Kalani Sitake is a lifelong BYU fan.
Sitake played fullback in college in Provo, under the supervision of program legend and namesake of the team’s home stadium, LaVell Edwards. Sitake returned home to Provo after bouncing around the collegiate football coaching world, from EAC to SUU to BYU to Utah to Oregon State. He took over the same position as the renowned Edwards and then resigned to make his own imprint on the BYU football program as its head coach.
Sitake has built a lasting legacy for the program he calls home, winning 23 games over the previous two seasons in the Big 12 Conference and three consecutive victories over rival Utah.
However, one fateful evening in late 2025, his dream job was almost lost when the Penn State Nittany Lions contacted him to fill the position vacated by James Franklin’s departure midway through the season.
Sitake’s move to State College appeared to be certain for a moment.
However, in a desperate attempt to keep the face of BYU football home in Provo, donors and supporters of all levels joined together to express what Kalani means to BYU football. He had established a Big 12 powerhouse beneath the shadow of Mount Timpanogos, doing so by leading with Christlike love and taking a personal interest in every player, staff member, and fan he encountered.
In a sense, Sitake had become synonymous with the program he had oversaw for the previous nine years.
Fans were unwilling to let go. Kalani, buoyed by Crumbl cookies’ large bank accounts, his staff’s wage raise, and the kind words of the community that saw him as family, returned to BYU from Penn State and told his players that he would not be leaving, signing an extension to stay put.
Sitake told On3 months later about his decision to stay home.
After others discovered about it, things became serious rapidly. The decision-making process had to happen virtually overnight. I had to determine what I wanted and what I would accept as compensation, as well as what I was seeking, based on what Penn State was doing and attempting to offer.
With his Cougars knocking on the door of the College Football Playoff but never breaking through, it’s tempting to move to a program that’s brand value alone could push the Big Ten program through the door and give them a shot at the national title. His choice to remain in Provo indicates faith in the foundation he has established, the success he has achieved, and the progress that is yet to come.
How great of a publicity for BYU athletics was it to have its men’s basketball coach, Mark Pope, be recruited by Kentucky, one of college basketball’s premier destinations? How much more so, then, must it be that Penn State offered BYU football head coach Kalani Sitake everything they had, and he declined?
In retrospect, BYU supporters from all across the world can agree on one thing: keeping Kalani Sitake was the most important triumph the program achieved during the whole 2025 season.
