BYU football coaching staff: Mike Empey reportedly returning to Cougars as offensive line coach

A former BYU Cougar -- both player and coach -- is reportedly returning to Provo as Ben Criddle and ESPN 960 are reporting the hire of Mike Empey as offensive line coach.

Per @criddler21 Mike Empey has been hired to be BYU's OL Coach. Was on Crowton's staff as the TE coach.

— ESPN960Sports (@espn960sports) January 8, 2016

Yes it is true, @CoachEmpey is coming home! "Bring Him Home" https://t.co/xEqIOev8nf

— Benjamin Criddle (@criddler21) January 8, 2016

Empey coached the BYU offensive line and tight ends from 2000 to 2004, coaching the final year under LaVell Edwards and for all four seasons of Gary Crowton's tenure.

Riley Jensen, co-founder of Mountain West Elite, reported a "hunch" about the move about 30 minutes prior.

Hunch is that @CoachEmpey gets the job for OL at #BYU. At the athletic dept. all day. Too much smoke, has to be true. #goodhire #bookit

— Riley Jensen (@RileyJensen) January 8, 2016

RELATED: BYU football coaching staff tracker

Empey played at BYU in 1987 and from 1991 to 1993, blocking for Ty Detmer in games against Florida State, UCLA and Penn State in 1991. He was a first-team All-WAC player in 1993.

Prior to coaching at BYU, Empey was the head coach at Snow College in 1998 and 1999 after two seasons coaching tight ends at UNLV. He also had two years of graduate assistant work under his belt at BYU.

Empey appears to have been relatively quiet since not being retained with the coaching change of 2005, with indications that he worked as a personal trainer of some kind outside of his day job. He also helped coach his son -- James Empey, a Utah signee -- in some capacity at American Fork High School.

Since 2004, Mike has been working in one of the most competitive sales environments in the US. He has sold and managed sales teams for

— Benjamin Criddle (@criddler21) January 8, 2016

Styrker Orthopedics. If you have Stryker on your resume, you will forever have job security in the sales field.

— Benjamin Criddle (@criddler21) January 8, 2016