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BYU’s Kalani Sitake, Other Big 12 Coaches Share Favorite Musical Artists

Aug 23, 2023, 12:03 PM

BYU Football, Kalani Sitake, Head Coach...

When BYU football head coach Kalani Sitake listens to music its Bob Marley. (Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News)

(Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News)

PROVO, Utah – You probably never wondered who is the musical artist that BYU coach Kalani Sitake jams out to. But once you see that, you want to know.

The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy compiled a list of every FBS coach’s favorite singer or band.

Kalani Sitake likes listening to Bob Marley

Who is Kalani Sitake’s favorite musical act? Reggae icon Bob Marley.

It’s fitting for Sitake, who has always been known to “Stir It Up” with referees during games if he isn’t happy with a call.

Also, if you have aspirations to one day be the next BYU head football coach. You should probably like Bob Marley.

Before Sitake was Bronco Mendenhall, and like Kalani, Bronco loved to jam out to some Bob Marley. Mendenhall listened to Marley often while surfing on the West Coast.

The rest of the Big 12 coaches have a wide range of favorites.

One in particular that stands out is Texas coach Steve Sarkisian. His favorite artist is Tupac. Part of that likely stems from Sarkisian’s time at BYU.

Sarkisian was the starting quarterback for BYU in 1996. That was the year Tupac was shot and killed in Las Vegas.

Tupac was killed the night before BYU’s game at Washington in Seattle that year. In the pregame locker room before taking on the Huskies, BYU played Tupac the entire time in honor of the fallen rap legend.

Big 12 football coaches favorite musical artists

Here is the complete list of the favorite artists from each Big 12 football coach.

  • Dave Aranda, Baylor: Dave Matthews Band
  • Kalani Sitake, BYU: Bob Marley
  • Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati: Luke Combs
  • Dana Holgorsen, Houston: Post Malone
  • Matt Campbell, Iowa State: Van Halen
  • Lance Leipold, Kansas: Kenny Chesney
  • Chris Klieman, Kansas State: Cole Swindell
  • Brent Venables, Oklahoma: Kane Brown
  • Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State: Prince
  • Sonny Dykes, TCU: Dave Matthews Band
  • Steve Sarkisian, Texas: Tupac
  • Joey McGuire, Texas Tech: George Strait
  • Gus Malzahn, UCF: The Cars
  • Neal Brown, West Virginia: Zach Bryan

I played McMurphy’s “Coach Match” game to match the artist with the coach correctly. Let me say Mike Gundy’s pick of Prince completely threw me off.

The popular artist among college football coaches seems to be Luke Combs. Cincinnati’s Scott Satterfield picked him. Also, there’s no better pick for Joey McGuire from Texas Tech. George Strait is perfect for a Texas man like McGuire.

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 Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on Twitter/X and Threads: @Mitch_Harper.

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BYU’s Kalani Sitake, Other Big 12 Coaches Share Favorite Musical Artists