Followed Bronco Mendenhall. Kalani Sitake moved BYU from National Program I to Power Program III in 11 seasons.
Awaiting signal — no quotes collected from this staff yet this cycle.
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Power Program in his 1st career season — faster than 57% of the 395 FBS coaches who have ever reached Power Program (rank #1 of 395 by seasons-to-arrival).
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
6–5 against his rivals. Just 2–4 against Kyle Whittingham.
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Fan claims · every quote verified verbatim
Kalani Sitake’s Success at BYU Is No Fluke As Elite Comparison to Kirby Smart Emerges
Based on 1 comment from 1 poster across 1 thread · Feb 27, 2026 · via BYUFootball
4th-best BYU tenure of 12 by the numbers.
Outperforms his recruiting talent on offense and performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on defense.
Followed Bronco Mendenhall (2005–2015).
| Season | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||||||
| Record | 9–4 | 4–9 | 7–6 | 7–6 | 11–1 | 10–3 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 11–2 | 12–2 | 0–0 | |
| Postseason | W bowl | — | W bowl | L bowl | W bowl | L bowl | W bowl | — | W bowl | W bowl | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #49 | #66 | #78 | #81 | #78 | #71 | #55 | #66 | #44 | #55 | #21 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||||||||||
| Pass rate | 43.1 | 50.9 | 43.6 | 50.2 | 46.9 | 44.8 | 47.2 | 52.4 | 45.5 | 43.3 | 38.7 | |
| Coordinators | ||||||||||||
| OC | Ty Detmer | Ty Detmer | Jeff Grimes | Jeff Grimes | Jeff Grimes | Aaron Roderick | Aaron Roderick | Aaron Roderick | Aaron Roderick | Aaron Roderick | Aaron Roderick | |
| DC | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Jay Hill | Jay Hill | Jay Hill | Kelly Poppinga | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||||||||||
| Offense | 41 | 19 | 79 | 69 | 98 | 95 | 81 | 10 | 47 | 82 | 78 | |
| Defense | 91 | 51 | 77 | 60 | 85 | 31 | 12 | 39 | 59 | 76 | 59 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | 37.5 | 42.5 | 42.8 | 49.3 | 59.2 | 55.8 | 51.5 | 52.2 | 49.6 | 41.0 | 41.5 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 28.3 | 40.2 | 38.8 | 46.2 | 41.9 | 43.0 | 43.3 | 50.0 | 32.5 | 39.8 | 27.8 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 31.1 | 34.1 | 36.7 | 23.3 | 63.3 | 46.2 | 40.6 | 37.9 | 38.3 | 40.8 | — | |
A typical amount of portal roster-building.
Brings in bigger-than-position-typical players than most.
A typical class-year mix of incoming transfers.
16 NFL Draft picks: Bronson Kaufusi (2016), Jamaal Williams (2017), Fred Warner (2018), Sione Takitaki (2019), Zach Wilson (2021), Brady Christensen (2021), Khyiris Tonga (2021), Chris Wilcox (2021) + 8 more
Coach of the Year: Big 12 Chuck Neinas Coach of the Year (2025)
3 player-seasons honored (All-America / national award): Brady Christensen (2020), Keelan Marion (2024), LJ Martin (2026)
Defensive coordinator across 2 programs, 2 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.