Report: BYU Football DC Ilaisa Tuiaki Interviews For Montana State Head Coach Vacancy

PROVO, Utah – BYU football already has a new offensive coordinator for the 2021 season. Will they have a new coordinator on the defensive side as well?

According to a Skyline Sports report, a site dedicated to covering Big Sky Football, BYU defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki had an interview via Zoom for the head coach position at Montana State. A school in the Big Sky Conference of the FCS level.

Our latest update on the coaching search for #MSUBobcatsFB:

Search to replace Choate continueshttps://t.co/BMK8OmKgfX @Colter_Nuanez @Brooksnuanez #BigSkyFB

— Skyline Sports (@SkylineSportsMT) February 4, 2021

Montana State’s previous head coach, Jeff Choate, took the Co-Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers coach position at the University of Texas. Leaving an opening at a program that was 11-4 in 2019.

The Big Sky Conference is scheduled to play their 2020-21 season this spring, beginning later this month.

Ilaisa Tuiaki has put together successful defenses at BYU

Tuiaki has been BYU’s defensive coordinator for the past five seasons, dating back to 2016. He has worked closely with BYU head coach Kalani Sitake at previous stops, including Oregon State and Utah.

The 2020 season produced Tuiaki’s best defense since his arrival at BYU. Tuiaki’s defense in 2020 was 10th nationally in total defense (317.4 yards) and 4th in scoring defense (15.3 per game). Two of his starters from the 2020 defense have been invited to the NFL Combine in nose tackle Khyiris Tonga and cornerback Chris Wilcox.

In each of Tuiaki’s five seasons at BYU, the Cougars have been in the top 50 in scoring defense, with three finishes inside the top 25. Three of Tuiaki’s five defenses have finished in the top 50 in total defense.

Last month, BYU lost Broyles Award finalist Jeff Grimes, who took the same offensive coordinator position at Baylor. Grimes took offensive line coach Eric Mateos with him. BYU immediately promoted Aaron Roderick to become the program’s offensive coordinator.

The Cougars haven’t had any shakeups to their coaching staff’s defensive side so far this off-season.

If Tuiaki lands Montana State job, who could be the next BYU Football DC?

If Tuiaki is hired to be the head coach at Montana State, Kalani Sitake could go in many different directions with the defensive coordinator role. Sitake could tab himself as defensive coordinator.

The former BYU player made a name for himself in the coaching ranks by leading successful defenses at Utah during the “Sack Lake City” days. He also had a stop at Oregon State as Gary Andersen’s DC for a year before becoming the head man at BYU.

That would be a large workload for Sitake to oversee an entire program plus be the defensive coordinator.

Associate head coach Ed Lamb, a former head coach at SUU, has worked on the defensive side the past five years alongside Tuiaki.

If the position came open and Sitake wanted to step outside of his current staff, USC’s Vic So’oto could be an intriguing option, but he has zero coordinating experience. The same can be said for Michigan defensive line coach Shaun Nua. Virginia’s Kelly Poppinga is a Co-Defensive Coordinator under Bronco Mendenhall right now in the ACC.

Kevin Clune, an analyst for BYU in 2020, could be a possibility if Tuiaki lands the MSU job. Clune was a former defensive coordinator at Oregon State, Utah State, Hawai’i, and for the Cotton Bowl against Penn State at Memphis.

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., KSL Newsradio). Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper and the KSL Sports app.