On September 13, 2016, after a heartbreaking 20:19 loss to rival Utah at Rice Eccles Stadium, his career coaching record leveled to 1-1, BYU first-year coach Kalani Sitake told fans that he was on this for the long term.
“I want to be the Polynesian LaVell Edwards,” Sitake said on his radio show that evening.
Tuesday’s two-year contract renewal that will see Sitake through the 2025 season shows that the coach, starting his sixth season in Provo, is well on the way to doing so.
“I am simply grateful for the trust that the administration has in our team and our boys. I’m just grateful that we have more time together, ”said Sitake in his coaching show on Tuesday evening, just minutes after the long rumored news was officially published. “I don’t want it to be a distraction. I just want to focus on the season and this game this weekend. But it feels good to have the players’ trust in our program. “
“I am simply grateful for the trust that the administration has in our team and our boys. I’m just grateful that we have more time together. I don’t want it to be a distraction. I just want to focus on the season and this game this weekend. But it feels good to have the players’ trust in our program. ”- BYU soccer coach Kalani Sitake
Last but not least, the overtime is a nice little reward for Sitake after leading the Cougars to an 11-1 record and # 11 in the national rankings in 2020, their best season in decades. He is now 38-26 as the BYU head coach.
What it really does is signal that the BYU administrators are firmly behind Sitake’s leadership of the program through the pandemic and support its initiatives like the Built4Life program to respond to the NCAA’s NIL rule changes.
It also sends a message to future recruits, current missionaries, and even the players in the program, as there is now a sense of stability in the entire program.
Surely Sitake isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. He will be the face of the program through 2025, when he will have trained in Provo for 10 seasons.
“I don’t want to make any predictions other than that we’re just going to try to represent well,” he said. “I want our players to focus on what they can represent – their families and the mission (Latter-day Saints of Jesus Christ) and the university. I think they’ll do a great job. “
That must be music to the ears of the BYU Board of Trustees – a coach who emphasizes the importance of representing the sponsoring institution.
“I’ve been with great disciples of Christ and that has made my life so much better,” said Sitake. “I get together with wonderful fans. So for me I just want to just hang around selfishly and keep improving. “
The most recent extension, Sitake’s second since he replaced Bronco Mendenhall after the 2015 season when Mendenhall went to Virginia, was received with “total joy” by his players, according to defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki.
“This is great news,” said Tuiaki on Tuesday evening. “The boys cheered when they heard it. Obviously, they love him as the head coach. We love him as a coach and Cougar Nation loves him too. It means a lot to him that we have had him for so long. The administration believes in him and the direction the program is going. We are really happy about that. “
BYU football had the second lowest number of players entering the transfer portal last year, according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly. Sitake has made the “player experience” a priority in the program, as evidenced recently when he was instrumental in getting Built Brands LLC to pay the equivalent of an annual fee to every walk-on on the team.
“It’s great,” said former walk-on Payton Wilgar, a startlinebacker. “Kalani is a great guy, a great coach. He deserved every little bit of it. I’m happy for him and his family. “
More security Malik Moore: “He loves his team. I can’t speak for him, but I don’t think he’d be anywhere better than coaching us at BYU. So I know it’s a big time for him. Whatever success or accomplishments he has, I will put down roots for him. Because he did the same for me. “
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