Kalani Sitake’s contract: BYU will be locked in as coach after the Oregon interview

In September, BYU finally defeated its rival Utah 26-17, football head coach Kalani Sitake received a congratulatory call.

It came from Mark Harlan, director of sports at the University of Utah, one of Sitake’s former employers. Utah wanted a win, of course, but the sports director said many in the north were happy with their former defense coordinator and assistant head coach.

A week later, news began to appear that Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham was considering retiring after a successful 17-year career as head coach.

Whittingham, who was in the middle of a huge season rebound that led to the Pac-12 championship and the birth of the Rose Bowl, knocked out rumors – sort of like, “I hate it now as well as ever, so I’m not even considering it right now,” Whittingham said.

It is undeniable that Sitake is on Whittingham’s list of winners.

Then hit in November.

The coaching landscape for college football changed, and Sitake – only the fourth head coach to lead BYU over the past 50 years – had a new contract just three months after renewing his contract in September.

That’s how it went down.

Coaching carousel

At the end of November, one of the hottest coaches in the game, Lincoln Riley, left Oklahoma for USC. Shortly thereafter, Brian Kelly rushed from Notre Dame to LSU, which was significant in the sense that his team was on the verge of a possible College Football playoff. How could two coaches leave blue blood programs successful, buckets of money aside?

Mario Cristobal Monday then announced that he would leave Oregon – the most consistent Pac-12 performance – in Miami.

A total of 28 coaching changes have been made this season, 13 of which are in the Power Five programs.

The chain reaction has been similar to when Texas and Oklahoma decided to leave the Big 12 Series to the SEC. The move created unexpected openings for programs like BYU to join the P5 conference.

As Cristobal left Oregon for Miami, the Ducks turned their attention to Sitake. Cristobal and Sitake have the same agent, David Dunn at the Athletes First Agency, which makes data sharing easy.

Oregon arranged a Zoom call with BYU head coach on Tuesday morning. By Tuesday afternoon, the urgency was at stake at BYU. Sitake never went northwest.

During the zoom call, the coach told sources in Oregon that his primary goal was to stay in BYU. The call ended and Ducks continued. However, the call sparked a fire led by BYU, and sports director Tom Holmoe, who was already clearly aware of how the landscape had changed, took action and worked with other senior leaders to come up with a contract and plan to ensure Sitake and his staff stay put. .

Advantage: Sitake

Success

Attractive coaches in the market succeed in the field and in recruitment. Sitake is no different. His Cougars are 21-3 in the last two seasons. He won 6-1 against P5 opponents this year, the most P5 victory in a single season at BYU in the program’s history.

Sitake turned his head from last year’s 10-1 record, but the achievement remained a temptation due to the strength of the schedule. This year, without a doubt the tightest schedule in school history, he will be in a 10-2 bowl match against UAB on Saturday. And he did it with new depth at BYU – the key to success at the Power Five conference.

Advantage: Sitake

Urgency

By Tuesday afternoon this week, negotiations were well under way, although sports media grabbed the interest of Oregon after a northwestern writer reported on candidates the school could take advantage of. But down in Provo, Kalani said he wanted to stay. The government wanted him to stay.

The proverbial elephant sitting quietly in the corner of the room during Sitake’s negotiations was BYU’s 2023 membership in the Big 12. Cougars has 21 months before they start the Power Five program, and they’re not ready yet.

Several weeks ago, Sitake presented a plan to the sports department to provide more money to its current staff and expand it to better match typical P5 programs. This focused not only on the head coach’s contract, but also on the sustainability of the program and the retention of other coaches.

Another pressure point for BYU is the early signing period with recruits. Oklahoma has lost four 5-star recruits with the loss of Riley. BYU has had a lot of recruitment momentum since the September 12 Big 12 announcement. Securing a head coach for years to come will increase confidence in potential recruits.

Joining the P5 conference was BYU’s dream long before Sitake was hired in 2016, and that’s why Cougars decided to leave the Mountain West conference to become independent.

Sitake wants to compete as soon as BYU enters the league. To be ready, he had then called for action to be taken quickly.

Advantage: Sitake

The final game

Negotiating the agreement in private is difficult because both the local and national media are searching for information. But while the hosts of the radio talk programs continued to discuss Oregon’s work on Thursday, the BYU deal was almost discussed – with only a few details left.

Negotiations from Tuesday to Thursday required several things: a lot of work from the school principal Holmo to get financial commitments, details of the length of the contract, upcoming talks with assistant coaches, and fast-paced support from BYU’s sponsor, the Church of Jesus. The Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It was ready by Friday morning. The parameters – not the actual contract figures – were set for the public. My fish will continue for the season 2027.

“There has been a lot of movement among college football head coaches in recent days and weeks,” Holmoe said in a statement. “Today, I’m excited to learn that Kalani will continue to be our leader, coach and mentor.”

My fish never packed a bag in Oregon. For now, he stays in Provo.

Advantage: BYU