KALANI SITAKE | BYU FOOTBALL HEAD COACH
Kalani Sitake (kah-lah-nee see-tah-kay) is entering his 11th season overseeing the BYU football program in 2026. BYU Director of Athletics Brian Santiago announced on Dec. 2, 2025, that the university and Sitake agreed to a new long-term contract extension leading the BYU football program.
In his 26th overall season as a coach, Sitake leads the program he once played for under legendary Hall of Fame coach LaVell Edwards. A former Cougar running back (1994, 1997-2000), Sitake is the 14th head coach in BYU history and just the fourth since 1972, when Edwards took over the program. Sitake is the first former player under Edwards to be named head coach at BYU.
The 2025 Big 12 Coach of the Year and national Buddy Teevens Award recipient, Sitake has guided BYU to double-digit victory seasons in four of the past six seasons since 2020 while achieving a 57-20 (.740) record, which in that span is tied for No. 7 nationally in wins and tied for No. 8 in winning percentage.
Overall, Sitake has posted an 84-45 (.651) overall record during his prior 10 seasons in Provo, while leading the program from the ranks of FBS independents during his first seven years to competing for conference titles as a member of the Big 12 Conference over the past three seasons.
Since joining the Big 12 in 2023, Sitake has led BYU to a combined 28-11 overall record (.718) and a 17-10 (.630) league ledger, capped by the best overall run among Big 12 teams the past two seasons. After a 5-7 season in BYU's inaugural Big 12 campaign when the Cougars dropped their final four games, including close setbacks to top league contenders Oklahoma and Oklahoma State the final two weeks, Sitake's teams adjusted to go 23-4 overall and 15-3 in league games to tie atop the Big 12 standings in each of the 2024 and 2025 seasons. After missing out on the title game in 2024 due to four-way tiebreakers at 7-2, the Cougars earned a spot in the Big 12 Championship in 2025 with an 8-1 league mark in a tie with No. 4-ranked Texas Tech before falling to the Red Raiders for the second time on the season. After bowl wins both seasons, BYU finished 11-2 and ranked No. 13 in 2024 and 12-2 and ranked No. 11 in 2025.
On the doorstep of College Football Playoff berths the past two seasons before earning bowl victories each year over ranked teams, BYU's 23-4 (.852) two-year resume boasts a winning percentage topped by only Indiana, Oregon, Ohio State and Notre Dame in that span. Finishing 2025 at No. 11 in the AP Top 25, the Cougars received their highest final AP ranking since also being ranked No. 11 following an 11-1 season in 2020.
BYU’s strength of record in 2025 according to the ESPN College Football Power Index was No. 8 nationally and tops in the Big 12, built by 10 wins against Power 4 teams and seven victories over teams with a winning record, including five victories over teams with nine or more wins. Only the national champion Indiana (10), and CFP semifinalist Oregon (8) had more wins over teams with a winning record. No other team in the Big 12 Conference had more than four wins against teams with a winning record, including Texas Tech, with two of the Red Raiders’ four coming against the Cougars. Only Indiana (9) beat more nine-win teams than BYU in 2025.
Sitake's Cougars ranked No. 10 in overall efficiency in 2025 among the ESPN Power Index, with BYU’s offense and defense ranked No. 17 and 14, respectively. The 2025 squad was one of 12 Power 4 teams with a scoring offense and scoring defense both ranked in the top 35 (Offense No. 32: 31.4 PPG, Defense No. 19: 19.1 PPG). BYU was one of eight FBS teams that had a 3,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard rusher and two receivers with 800 yards apiece (Ole Miss, North Texas, Duke, Texas State, Indiana, Tennessee, Ohio State and BYU).
While leading BYU to the 12 win mark for just the fifth time in school history and first time since 2001 (2025, 2001, 1996, 1984, 1980), Sitake was named the Big 12 Chuck Neinas Coach of the Year and won the Buddy Teevens Award, a national honor awarded to coaches who have been innovators in growing and improving the game of college football. He was a George Munger Coach of the Year semifinalist while also earning recognition on the Dodd Trophy Watch and Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year watch lists.
True freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier was the only true freshman to lead a program to 12 wins in 2025 and the only true freshman with more than 3,500 yards of total offense. His 11 rushing touchdowns set a BYU record for rushing scores by a quarterback. Junior running back LJ Martin’s rushing 1,305 yards were the seventh-most in school history for a single season and ranked No. 11 nationally, while his 100.38 yards per game ranked No. 12 and his 120.0 all-purpose yards per game ranked No. 13. Martin was honored as the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and Bachmeier was named Offensive Freshman of the Year.
In all, BYU had 20 players on offense, defense and special teams earn various Big 12 honors in 2025, including senior safety Tanner Wall, senior linebacker Jack Kelly and junior center Bruce Mitchell earning first-team honors, while sophomore safety Faletau Satuala emerged as a star, leading the team with 84 total tackles en route to earning second-team All-America from the FWAA and junior cornerback Evan Johnson was one of 22 players with five or more interceptions and tied for the most in the Big 12. Safety Tanner Wall excelled on the field and off the field, earning first-team All-Big 12 honors and was named to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team and a first-team Academic All-American. Kicker Will Ferrin made 23 field goals, the most in the Big 12 conference and tied for No. 8 nationally. His 118 points scored was the most in the league and No. 10 in the country.
Sitake teams are producing results that rank among the best ever in the storied history of BYU football. The past two-year run with 23 wins in 2024-25 has only been bested by LaVell Edwards in 1983-84 (24 wins) and 84-85 (24 wins), a stretch when the Cougars won the 1984 national championship.
In 2025, BYU's five wins against teams with nine wins or more set a new program best, while the seven wins against teams with winning records is the second-most in school history (1980, 8). BYU's FBS opponents in 2025 had a record of 102-64 for a winning percentage of .614. Ten wins against Power 4 opponents set a new record at BYU, topping 2024's nine victories. Sitake's .597 (37-25) win percentage against the FBS Power 4 (previously Power 5) is the best among any BYU head football coach.
The 2025 Cougar offense averaged 31.4 points per game, with the defense allowing just 19.1 points. Since 1996, BYU has only had a scoring offense top 30 points per game and a defense allow under 20 points per game six times (2025, 2024, 2020, 2007, 2006, 1996). with three of them coming under Sitake, including back-to-back seasons in 2024 and 2025. The 30/20 combo has happened just 14 times in 101 seasons of BYU football. BYU had a 3,000-yard passer and 1,000-yard rusher for just the ninth time in school history. Adding two 800-yard receivers to a 3,000-yard passer and 1,000-yard rusher happened for just the third time ever.
BYU finished the year with a 25-21 Pop-Tarts Bowl victory over No. 22 Georgia Tech to achieve back-to-back bowl victories over top-25 teams and improve Sitake's bowl record to 6-2. BYU's win in the Pop-Tarts Bowl attracted a viewership rating of 8.7 million to set a new modern-era BYU record for TV viewers, topping the 8.0 million that watched BYU's Alamo Bowl win over nationally ranked Colorado in 2024.
In 2024, the American Football Coaches Association named Sitake its Region 4 Coach of the Year and a finalist for AFCA National Coach of the Year. He was also a semifinallist for the prestigious George Munger Award from the Maxwell Football Club given to the nation's top coach. He was named to the Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year Award Watchlist and the Dodd Trophy Midseason Watch List.
The Cougars finished the year ranked No. 13 in the nation after earned a 36-14 victory over No. 23 Colorado in the Valero Alamo Bowl in front of what was then the most-watched game in the modern era of BYU football with 8 million viewers on ABC—the most-watched bowl game outside of the College Football Playoff in the 2024 season. A capacity crowd of 64,261 also watched the game in person—the second-highest for a Valero Alamo Bowl that did not include a Texas team (other was Oklahoma State and Ohio State in 2004) and the highest attended bowl game outside of the CFP in 2024.
Overall, Sitake has been part of 16 bowl games during his coaching career. He as been on the winning side 13 times, including a 6-2 mark as a head coach at BYU.
Before joining the Big 12 during his tenure in independence, Sitake helped the Cougars achieve notable wins over Arkansas, Baylor, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Tennessee, USC, Utah, Arizona, Arizona State, Washington State and Boise State, among others. He has also championed BYU’s Built4Life career development and NIL program. Built4Life is designed to support BYU student-athletes in developing critical life skills, facilitating professional development opportunities and connecting classroom learning directly to relevant employment opportunities.
Named BYU’s head coach on December 19, 2015, Sitake returned to his alma mater from Oregon State, where he served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator in 2015 under head coach Gary Andersen. Sitake took the helm at BYU after 15 years in the college coaching profession, which included seven seasons serving as a defensive coordinator and four years as an assistant head coach.
Prior to Oregon State, Sitake spent 10 seasons at the University of Utah under head coach Kyle Whittingham, also a former Cougar. Sitake started at Utah in 2005 as the linebackers coach and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2009 before also being named assistant head coach in 2012. While at Utah, Sitake coached several Pac-12 and Mountain West Conference honorees, including Morris Trophy winners Star Lotulelei (2011) and Nate Orchard (2014).
During his career, Sitake has helped mentor 33 NFL Draft picks, including 13 Cougars since taking over the program. Last year’s draft saw left tackle Kingsley Suamataia selected by the Kansas City Chiefs. In 2023, three Cougars drafted included Blake Freeland (4th round), Jaren Hall (5th round) and Puka Nacua (5th round). Nacua earned All-Pro status while finishing as the Offensive Rookie of the Year runner-up after a record-breaking first season in the league. In 2022, RB Tyler Allgeier went to the Atlanta Falcons, where he set a Falcon’s rushing record for a rookie with a 1,000-yard season. Allgeier followed the footsteps of other recent Cougar draft picks under Sitake, such as No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson and offensive tackle Brady Christensen among five players drafted in the 2021, linebackers Sione Takitaki and Fred Warner in 2019 and 2018 and running back Jamaal Williams in 2017. Among their many accomplishments, Williams, BYU’s all-time rushing leader, also rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 2022 while leading the NFL in rushing touchdowns, while Warner again earned All-Pro honors being widely regarded as one of the top linebackers in the NFL.
Sitake began his coaching career in 2001 as the defensive backs and special teams coach at Eastern Arizona before becoming a defensive graduate assistant at BYU in 2002 under Gary Crowton. Sitake then joined the staff at Southern Utah where he coached running backs, tight ends and offensive line during the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
He began his BYU playing career in 1994 prior to serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Oakland, California. After returning and redshirting in 1997, Sitake was a three-year starter at fullback for the Cougars from 1998-2000 under Edwards. A team captain as a senior, Sitake’s last game as a player was also the last game coached by the legendary Edwards, who was a great mentor for Sitake.
Sitake graduated from BYU in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in English. He is married to Timberly Friddle of Florida, and they have three daughters, Skye, Sadie, and Sylvia, and one son, Kelaokalani (KK).
Born in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, and raised in Laie, Hawai’i and Provo, Utah, Sitake is the nation’s first FBS head football coach of Tongan descent. Sitake was inducted into the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame on Jan. 18, 2025, during the 2025 Enshrinement Ceremony conducted at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, Hawai'i.