BYU head coach Kalani Sitake has unique connections to Arizona

PROVO, Utah — BYU head coach Kalani Sitake is connected to Arizona in many ways.

Sitake's first college coaching gig — shortly after his playing career at BYU and brief stint with the Cincinnati Bengals — was at Eastern Arizona College in Thatcher, where he coached special teams and defensive backs in 2001. 

Sitake became a graduate assistant at BYU and was an offensive assistant for two seasons at Southern Utah, before coaching nearly a decade at Utah and a season at Oregon State, where he met Arizona head coach Brent Brennan in 2015.  

“Kalani has been one of my favorite people in this profession,” Brennan said. “I have a lot of respect for him. When he came over to the staff in Corvallis, I was one of the only guys that was a holdover coach, because I was retained by Coach (Gary) Andersen. He asked me where to live, so he moved into our neighborhood. They lived, I don’t know, five houses away.

“Our kids ran around the neighborhood together, which was so fun. All of our kids have grown up now. In 10 years, a lot changes. It was a really fun time, spending time with his incredible family. His wife, Timberly, is amazing.

“Our kids would run into the house at midnight and eat all the ice cream out of our fridge. Then they would run over to Kalani’s (house) and find out what kind of junk food they had on their shelf. We just had a lot of fun together. I think fondly of those times and it’s been fun to compete against him the last few years.”

During his weekly news conference in Provo, Sitake said, “Brennan is a good friend of mine and we know each other really well.”

“We talk often and we hang out throughout the year at different events and things like that,” Sitake said. “There's a lot of guys on the staff that I know and are great friends of mine.” 

One of those coaches is Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales, who called Sitake “an unbelievable football coach.” Over 20 years ago, Gonzales met Sitake at a golf tournament held for only college football assistant coaches.  

“I think he's a phenomenal football coach, he's a phenomenal person, he's fun to hang out with and he's fun to play golf with,” Gonzales said. “I'll whoop his tail in golf, but he's fun to play golf with. I've known him for 23 or 24 years. I'm excited as hell to go play this game up in Provo and watch our kids compete.”

Sitake's first game — and win — as head coach of BYU was against the Wildcats at University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium) in Glendale to kick off the 2016 season. In 2018 and '21, Sitake spoiled the UA coaching debuts of Kevin Sumlin and Jedd Fisch — the latter being at Allegiant Stadium, the first game with fans at the Las Vegas Raiders stadium post-Covid. 

Since taking over BYU, Sitake has an 85-45 record in a decade of coaching the Cougars. The Sitake era almost came to a halt in December, when Sitake was a finalist for the head coaching vacancy at Penn State.

Sitake signed a long-term extension to remain head coach of the Cougars, but his contract was restructured in the offseason, according to multiple reports in August. Sitake no longer reports to BYU's athletic director Brian Santiago. BYU vice president Keith Vorkink will handle football operations, while Santiago oversees the remaining programs. 

Sound familiar? 

Arizona restructured the contract of men's basketball coach Tommy Lloyd, who was being targeted by North Carolina, immediately after the Wildcats' first Final Four appearance in 25 years. UA president Suresh Garimella holds exclusive authority over Lloyd's performance evaluations, compensation and NIL/roster budgets instead of Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois. 

The head coaches of the two most popular programs on campus don't report to the school's athletic directors. 

Whether it's uniquely structured contracts, personal relationships with the UA coaches, memorable games against the Wildcats or coaching roots in Graham County, Sitake is forever connected to the state of Arizona.