BYU AD Tom Holmoe On Kalani Sitake: ‘We Want Him For A Long Time’
Dec 6, 2021, 4:41 PM | Updated: 4:48 pm
BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe and Kalani Sitake, BYU’s head football coach, answer questions during BYU football media day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
(Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
PROVO, Utah – The success of BYU football over the past two seasons has elevated the profile of head coach Kalani Sitake.
Whenever a job on the west coast opens up in this crazy coaching carousel, Sitake’s name is often mentioned as a potential target. He was tossed around as a name to watch by national college football insiders for the Washington job.
#BYU's Tom Holmoe during an interview on BYUtv today on what is being done to secure the future of Kalani Sitake:
"We are in conversations with Kalani at this point in time, and he’s our coach. We want him for a long time and good things are going to happen in the near future."
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) December 6, 2021
On Monday, when the Oregon job opened up after Mario Cristobal took the Miami position, CBS’ SportsLine gave Sitake the second-best odds to be Oregon’s next head coach, behind only UCLA’s Chip Kelly.
Sitake signed a contract extension back in August that keeps him as the coach of the BYU Football program through the 2025 season. But over the last three months, the coaching market has been turned on its head with coaches receiving extensions that pull down close to $10 million per year.
Holmoe on what BYU is doing to secure Sitake’s future
With BYU being a privately-owned institution, it’s not known what Sitake’s annual salary is or will be with the new contract extension. But with the cost of coaches producing Top 25 seasons going up, could something else be on the horizon for the sixth-year head coach?
BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe was on BYU-owned BYU Sports Nation on Monday, and he was asked by host Jarom Jordan, “What’s being done to secure [Sitake’s] future with BYU since everything is going really well right now?”
Holmoe replied, “We are in conversations with Kalani at this point in time, and he’s our coach. We want him for a long time and good things are going to happen in the near future.”
There was no follow-up question to that answer from Holmoe.
Kalani Sitake snapshot
Sitake has produced a 48-28 record overall with two double-digit winning seasons. BYU finished No. 13 in the final College Football Playoff rankings this season. BYU is gearing up to begin life as a Power Five program in 2023 when they join the Big 12 Conference. Head coaches in that league make anywhere from $2.2 million (Lance Leipold, Kansas) to $4.37 million (Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State).
An alum of BYU, Sitake has never been shy about his passion for BYU football over the years. He grew up a BYU fan and played for the legendary LaVell Edwards.
Kalani Sitake and his BYU football program return to action on Saturday, December 18, in the Independence Bowl against the UAB Blazers from Conference-USA.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
