Jim McMahon not being in the Brigham Young Hall of Fame would seem to be like Howard Stern not being in the radio hall of fame. The former Bear might not have enhanced the image of the institution, but he unquestionably achieved greatness.

McMahon was the best quarterback and player in the history of Brigham Young, and the case could be made he was the best quarterback in the history of college football. He set 71 NCAA Division I records, including his career passer rating of 156.9. In his two full seasons as a starter, he quarterbacked the Cougars to bowl victories and was voted All-American.

McMahon's father, Jim McMahon Sr., is campaigning for his son's alma mater to induct him into its hall of fame. McMahon didn't endear himself to the school leaders when he was a student (he has admitted to breaking his promises to abide by Mormon rules).

Nor has he since.

In the 1986 book "McMahon!," the rebel quarterback gave a figurative flip off to his former school.

"I don't imagine they're too thrilled back at BYU to call me an alum," he wrote. "They probably don't mind all the publicity they got while I was there, or all the tickets they sold, but the fact that I wasn't a model citizen didn't excite them."

He also wrote that "happiness was Provo in the rearview mirror."

McMahon Sr. thinks the university is turning its back on his son because McMahon failed to measure up to Mormon standards, and he torched a few bridges after his departure. If this were the case, the university would be mixing its missions. A hall of fame — any hall of fame — should be about untainted achievement and not citizenship.

That's one of the things I like about being a voter for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Every decision is based completely on contributions to the game. If a player had off-the-field issues, those issues are not supposed to be part of our judgment on whether he deserves to be inducted.

If the people who set the rules for any hall or those who vote on the inductees are trying to judge character, they are attempting the impossible. That judgment is best left to a higher power. And I'm not talking about the university president.

McMahon, however, isn't even eligible for the Brigham Young hall because he did not graduate and the hall only inducts athletes who have graduated.

In a letter published in the Salt Lake Tribune, McMahon's father wrote that "about 60 percent of the people in your hall" did not graduate. BYU's associate athletic director in charge of communications, Duff Tittle, has been one of the hall of fame committee members for the last 10 years. He said over that time the hall has inducted no individual who has not graduated.

Duff said the committee discusses the graduation requirement yearly.

"But we always come to the same conclusion that if we are really about educating and creating well-rounded student athletes, it doesn't make sense not to have graduation as a part of it," Tittle said.

McMahon Sr. seems to think the graduation rule is aimed at keeping his son out of the hall. He wrote that it is known secretly as "the Jim McMahon rule." But Tittle said there were about a dozen former BYU athletes like McMahon who would be slam-dunk hall of fame candidates if they had sheepskins. Among the former football players are Kurt Gouveia, Leon White and former Outland Trophy winners Jason Buck and Moe Elewonibi.

McMahon's BYU teammate Vai Sikahema was inducted into the school's hall in 2002_two months after he earned his diploma 17 years after he left the campus for an NFL career.

There is nothing preventing McMahon from returning to Brigham Young or any other school to complete his studies. His father wrote that McMahon was nine credits short of graduating when he was suspended from Brigham Young shortly after he played his final college game.

"If he got his degree they would have the graduation and the hall of fame induction on the same day," Sikahema said. "It isn't a true hall of fame if Jim isn't in it. In my opinion he is the greatest athlete who ever suited up at any sport at Brigham Young. He and (coach) Lavell Edwards put BYU on the map."

Unless McMahon were to go back to school, there really is no debate. We can debate the wisdom of the graduation rule, but not the fact McMahon is ineligible for induction because of it.

Now if the Bears had a hall of fame, there would be no debate. Or would there be?