Kalani Sitake (pronounced kah-lah-nee see-tah-kay) was named head coach overseeing the BYU football program on December 19, 2015, by director of athletics Tom Holmoe.
Sitake is the 14th head coach in BYU history. He came to BYU from Oregon State, where he served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator.
A former Cougar running back (1994, 1997-2000), Sitake returned to his alma mater with 15 years of coaching experience, including seven years a defensive coordinator and four seasons as an assistant head coach. He enters his 18th season overall in 2018.
Prior to serving as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Oregon State in 2015, Sitake spent 10 seasons at the University of Utah. He 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.
Sitake coached several Pac-12 and Mountain West Conference honorees, including Morris Trophy winners Star Lotulelei (2011) and Nate Orchard (2014). He also helped 14 players who became NFL Draft picks during his time at Utah, coaching 12 all-league players and three freshmen All-Americans. He helped the Utes win seven of eight bowl games during his tenure.
During his career, Sitake has helped mentor 23 NFL Draft picks, including BYU linebackers Sione Takitaki and Fred Warner, drafted in the third round in 2018 by the San Francisco 49ers, and running back Jamaal Williams, who was selected in the fourth round by the Green Bay Packers in the 2017 NFL Draft. Williams finished his BYU career as the school’s all-time leading rusher after averaging the nation’s fifth-best per-game totals at 137.5 yards per outing for Sitake’s Cougars in 2016.
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. Sitake then joined the staff at Southern Utah where he coached running backs, tight ends and offensive line during the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
Born in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, and raised in Laie, Hawai’i and Provo, Utah, Sitake becomes the first FBS head football coach of Tongan descent. He is just the fourth BYU head coach to guide the program since 1972, when Hall of Fame coach LaVell Edwards took over the program. He is the first former player under Edwards to be named head coach at BYU.
Sitake 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.
He was named BYU’s Football Scholar Athlete of the Year in 1998, Impact Player of the Year in 1999, along with team captain and the most valuable running back in 2000. He signed a free agent contract with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2001, but was forced to retire due to an injury.
Sitake graduated from BYU in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in English. He and his wife Timberly have three children, Skye, Sadie and Kelaokalani (KK).