Why is Brigham Young University named after a polygamist?

According to Jon Krakauer's book Under the Banner of Heaven, when Joseph Smith was martyred in Nauvoo, Illinois, in June 1844, two groups of potential leaders of the church emerged: those who embraced polygamy, and those who denounced it. Brigham Young was among those who embraced it, yet the "mainstream" Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which outrightly condemns polygamy, named its only major institution of higher education after a him––a polygamist. I'm no expert, but was there really something to BY that even the non-fundamentalist LDS church found admirable?