PROVO, Utah — BYU head coach Kalani Sitake today named eight people to positions on his football support staff, including three current staff members taking on new roles.
The support staff will be led by newly appointed chief of staff, Jon Swift, who has served the past four seasons as the director of football operations for Sitake. Billy Nixon, who has been overseeing the program’s player experience and equipment operations, will be the new director of football operations, while Jack Damuni, the on-campus recruiting and community/player relations coordinator, will serve as the director of football relations.
Sitake also announced the additions of Justin Anderson as the director of player personnel, Mike Hall as the director of player development, Brandon Bradley as the director of campus experience and Josh Hewitt as the director of equipment operations for football. Meanwhile, Dan Wilcox, who has been providing nutrition services for the team, has been hired as the director of football sports performance nutrition.
“I am pleased to announce today some new positions and welcome several new additions on our football support staff,” Sitake said. “I appreciate Tom Holmoe, President Worthen and the administration for their continued support in strengthening our program as we prepare for the upcoming 2022 season and future membership in the Big 12 Conference. The focus of our program will always be the development and support of the great young men on our team through our culture of love and learning. Our support staff plays a crucial role in helping our players and our coaches continue to grow, achieve and be successful, on and off the field. I am excited about the talents and passions each of these individuals will contribute to BYU football in these roles, and I’m confident they will have an impact in the lives of the young men in our program.”
Among the new additions to the staff, Anderson, Hall and Bradley are all BYU former student-athletes. Anderson (receiver, 2000-2002) and Bradley (2007-2010) both played football, while Hall (shooting guard, 2003-2005) starred on the basketball team.
Anderson returns to Provo with more than 17 years of professional experience after working the past six seasons as the director of player personnel at Virginia and being named to the same position earlier this year at East Carolina.
Bradley joins Sitake’s football staff with 10 years of combined experience working in college athletics as a coach, advisor and administrator, most recently serving as an academic advisor in the BYU Student-Athlete Life and Learning Center and as the BYU extramural sports program manager.
Hall joins the football staff with 17 years of combined experience as a professional athlete and an administrator in both athletics and at the university, including working in the BYU Student Life Department as an honor code administrator, BYU Student-Athlete Life and Learning Center as an academic advisor and with the BYU men’s basketball program as the director of operations.
Hewitt comes to BYU with eight years of experience heading football equipment operations at three different schools, including UNLV, Fresno State and Central Arkansas, and has also been an equipment aide for the NFL's St. Louis Rams and a member of the MLB's Kansas City Royals grounds crew.
Wilcox has been providing nutritionist services to the BYU football program and other BYU teams as part of Elite Nutrition & Fitness Coaching, which he started in 2012. He has spent the past 30 years devoted to understanding the science of the human body and the psychology of success.
►Media Availability: Kalani Sitake and several new staff members
More information about each of Sitake’s eight new appointments is included below:
Jon Swift
Chief of Staff
Jon Swift has been promoted to chief of staff for BYU football under Kalani Sitake. Swift first joined Sitake’s staff in 2018 as the director of football operations and has made a significant impact on the success of the program overseeing the daily operations of the football department, managing the active roster, and serving as the liaison with student life and admissions.
As the chief of staff, Swift will focus on maximizing football opportunities in all areas of the program. Swift will lead a team of directors on the support staff and will focus on creating competitive advantages for the football program in recruiting, player experience, alumni relations and player development. He will work with his support staff to enhance the BYU experience and opportunities for the football student-athletes. Swift’s focus will be finding and implementing the best practices to ensure continued success and growth of the student-athletes and football program on and off the field.
Over the past four seasons, Swift has helped guide the growth of the program, leading the support staff and focusing on maximizing football opportunities. Swift worked closely with Coach Sitake to identify program-changing opportunities and the needed solutions to bring them to light. A few highlights from his time working as director of football operations include the locker room renovation, enhanced player and alumni experience, heightened focus on team culture and chemistry, and most recently managing the necessary growth and development of the program as it transitions to the Big 12.
From Cincinnati, Ohio, Swift earned an MBA from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He attended BYU as an undergraduate student where he studied political science and Spanish. During his undergraduate studies, Swift received a scholarship to work as a senior student manager with the football team. In that role he worked with a select team of student mangers to ensure practice and game operations functioned efficiently.
Prior to returning to BYU in 2018, Swift worked for DealerSocket as a Manager of Implementation Consulting for the Eastern United States. In that capacity, he oversaw a team of software consultants and handled the daily operations and administrative tasks in that department. He specialized in process improvement and customer success.
Swift is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a Spanish-speaking mission for the Church in Carlsbad, California. He and his wife Whitney have four children, daughters Elle, Isla and Evie and a son Baylor. In his free time Swift enjoys spending time with his family and on the golf course.
Billy Nixon
Director of Football Operations
Billy Nixon has been named the director of football operations. Entering his seventh season on Sitake’s football staff, Nixon has directed the equipment operations for the program the past two seasons, and was officially appointed director of equipment operations and player experience in January 2021.
His new responsibilities will include directing the daily logistics and operations of the football team. He will handle the team’s daily schedule, annual calendar, team communication, practice operations and travel logistics, including organizing hotel amenities, flight plans, bus schedules and travel itineraries. As the director of football operations, Nixon will provide oversight for equipment and video operations to help to maximize the impact of each area and continue to focus on creating an environment and culture that amplifies the player experience.
With a Ph.D. in sport management: athletic administration and leadership, Nixon focused his valuable contributions to the program this past year on the overall player experience for football team members while developing and supervising the policies, procedures, and logistics related to equipment operations for the football program. Nixon has been a member of Sitake's BYU football support staff since 2016. He returned to BYU to work with longtime BYU football director of equipment operations Mick Hill, who retired in 2021 after a 39-year career. Nixon served two years as a student assistant under Hill during Bronco Mendenhall's tenure from 2012 to 2014.
Over the past decade, Nixon has worked in both high school and collegiate athletics in administrative and coaching roles. He also served as head coach of the Spanish Fork High School boy's lacrosse team from 2017 to 2018, guiding the Warriors to the 2018 Class B State Championship Game. Before returning to BYU in 2016, he spent three years as a career technical education (CTE) teacher and head football coach at American Leadership Academy in Spanish Fork, Utah.
Nixon earned his bachelor's degree in experience design and management from the Marriott School of Business at BYU (2014), a master's in education from Utah State University (2016) and his doctorate in from Troy University (2020). His dissertation examined how college choice factors influence student-athletes and parents' perception of environmental fit during intercollegiate recruiting. In addition, he has researched and published numerous articles relating to NCAA compliance, sports law, transformation and servant leadership, organizational and consumer behavior, and recruiting.
A native of Alexandria, Virginia, Nixon graduated from Hayfield Secondary School, where he was a three-year letterman in football and lacrosse. During his undergraduate studies at BYU, he represented the university as a collegiate athlete on the men's lacrosse team, helping the Cougars become 2008 Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference Champions and 2011 Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association National Champions.
Nixon served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Bangalore, India. He is married to the former Chelsea Kimball, and they have three children, Evelyn, William and Hazel.
Jack Damuni
Director of Football Relations
Jack Damuni has been named the director of football relations. Damuni, who has been serving as the executive coordinator of on-campus recruiting and community/player relations, is entering his seventh season at BYU after joining Sitake’s football staff in 2016.
As the director of football relations, Damuni will lead the community outreach of the BYU Football Program. He will continue to coordinate community service and other volunteer opportunities for team members, run the True Blue Hero program and oversee alumni relations. He will also lead the football summer camps and missionary program of the football team.
As part of Sitake’s staff the past six years, Damuni has made a significant impact on the lives of individuals both inside and outside of the BYU football program. His relentless energy and infectious passion for BYU and serving others has become a staple of the True Blue Hero program that regularly hosts individuals and their families who are facing significant challenges in life. Damuni has been particularly successful developing relationships with others while mentoring student-athletes and overseeing alumni relations for the program.
A BYU alumnus, Damuni played strong safety for the Cougars in 1993-94, after starting his playing career at Dixie College in St. George, Utah. Damuni recorded four interceptions in his two years at BYU, including two in single game against Utah and one at the goal line versus San Diego State. He totaled 43 tackles in 19 games, with eight starts to help the Cougars advance to the 1993 Holiday Bowl against Ohio State (28-21 defeat) and 1994 Copper Bowl versus Oklahoma (31-6 victory).
Damuni returned to BYU when hired by Sitake in 2016 after a long career as an educator in Maui for the Hawai’i Department of Education from 1996-2015. He also served in a variety of football capacities during that time, including Hawaii Speed and Quickness-Complex coordinator/coach (2009-2015), vice president, Island Football Magazine (2000-15), assistant football coach, Baldwin High School, Maui, Hawaii (2000-15), assistant football coach-defensive backs, Mesa Community College (2011) and assistant football coach, Maui High School (1997-98).
From Laie, Hawai’i, Damuni and his wife Shalei Nani have four children, Dayson, Selai, Raider and Silina. Raider has signed to play for the Cougars following his Tongan-speaking mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Oakland, California.
Justin Anderson
Director of Player Personnel
Justin Anderson has been named the director of player personnel for the BYU football program. A former Cougar receiver and player personnel director at BYU, Anderson returns to Provo with more than 17 years of professional experience after working the past six seasons as the director of player personnel at the University of Virginia and being appointed to the same position at East Carolina University earlier this year in January.
As the director of player personnel, Anderson will be responsible to manage the football roster for all prospective and current student-athletes, including the on-boarding and off-boarding process of members of the official football roster. Comparable to the general manager in the NFL, the director of player personnel focuses on acquiring the top available talent and ensuring each position group is filled.
In returning to BYU with nearly two decades of combined experience as a coach and personnel director, Anderson brings proven knowledge in recruiting, productivity and performance management as well as staff training and development. In 2016, Anderson joined Bronco Mendenhall’s staff at Virginia after previously serving as director of player personnel under Mendenhall at BYU in 2015. In his first stint at BYU he developed a unique recruiting structure that resulted in a recruiting class that rated among the highest in program history.
During Anderson’s tenure on Mendenhall's staff in Charlottesville, he coordinated all Cavaliers' recruiting efforts and activities that included oversight of identification and subsequent evaluation of prospective student-athletes. Anderson spearheaded the growth and development of recruiting and internal creative media departments that helped UVA produce the two highest-ranked signing classes in program history.
On the field, the Cavs earned bowl eligibility status in four of the last five seasons during Anderson's stay at Virginia - Military (2017), Belk (2018), Capital One Orange (2019) and Wasabi Fenway (2021). UVA also advanced to the ACC Championship Game in 2019 after capturing the league's Coastal Division title with a 6-2 mark.
From 2010 to 2015, Anderson was an assistant coach at FCS member Nicholls (La.) State serving as the passing game coordinator, wide receivers and tight ends coach and working as the NFL liaison. He was promoted to the position of assistant head coach during his third season with the Colonels.
He spent the 2009 season as a graduate assistant coach at BYU after serving an internship with the Cougar football program in 2008. He broke into the coaching ranks as the offensive coordinator at Harmony (Fla.) High School from 2004 to 2007.
As a player, Anderson was a wide receiver at BYU from 2000 to 2002 after starting his collegiate career at Ricks (Idaho) College. While with the Cougars, he was a part of the 2001 Mountain West Conference championship squad that finished 12-2 and played in the Liberty Bowl. Additionally, he was selected to the MWC All-Academic Team as a junior.
Anderson earned both a bachelor’s degree in communications (2002) and master’s in communications (2012) from BYU. He and his wife, Anne, have six children, Dakota, Kenedi, Rubee, Peyton, Jayce and Jackson.
Brandon Bradley
Director of Campus Experience
Brandon Bradley has been named the director of campus experience for the football program. A former BYU defensive back, Bradley joins Sitake’s football staff with 10 years of combined experience working in college athletics as a coach, advisor and administrator.
As director of campus experience, Bradley will focus on the on-campus experience for recruits and their families. He will oversee the planning, logistics and execution of official and unofficial visits and will design and oversee the game-day experience for recruits and their families. Among other responsibilities, he will manage the transition to college life as incoming student-athletes come to campus to join the program.
Bradley joins Sitake’s staff after most recently working at BYU as an academic advisor in the Student-Athlete Life and Learning Center (2018-2022), where he focused on assisting student athletes with their academic plans and helped to ensure academic success. In that capacity he assisted students in class scheduling to stay on track for graduation and NCAA eligibility. He was an integral resource in helping to shape educational pathways and in major selection for the student athletes with whom he worked.
From 2016 to 2018, he served as the BYU Extramural Sports Program Manager overseeing the nationally acclaimed extramural program. Among his many responsibilities, Bradley focused on establishing a support system and building and maintaining trusted relationships with upper management, staff, coaches, athletes and other university administrators, while developing and maintaining budgets and hiring, onboarding, training and supervising new employees.
As a coach, Bradley previously worked as the co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Minot State University in 2016 after serving as a defensive graduate assistant coach at BYU under Bronco Mendenhall in 2015. He was the secondary coach and special teams coordinator at Snow College from 2012 to 2014, where he also served as the diversity and inclusion coordinator for the program.
In addition to his coaching experience in college football, Bradley also is the owner and founder of DB University Elite, a defensive backs skills program that trains football players to perfect the technical part of being a defensive back. In this venture, he has trained and mentored athletes at DB University Elite since 2016.
As a player, Bradley played in 45 games with 29 starts for the Cougars from 2007-2010 after redshirting the 2006 season. He made 144 tackles with 11 pass breakups, one interception, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries, including one returned 38 yards for a touchdown.
Bradley graduated from BYU with a bachelor’s degree in December 2010 after majoring in Global Studies with a minor in International Development. He obtained a master’s degree in coaching and sports administration from Concordia University Irvine in 2014.
From Tallahassee, Florida, Bradley served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Bradley and his wife Janique have four children, Amiah, Mekhi, Zaden and Azara.
Mike Hall
Director of Player Development
Mike Hall has been named the director of player development for the football program. Hall, a former star basketball player at BYU, joins the football staff with 17 years of combined experience as a professional athlete and an administrator in both athletics and at Brigham Young University.
As the director of player development, Hall will focus on the off-field development of the football student athletes. He will serve as the program’s Built4Life liaison focusing on life skills learning sessions, internship opportunities, academic success and the transition to life after football for members of the team. He will also serve as a liaison for football, maintaining and growing productive relationships of trust with important campus entities, including the Student-Athlete Life and Learning Center, On and Off Campus Housing and the Student Life Office.
A native of San Bernardino, Calif., Hall was a member of the basketball team from 2003-05 before playing five years of professional basketball overseas and in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA). Following his playing career, Hall returned to BYU in 2010 to serve as the director of basketball operations on Dave Rose’s staff for three seasons. Hall then worked as an academic advisor in the BYU athletic department from 2013 to 2018 before serving as an honor code office administrator in the BYU Student Life Department the past four years.
In his most recent role working as an honor code office administrator, Hall served as a mentor and resource to students on campus helping them to adjust and follow the policies and practices found within the honor code. He has worked hard to build campus relationships with a wide variety of campus entities and departments and has earned a respected reputation for his professionalism and work ethic. Among his many responsibilities in his role in the Student Life Department, Hall served on committees for Campus Life Collaboration, Dean of Students Advising Initiative and Campus Life Department Diversity, where he also served as committee chair.
As an academic advisor in the BYU Student-Athlete Life and Learning Center, Hall’s responsibilities included providing mentoring and academic advisement to multiple collegiate athletic teams; sharing knowledge of university, program major, and NCAA eligibility requirements; and communicating with staff and faculty on campus to assist student-athletes in their goals for academic success.
As director of operations for BYU basketball, Hall's responsibilities include coordinating team travel and all team activities and providing support for academics, marketing and recruiting. In his first season on the staff, the Cougars won 32 games and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. In his second season, BYU won 26 games and overcame a 25-point deficit to defeat Iona in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament, the largest comeback in NCAA Tournament history.
As a player, Hall was named the Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year and earned a spot on the All-MWC Third Team as a junior in his first season with the Cougars. As a senior, Hall led the Cougars in scoring (13.9 ppg) and repeated as a third-team All-MWC honoree. He finished his BYU career averaging 13.3 points and 3.5 rebounds. Prior to playing at BYU, Hall played his sophomore season at Dixie State where he was an NJCAA All-American and the Scenic West Athletic Conference and NJCAA Region 18 Player of the Year. He spent his freshman season at Pepperdine where he played 18 games.
After graduating from BYU, Hall played professionally in Turkey, France, Austria and Japan. In 2006, he played for the Utah Eagles of the CBA. In 2009-10, Hall played for the Shiga Lakestars in Japan and averaged 9.2 points and 2.9 rebounds.
Hall graduated from BYU in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in recreation management and later earned a masters of public administration in 2020 from Marriot School of Business at BYU. He and his wife Tara are the parents of five children, Halle, Swift, Maddox, Tatum and Jordan.
Josh Hewitt
Director of Equipment Operations for Football
Josh Hewitt has been named the director of equipment operations for BYU football, becoming just BYU’s fourth head football equipment manager in the last 75 years. He comes to Provo with eight years of experience leading football equipment operations at three different schools.
His responsibilities at BYU will include developing and supervising policies, logistics and procedures related to football equipment operations, as well as to design, deliver, evaluate and manage standard and special equipment and branding experiences for NCAA Division I recruits, student-athletes, coaches, administrators, alumni and fans. In addition, he will continue to assist in creating a culture in equipment operations that focuses on elevating the player experience while balancing innovation with the program's rich tradition.
Hewitt comes to BYU from UNLV, where he served as the assistant director of athletic equipment, overseeing the Rebel football program equipment operation under head coach Marcus Arroyo. During his tenure with the Rebels, Hewitt oversaw the redesign of UNLV helmets and uniform combinations. During the 2021 season, the rebels took the field in 8 different uniform combinations.
Certified by the Athletic Equipment Managers Association in 2015, Hewitt went to Las Vegas in 2020 after three seasons in a similar role at fellow-Mountain West member Fresno State. He directed football equipment operations under head coach Jeff Tedford and five other Bulldog sports. During his time in Fresno, Hewitt took part in a historic turnaround. The program went from winning only one game in 2016 to a 10-win season in 2017 and Mountain West Championship in 2018.
Previous to that, he spent three years as director of equipment operations at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas. During his time in Conway, he took part in a 2016 FCS playoff run. Hewitt was also an equipment aide for the NFL's St. Louis Rams from 2005 to 2011 and was a member of the MLB's Kansas City Royals grounds crew from 2010 to 2014.
Hewitt’s passion for equipment operations extends well beyond his resume. Equipment is the family business. Hewitt is the grandson of Don Hewitt, who served as an equipment manager for the Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams for 32 years (1967-94). His father, Todd Hewitt, was also an equipment manager for the Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams from 1979-2011—including being a member of the staff during the organization's Super Bowl victory in 2000—before serving as the director of equipment operations at USC from 2012-2021. His brother, Travis, is currently the director of equipment operations at Fresno State University.
Hewitt earned a bachelor's degree in sports sciences in 2012 from Avila University in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was a four-year starter in football for the Eagles. He played center on the offensive line and was named a team captain in his final two seasons. Hewitt is married to the former Paige Snyder, and they have three daughters, Aspen, Collins, and Brecken.
Dan Wilcox
Director of Football Sports Performance Nutrition
Dan Wilcox has been named the director of sports performance nutrition for BYU football. In this role, Wilcox will oversee the development of student-athlete elite performance for the football program.
Wilcox has been providing team nutritionist services for BYU’s football program for nearly a decade as part of Elite Nutrition & Fitness Coaching, which he founded in 2012. In his new role with the football program, Wilcox will coordinate with other high performance areas, such as strength and conditioning, sports medicine, sports nutrition and mental health, to clearly define the performance goals for individual athletes as well as the implementation of the strategies and services to achieve those goals.
Wilcox has spent the past 30 years devoted to understanding the science of the human body and the psychology of success. He graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Exercise and Sport Science, with emphasis in Sport Physiology and Nutrition. He is certified with the National Coaching Foundation, the Sport Nutrition Association of America and the Collegiate & Professional Sports Dietitians Association.
Throughout his career, Wilcox has developed successful programs for countless endurance athletes, collegiate athletes, NFL players, competition body builders, busy businessmen and women and weekend warrior athletes. He has extensive experience in evaluating and identifying the exact personalized strategies that would be best for each individual client. He has dedicated his life to mentoring and motivating countless people to achieve their health and fitness goals by developing personalized, scientifically proven programs that get results.
As part of Elite Nutrition & Fitness Coaching, Wilcox has also worked with clients such as UCLA football and Team USA Softball as well as the women’s basketball, women’s volleyball and baseball programs at BYU.
From Silverdale, Washington, Wilcox is also a former PGA Golf Professional. He and his wife Michelle have four children, Sydney, Sophie, Chloe and Trek.