where a company is mining can result in “a huge fluctuation” and that this is a likely reason for the change, not an increase in production. Kennecott confirmed this.

It also doesn’t matter whether material leaves Kennecott property, the company’s statement added – any movement of material is considered a release.

Kennecott reported 260.9 million pounds of releases in 2023, compared to 151.6 million pounds in 2023.

The facility with the next-biggest releases both years was Clean Harbors, a hazardous waste company that reported 5.93 million pounds at one facility in 2023 and 2.74 million pounds at another.

The fact that a mining facility has the most toxic chemical releases isn’t unusual, as the EPA explains on a page about why the metal mining sector reports the largest quantities of toxic chemical releases. The federal agency credits that to handling lots of material and waste rock each year.

Nevada and Alaska also have high amounts of toxic chemical releases because of mining, though they’re primarily mining for gold and zinc, instead of copper.

The Beehive State also had the most pounds of toxic chemicals released per square mile in 2023. Utah was previously behind smaller states in 2022, which had reduced releases in 2023.

Protections and reductions

Though toxic chemicals can cause major damage to the environment and people, the U.S. has policies and programs in place to prevent that, experts have previously told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Part of that includes federal requirements like reporting releases of chemicals in the TRI, which facilities must complete for 2024 by July 1, 2025.

The EPA noted in its statement that some sectors – especially metal mining – aren’t well suited to pollution prevention.

“Metal mines typically don’t have many opportunities to implement pollution prevention, since changes in their releases are more dependent on ore composition than specific operations or input,” the federal agency said.

Rio Tinto is actively working to reduce releases of TRI-reportable chemicals at the mine and smelter, Putnam said.

Efforts include:

It’s not all that uncommon to focus on full-time studies while attending college. After all, many college students are often fresh out of high school and are still teenagers when their college studies begin.

Focusing on work and building a career isn’t exactly something these students need to prioritize, at least not for a few years. But unfortunately for Derek from Salt Lake City, his girlfriend is not one of these students.

Don’t miss

Derek recently called into The Ramsey Show to talk about his girlfriend, who’s 26 years old and has been in college for eight years completing her bachelor’s degree. Derek’s girlfriend has an interesting arrangement with her parents where they pay for her living expenses as long as she’s in school.

This, as you might imagine, has Derek very concerned.

When your partner refuses to grow up

Ramsey Show co-hosts George Kamel and Rachel Cruze told Derek he has every right to be concerned about his relationship, given his girlfriend’s apparent reluctance to get out into the real world and hold down a job.

Not only do the girlfriend’s parents pay all of her bills, they also have the same deal with her two older brothers, who are 29 and 31 years old and still in school. Derek recently learned that the brothers have never worked, which is what drove him to call in asking for help.

Derek’s been with his girlfriend for about a year and they’re starting to talk about marriage and finances, but he doesn’t have high hopes given her attitude toward working. When Kamel heard about the girlfriend’s arrangement with her parents, he was shocked.

“Hey parents, let this be your memo: don’t do this, ever,” he said. Meanwhile, Cruze asked Derek point blank, “does she feel like a winner to you?”

Derek had no choice but to admit to his worries — that his girlfriend will stay in school indefinitely so her parents can continue to cover her lifestyle, and that she won’t be willing to work once they’re married.

Derek, meanwhile, works full-time, has a stable job and is debt-free, so he’s presumably in a good place financially. He did ask his girlfriend to get a part-time job to see if she was willing to put in some effort, but it didn’t seem like she was.

“There’s no initiative at all in who she is,” said Cruze in response. “It’s not a lot of attractive qualities.”

Kamel, on the other hand, was still shocked by what he was hearing from Derek. “I don’t even know how you drag out a bachelor’s degree for eight years,” said Kamel.

In the end, both Kamel and Cruze told Derek to consider ending the relationship if his girlfriend refuses to grow up. “There’s a level of resilience you want in a partner,” said Cruze.

Derek said he’s willing to give his girlfriend one final opportunity to get a job. If she’s willing, the relationship may be salvageable. Otherwise, he’ll likely seek to end the relationship.

Read more: No millions? No problem. With as little as $10, here’s how you can access this $1B private real estate fund of diversified assets usually only available to major players

Financial incompatibility

A 2023 survey by Bread Financial found that 44% of coupled respondents wish they had more similar mindsets on financial matters as their partners. Meanwhile, a more recent Lending Tree survey found that 23% of people have ended a relationship due to being financially incompatible with their partners.

At its core, financial incompatibility is when you and your partner see money differently. It could be that one of you is a spender and one is a saver. Or, it could mean that you’re both spenders but have different priorities. For example, it may be that one of you values spending money on things, like nice cars, while the other values spending money on experiences, like vacations.

In Derek’s case, it’s clear that he believes in working for your money, whereas his girlfriend has no problem letting others pay for her lifestyle. With this in mind, it’s easy to see why this relationship likely won’t work out for Derek in the long run. He’s done a good job of covering his expenses and avoiding debt thus far. If he were to marry his girlfriend, who knows what sort of debt she might rack up.

She clearly feels entitled to have someone pay for her lifestyle, and that person could easily be Derek. Even if she doesn’t land both of them in debt, chances are Derek will feel resentful of having to fund her lifestyle when she’s completely capable of working.

All told, being in a relationship with someone you’re not financially compatible with could lead to disaster. Financial problems are the driver of 20-40% of all divorces, according to the Jimenez Law Firm. The Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts, meanwhile, cites money issues as the primary reason behind 22% of divorces.

For Derek’s relationship to be saved, he needs to have an honest conversation with his girlfriend and set some ground rules. For example, he could suggest that she hold down a job unless there’s a reason not to, like caring for children. If those rules don’t work for her, the two may be better off splitting up.

If you’re in a similar boat, it’s important to have an open discussion about how you view money, what your financial goals are, and what your expectations entail. It may be that your partner wants to work until you have children and then become a stay-at-home parent. That’s a very different thing from not wanting to work, period.

Talk to your partner and, if you think it’ll be helpful, consider getting a counselor involved who can serve as a neutral third party to get you two on the same page. But if you and your partner can’t find a way to see eye to eye on financial matters, you may be better off parting ways as amicably as possible before taking the plunge into marriage.

What to read next

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

Four months ago, Lawson Lovering played his final game at the Huntsman Center in a Utah Runnin’ Utes uniform.

On Saturday, Lovering returned to the Runnin’ Utes’ floor, this time in a Memphis Grizzlies uniform.

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Lovering suited up for the Grizzlies’ summer league team in their 92-80 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on the opening day of summer league action.

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Lesa Burgess had dozens and dozens of memorable experiences — some painfully heartbreaking and others delightfully humorous — as the wife of a professional basketball star playing overseas for 10 years and the mother of five children.

Her most unforgettable “adventure” came during her husband Chris Burgess’ seventh season abroad on the shores of the Black Sea in the town of Zonguldak, Eregli, Turkey. Lesa gave natural birth to the couple’s third child, Ava, in a makeshift hospital room that was so sketchy that nurses gave her a tetanus shot after the delivery as a precaution for using unsterilized equipment.

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At one time during the proceedings, after the unsympathetic Turkish doctor lectured her about her motherly duties and intimated that she would be a “terrible mother” if she didn’t breastfeed the infant, he stepped outside the delivery room to take a smoke break.

“It was such an intense experience, and I still remember it so vividly, so many parts of it, that it is still strong in my mind,” she told the Deseret News. “I love sharing that story, because it is so unique, and also because I gained a lot of strength through that experience. It was extremely challenging, but in the end it reminded me that I can do really hard things.”

A former standout high school and college soccer player who met the 6-foot-10 Chris Burgess when they were both student-athletes at the University of Utah, Lesa Burgess recently self-published a book about “being a devoted wife to a professional basketball player while living all over the world … while simultaneously striving to nurture a growing family of five children.”

The 245-page book, entitled “Behind the Bench: Memoir of a Basketball Wife,” can be purchased on this website she set up, or in paperback or Kindle form on Amazon. It is not yet available in bookstores, and may never be.

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From this writer’s viewpoint, it is a fun, interesting page-turner, at times breezy and laughter-inducing, at other times poignant, inspiring and deeply personal. It is chock-full of anecdotes and experiences from what was a Herculean task of raising five children in unfamiliar surroundings, while also providing insights into what makes one of the most significant figures in the never-ending Utah-BYU sports rivalry, Chris Burgess, tick.

The story of the former Duke and Utah player and Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College, Utah Valley, Utah and BYU assistant coach is well known and well documented. This is Lesa Burgess’ story to tell, and she tells it well.

“My wife Lesa wrote a book and it is incredible,” Chris Burgess wrote on X. “It is about life as a basketball wife, raising our five kids while traveling the world during my playing career overseas. Seven years in the making. Heartfelt, honest and full of stories you’ve never heard.”

Such as the one about giving birth in Turkey, or trying to travel with the beloved family dog, Jango, to foreign countries, or celebrating Christmas in Paris with gifts wrapped in old newspapers.

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Lesa said her original goal was to write down some of the experiences for her kids to enjoy, but one thing led to another, and after having plenty of people tell her she should write a book, she did.

“Selling copies was never my goal. I love that people buy it and read it. And I love when people let me know what they thought about it,” she said. “I am pretty sure that I probably spent more money on it than I will probably ever make. And that’s OK. I knew that going into it.”

Her husband’s last year playing overseas was in 2013, and he played for 18 different teams during that time, in locales such as Australia, South Korea, Dubai, Phillippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Ukraine and, of course, Turkey.

“It got to the point where I realized I was going to start forgetting a lot of the stuff. And it is so unique, and I want our kids to have these stories, because they had such a unique childhood — especially these older ones who experienced it for so many years of their childhood,” she said. “I have never considered myself a writer, but over time the thought of writing it became a little seed that was planted, knowing I would have this physical thing that I could give my kids, kind of like a keepsake they would have forever.”

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Lesa said she didn’t keep track of the time it took to produce the book, but at times “the project” seemed insurmountable. In the acknowledgements portion of the book, she credits God and the family’s membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as incredible helpers, as well as her parents, friend Jessica Whitehead, editor Kaitlin Dunford, book cover designer Shauna Howell and “my world and my home” — Chris Burgess.

And she can probably be forgiven for using the basketball term “forward” in the introduction, instead of the traditional “foreword” — whether it was intentional or not.

A balancing act — and total team effort

When the book first arrived, my wife took a look at the cover photo and asked me to ask Lesa if she was really standing on a basketball in high heels, or if it was photoshopped.

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“It is real,” Lesa said. “I really was standing on the basketball. The photographer (Nate Edwards) that works with the BYU basketball team, he took that photo.

“If you look closely, I have like a death grip on Chris’ arm.”

How involved was Chris, who joined new BYU coach Kevin Young last spring and was a big part of the Cougars’ run to the Sweet 16?

“There were times when I had Chris help me a lot,” she said. “I would just pick his brain on stuff, see if his memories of some things were the same as mine, and if it felt accurate to him. Because I really strived to be honest and open, but at the same time I wanted to depict the experience fairly.”

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Actually, seeking Chris’ input became one of the more enjoyable parts of the process, she said.

“So you are kind of like reliving those experiences together. And he will be like, ‘You forgot this, or that,’” Lesa said. “And we would have a good laugh. We have this really deep sense of the emotions that you felt during that time. They really seep back into you. … My favorite part of writing it was the back-and-forth I would have with Chris and re-feeling some of the emotions, even the hard emotions. Because it was just kind of special. It was like a missionary thinking back to their mission. It was a huge experience that changes your life forever. To kind of feel those emotions again as I was writing the book, that was my favorite part.”

‘Like a child at Christmas’

Lesa Burgess has experienced all the highs and lows of her husband’s playing and coaching experiences, as well as the joy that comes from giving birth to their five children. She’s generally an introvert, and doesn’t like to be in the spotlight.

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But she will never forget the feeling when the book finally arrived, and she could hold it in her hands.

“When I first got it, I was like a child at Christmas, to be honest. Like, I opened the box and it was so surreal,” she said. “I am not a cryer. I am not a super emotional person. But my eyes definitely welled with tears, because it was this thing that I never really totally knew if I could actually create. I didn’t know if I would ever actually get to the finish line.

“It is funny, because it felt so simple in my hands. I was like, ‘Man, all this work in this one little thing.’ It didn’t even feel that big,” she continued. “So that part was a little bit surreal. It seems like a simple, small little thing, but it was incredibly touching and meaningful for me to hold it in my hands, and be like, ‘Here it is. This is what I have been working on.’”

Is another book in the works?

Lesa has been a coach’s wife for more than 10 years now, which might make a good book in and of itself, but she has no plans to write another memoir at the present time. Since it was published, she has had several wives of international players reach out and thank her for sharing details on what might appear to be a glamorous lifestyle, but really is not.

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She also learned some things about how difficult it is to complete a book, while also raising five children — who are all involved in sports.

“There would be months where nothing would happen, and then I would have a big surge of working on it constantly,” she said. “A lot of times over the summer not a lot would get done on it, because you are so busy running the kids here and there and to camps and stuff, whatever.

“I couldn’t even tell you how many hours it took altogether, but it was a lot.”

She could also write about being a college athlete herself, and then becoming the mother of several college athletes who were featured prominently in the book, when they were just toddlers.

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The oldest, Kelli Jo (KJ), started her career at Utah but now plays volleyball for Oklahoma.

The second oldest, Zoey, transferred from Kansas to Arizona State and is entering her sophomore year at ASU.

Ava, famously born in Turkey, is entering her sophomore season at Lone Peak High and is also a volleyball star.

Beckham, who is going into the eighth grade, and Zach, who is going into the seventh grade, are following in their dad’s footsteps and love basketball.

The family dog, who was a fixture until a few years after Chris’ playing career ended, Jango, has moved on to dog heaven, replaced by Blue, the color of Chris’ favorite baseball team, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Blue or red? Lesa Burgess has also been on both sides of the rivalry

Chris Burgess has been asked hundreds of times about the BYU-Utah rivalry, having deep connections with both schools. He is asked about that almost as much as he’s asked how tall he is.

What about Lesa Burgess, a self-described “tomboy head to toe” growing up as Lesa Zollinger in the Cache Valley who was recruited to the Utah women’s soccer team and introduced to Chris by one of his teammates at Utah, Phil Cullen?

“We have love for both programs. We do have a lot of love for the Utah program, and for the people there and the relationships we made while we were there,” she said. “But at the same time, we also have a really deep love for BYU. We definitely feel at home at BYU, and we feel super blessed and grateful to be a part of BYU right now. … Chris is really enjoying his experience with the staff that is there, with Kevin (Young) and his family and they are so great.”

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Lesa said that their experiences overseas taught them that there are many, many more important things in life than school colors and allegiances.

“I do feel we have a slightly different perspective, just because Chris has played for so many teams and coached at several places. You kinda learn to respect them all,” she said. “We have a lot of respect for UVU and Indian Hills and the different places Chris has coached, and the relationships that you form.

“But obviously we are all-in on BYU. Our closets are full of blue (clothing), and we are all-in,” she continued. “So the rivalry, I understand it. I appreciate it. We will always have love for Utah. But you know, go Cougs.”

The Pac-12 has been remade.

The conference, once the jewel of college athletics in the West, was gutted by the defections of longstanding members (many of whom were founding members) beginning in 2022.

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For a time, it appeared the Pac-12 would disappear from the college football landscape, becoming nothing more than a memory.

As of Monday, though, the conference (which consisted of only Oregon State and Washington State) is alive having added — officially on July 1, 2026 — seven new schools, six of whom sponsor football.

Here’s the membership of the remade Pac-12:

• Boise State.

• Colorado State.

• Fresno State.

• Gonzaga (no football).

• Oregon State.

• San Diego State.

• Texas State.

• Utah State.

• Washington State.

Which of those schools boasts the best football program right now? Which program has the most potential for growth? Which program is likely to land at the bottom of the league?

It is time for some Pac-12 football power rankings, factoring in past performance, the current makeup of teams and the potential of the future.

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No. 1 — Boise State Broncos

• Head coach: Spencer Danielson

There shouldn’t be any question about which program is on top of the Pac-12. Boise State has been a juggernaut for awhile now. Yes, it has been at the Group of Five level.

Over the last 10 seasons, the Broncos have averaged nearly 9.5 wins every year. Boise State hasn’t finished a season with a losing record since 1997 and has won 10 or more games in six of the last 10 seasons.

The Broncos have done all of this with three different head coaches and Danielson has already made a case that he is the best of that group (which includes Bryan Harsin and Andy Avalos) after leading BSU to the College Football Playoff last season.

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That is all in the past, though. What about right now?

Well, Boise State is projected to win upwards of nine games this upcoming 2025 season, per ESPN’s FPI. The Broncos have also been given the best odds of any G5 team to make it into the CFP again.

Boise State is going to be without superstar running back Ashton Jeanty, now that he has taken his talents to the NFL, but the Broncos’ freshman class is far and away the highest rated group of newcomers in the Mountain West Conference, second highest rated among all G5 teams, per 247 Sports.

There is a lot of reason to believe that Boise State won’t take a step back without Jeanty, without even factoring in the history of the program.

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As for the future, well Danielson signed a five-year deal this past spring, keeping him in Boise for awhile. And the Broncos’ 2026 recruiting efforts are off to an impressive start, with 19 commits and the second-highest rated class in the G5 (behind USF).

Put everything together and until proven otherwise Boise State football should be considered the power in the Pac-12. The program that all other teams must overcome.

No. 2 — San Diego State Aztecs

• Head coach: Sean Lewis

This placement will surprise many and incense some. For good reason too.

San Diego State has not been a good football program for a couple of years now. The Aztecs won only three games last season, and only four games the year before that.

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Right now, San Diego State is not a good football program either, with ESPN’s FPI projecting the Aztecs to win under five games and finish as one of the four worst teams in the MW in 2025.

So how on earth can SDSU at No. 2 in the Pac-12 be justified?

It’s all about past performance and future prospects.

From 2015 to 2021, SDSU finished .500 or better every season. The Aztecs won 10 or more games in five of those seven seasons. Under Rocky Long, San Diego State was simply a Group of Five powerhouse, even if the Aztecs never were the best G5 team in any single season.

When it came to landing talent, SDSU was routinely top 3 in the MW in recruiting, with only Boise State being the other consistent recruiting power in the league.

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Things fell apart under Brady Hoke. There is no other way to put it. And yet, the program kept recruiting at a high level, even during the worst stretches of the Hoke era.

Now, with Lewis leading the way, SDSU has a coach who previously won at one of the worst jobs in America (Kent State), coaches one of the more electric offensive attacks in all of college football and is still bringing in talent at a level only trailing Boise State.

All signs point to SDSU turning things around under Lewis and quickly, at which point SDSU could be the gem of the Pac-12, with its enviable location in Southern California.

No. 3 — Washington State Cougars

• Head coach: Jimmy Rogers

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For years under Mike Leach, Washington State punched above its weight class.

The Cougars were regularly out-monied and out-recruited by the majority of the programs in the Pac-12, and yet WSU still managed to win eight or more games in four consecutive years from 2015 through 2018 and made five bowl games in a five year span from 2015 through 2019.

The Nick Rolovich era was marred by the pandemic and then Jake Dickert took over and did an admirable job, getting the Cougars to a bowl game in three of four seasons.

That Washington State had as much success as it did while in the former version of the Pac-12 is notable. And a major reason for this placement. WSU has found ways — time and again — to be successful when going up against much better programs. In the remade Pac-12, the Cougars are on much more even footing with the competition.

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For 2025, there is reason to expect a step back by the Cougars, though.

Dickert is gone, replaced by Jimmy Rogers. For the fourth time in six years, Washington State has a new head coach. Making that transition more difficult — starting quarterback John Mateer is gone, now at Oklahoma. ESPN’s FPI gives WSU only a 40% chance to win six games and make it to a bowl game this season.

A large reason for that is the Cougars are going to be very inexperienced. The 2025 signing class was massive and included 36 freshmen and 34 transfers, per 247 Sports. All of which is to say, WSU is largely a mystery entering the 2025 season.

When it comes to future prospects, well that is somewhat muddied for Washington State.

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Rogers is an unknown at the FBS level. He could end up being a star as a head coach (his two years as head coach at South Dakota State were impressive) or the Cougars could be moving on in three years.

Current recruiting trends have WSU among the better recruiting programs in the Pac-12, but not the best. Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State and Frenso State all have higher rated classes in 2026.

There is a real argument that Washington State will be surpassed by other teams in the conference in the long run. Programs with more potential for growth. For now, though, the Cougars deserve to be considered near the top of the league. In a lot of ways, the program is still a Power 5 program, but will be competing against G5 teams.

No. 4 — Oregon State Beavers

• Head coach: Trent Bray

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The second former P5 school in the remade Pac-12, Oregon State is an interesting program.

The Beavers have won big at times. Recently too. Ten wins under Jonathan Smith in 2022 being the most notable. And yet, the program is really tough to read.

The Beavers were regularly at the bottom of the Pac-12 in its previous version. They were often competitive, but only made a bowl game in three of the last 10 years.

Mike Riley was the head coach for a long time, during which the Beavers were a good program, particularly when it was the Pac-10.

The Gary Andersen era was a disaster. And Smith did about as well as could’ve been hoped for.

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Bray didn’t have a great debut season last year, with OSU finishing the year 5-7. And while ESPN’s FPI projects that the Beavers will go bowling (they are given nearly a 70% chance at six wins) there isn’t a lot of optimism that they will be more than an average team.

When it comes to recruiting, OSU has kind of ebbed and flowed. The Beavers have occasionally recruited in the top half of the Pac-12 (better than any of the incoming MW schools) but more often than not Oregon State was among the poorest recruiting programs in the league.

Like Washington State, Oregon State is still in a lot of ways a Power 5 team. The program’s 2025 signing class was the second-highest rated among all Pac-12 teams, per 247 Sports.

Oregon State is struggling, for now, with its 2026 class, though.

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If you wanted to slot OSU further down the rankings that would be fair. There has been little consistent greatness in Corvallis over the years and Bray hasn’t proven yet that he can do what Smith or Riley did before him.

For now, though, OSU gets the benefit of the doubt here. There’s too much talent left in the program to consider the Beavers anything but a program in the top half of the league. And the Oregon State brand should carry weight going forward, if only for a limited time.

No. 5 — Texas State Bobcats

• Head coach: G.J. Kinne

And you thought you were angry before.

The newest addition to the Pac-12 is the least proven historically. Texas State has only been an FBS program since 2012. And for the first 10 years of that, the Bobcats topped out at seven wins in a single season. Over the last decade, TXST has been the worst program in the Sun Belt Conference when it comes to wins and losses.

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But things have changed dramatically for the Bobcats the last two seasons.

Under G.J. Kinne — one of the preeminent up-and-coming coaches in college football — TXST has taken a leap. The Bobcats have won eight games each of the last two seasons and won the bowl games they played in.

All of a sudden, Texas State looks like a good program. ESPN’s FPI projects the Bobcats to go bowling again this year and has TXST on the same level as programs like James Madison, South Alabama and Georgia Southern, all of whom are slotted just behind Sun Belt favorite Louisiana.

What’s more, money has poured into the program, nearly $149 million for facilities and athletic infrastructure upgrades, plus an expected $50 million more expected to be invested in athletics, of which the football program will likely be the primary recipient.

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Located between Austin and San Antonio, Texas State is in one of the most talent rich regions in the entire country, only now the Bobcats have Pac-12 membership to sell to recruits and games against Boise State, Washington State, Oregon State and others.

If you want to have Texas State further down the rankings because of a lack of proof that the team can compete against top level G5 programs, that’s completely fair. But the Sun Belt is a better conference than many give it credit for and Texas State had started to hold its own in the league.

There is still a lot TXST has to do to live up to this projection. Recruiting has to pick up — right now, the Bobcats’ 2026 class is woefully off the pace set by Boise State, San Diego State and others, per 247 Sports. But much like San Diego State, it won’t be a surprise if in a few years Texas State has taken a position near the top of the Pac-12. There is just too much potential to be down on the Bobcats.

No. 6 — Utah State Aggies

• Head coach: Bronco Mendenhall

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Right now, Utah State isn’t a particularly good football program.

The Aggies won just four games last season, are on their third head coach in two calendar years and haven’t finished a season with a winning record since 2021.

ESPN’s FPI projects Utah State to struggle again in 2025 too, with the Aggies expected to win less than five games.

All that being said, Utah State has proven — over the last decade — to be a good G5 program.

Since 2015, the Aggies have gone bowling in seven out of the last 10 seasons. During that same span, USU won 11 games twice and claimed the MW championship once.

The Aggies have done all that while having four different head coaches — Matt Wells, Gary Andersen, Blake Anderson and Nate Dreiling.

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Based on that alone, you can argue that USU deserves to be where it is in the rankings. USU may not consistently produce great teams but it does produce great teams regularly.

Bu when you add in Bronco Mendenhall, who has seen considerable success in his coaching career at BYU and Virginia, and the calculus improves all the more for USU.

Mendenhall is a proven program builder who is extremely familiar with the state of Utah, which just so happens to be one of the most talent dense states in the America. Per capita, the state of Utah produces NFL talent at or near the same level as Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, North Carolina and Washington D.C. Which is to say, Utah is in the top 10 nationally.

Add it altogether and there is a lot of reason for optimism about Utah State and the future. Already, the Aggies are recruiting at a higher level than they traditionally have. USU’s 2025 signing class was the third-highest rated class in the MW.

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It feels like more a matter of when, not if, Mendenhall will have Utah State competing at the top of the Pac-12. Maybe not on a yearly basis — that is the mountain for Aggie football to overcome — but often enough to garner USU real respect in the league.

No. 7 — Fresno State Bulldogs

• Head coach: Matt Entz

This might be the one that angers most of all.

Fresno State has, over the last decade, been a great G5 program.

Since 2016, the Bulldogs have won nine or more games five times and have won 10 or more games four times. They’ve won the Mountain West title and they’ve won with different head coaches (Kalen DeBoer and Jeff Tedford).

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Based in California, Fresno State has recruited fairly well too, almost always in the top 5 among MW programs.

What’s more, Matt Entz was an incredible FBS head coach at North Dakota State, with a 60–11 record that includes a 15–3 mark in the playoff and two national titles.

So why on earth is Fresno State second to last in the Pac-12 power rankings?

The biggest reason is lack of track record beyond DeBoer and Tedford. Those two coaches — who had either been successful at the Power 5 level or have since gone on to be highly successful — were nothing short of stars in the coaching industry. When Fresno State has won its because it has had the better coach.

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Prior to Tedford and DeBoear, Fresno State was a much less consistent program. Similar in form to USU in a lot of ways, Fresno State would win big on occasion, but also collapsed under Tim DeRuyter.

Entz may be a superstar in the coaching industry, in which case this placement will be seen as a joke. But if he’s not, Fresno State hasn’t proven capable of weathering less-than-great head coaches.

ESPN’s FPI currently has FSU projected to win between six or seven games next season, in the same tier as CSU and San Jose State in the MW. If the Bulldogs better that, well they could quickly vault into the top 3 in the conference power rankings. But if Entz isn’t the guy, the Bulldogs could quickly become a regular at the bottom of the league.

Also — Fresno State has been reported to having some money troubles, with the Fresno Bee reporting that “severe budget cuts,“ would likely cut into the financial support provided to the athletics department. Where many Pac-12 program are investing heavily, Fresno State is falling behind.

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No. 8 — Colorado State Rams

• Head coach: Jay Norvell

On paper, it seems like Colorado State should be a perennial power. And the Rams have had moments where they’ve looked the part. Well maybe just a moment recently, in 2014 when they won 10 games under Jim McElwain.

Otherwise, CSU has been mostly a middle-of-the-road, forgettable football program.

Over the last decade, the Rams have topped out with eight wins, which happened last season. CSU has had a winning season in just four of the last 10 years.

Under Mike Bobo and Steve Addazio, Colorado State was just a program. Nothing more. Indistinguishable from many that remain in the MW.

Things have changed, albeit slowly, under Jay Norvell.

Norvell won big at Nevada (which means four seasons with a winning record), before moving over to Colorado State. In three years, the Rams’ program has steadily improved under Norvell, going from three wins to five to eight last season.

There is reason to believe that Norvell is building a good program in Ft. Collins. CSU is recruiting well enough, in the top half of the MW in each of the last three years. It wouldn’t be a shock to see the Rams contend for the MW title this season and ESPN’s FPI projects CSU will between six and seven games, trailing only Fresno State, UNLV and Boise State.

And yet, it is hard to believe in a program that hasn’t proven much yet.

Even last year, when the Rams finished with the third best record in the MW, it took a miracle fourth quarter rally at home for CSU to take down a bad USU team. What’s more, Colorado State didn’t play the best the conference had to offer last year, with 6-7 Fresno State being the best in-conference opponent (the Rams lost that game).

Norvell may well turn Colorado State into a good program, but until he does the Rams don’t really deserve the benefit of the doubt like a few of the teams above them.

Pac-12 the most balanced league in the sport?

Realistically, these rankings could be shuffled significantly. After Boise State, nearly any of the other seven teams could be argued in a different order.

• Really believe in Entz and Fresno State? Completely fair.

• Think Washington State and Oregon State are much further ahead of the competition because of their time in a Power conference? Absolutely justifiable.

• Genuinely trust what Norvell is building in Ft. Collins? Move Colorado State up.

• Consider Texas State woefully in-prepared to compete in the Pac-12? That makes sense.

• Trust in Mendenhall’s track record? Feel free to slot Utah State higher.

The reality of the remade Pac-12 is there should be a lot of parity. There are a lot of programs that are very similar to each other. Programs who’ve shown they can win, frequently at a very high level, only now they won’t have the easy wins that some of their soon to be former MW partners provided.

Even Boise State isn’t untouchable. There are good programs in the Pac-12. Programs that have proven capable of beating the Broncos.

There is a lot of talk about how the Big 12 is the most balanced league in CFB and how unpredictable the league is as a result. Starting in 2026, though, the Pac-12 might take that crown.