BYU football coach Kalani Sitake is reportedly relying on a past coaching relationship, as he often does, to fill one of the vacant positions on his staff.
In what has been rumored to happen for nearly a week, Georgia Southern offensive line coach and run game coordinator TJ Woods will be joining BYU's staff after the Eagles' appearance in the Myrtle Beach Bowl on Saturday.
ESPN's Pete Thamel reported via X on Monday that BYU "is expected" to hire Woods for the "same spot" that he had at Georgia Southern. The Deseret News confirmed through a source that Woods is joining BYU in some capacity, but the source is not certain exactly what Woods' title and coaching responsibilities will be in Provo.
Two weeks ago, a BYU spokesperson confirmed that BYU is not retaining veteran offensive line coach Darrell Funk and veteran tight ends coach Steve Clark from the 2023 season.
Sitake made a major run at fired Baylor offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, and the deal was close to being finalized , but Kansas swooped in and hired Grimes to be its offensive coordinator.
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Woods has been a coach at GSU for just one season. He was UNLV 's offensive line coach in 2021 and its offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator in 2022.
At UNLV, Woods helped current BYU running back Aidan Robbins rush for more than 1,000 yards in 2022.
Woods is no stranger to the state of Utah, either. He was Utah State 's offensive line coach in 2011-12 and the Aggies' tight ends and special teams coach in 2009-10.
The native of San Dimas, California, who played college football at Azusa Pacific (2001-02) and Iowa State (2000), coached with Sitake when both were part of Gary Andersen's staff at Oregon State in 2015. Sitake replaced Bronco Mendenhall as BYU's head coach in 2016.
Woods' expected hiring leaves Sitake with one more vacancy to fill.
Other names to keep an eye on as the search continues are New Mexico State offensive line coach Andrew Mitchell (the former Snow College head coach) and Oklahoma State offensive line coach Charlie Dickey, a 35-year coaching veteran who was Utah's offensive line coach from 2005-08 when he and Sitake were at the U. under head coach Kyle Whittingham.
