BYU football coach Kalani Sitake has been rewarded for guiding the Cougars to one of the best seasons in school history.
Late Saturday night, BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe announced that BYU and Sitake have agreed to a long-term contract extension that will keep Sitake in Provo "well into the future."
The exact length of the extension was not detailed in a school news release.
"I'm thrilled to announce a long-term agreement to extend Kalani Sitake as BYU's head football coach," said Holmoe in a statement. "In his nine years at the helm of the Cougs, Kalani has created a culture that fits the mission of Brigham Young University and our sponsoring institution—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Kalani builds strong connections with our football student athletes that help them grow and develop as players on the field, and, more importantly, he helps strengthen our men for their lives after football.
"Kalani's signing signals his loyalty to a program he has poured much of his life into as a young fan, a player and our head coach. With college football experiencing so many recent changes, it's good to know we will have a consistent leader for a long time in Kalani Sitake."
In December of 2021, BYU signed Sitake to a new "unprecedented" contract through the 2027 season.
This season, Sitake led the Cougars to their third double-digit victory season in the last five years with a 10-2 regular season and a 7-2 conference record as one of four teams to finish atop the 2024 Big 12 Conference standings.
"I am grateful for the continued confidence and support I receive in my role leading the BYU football program from President (Shane) Reese, Vice President (Keith) Vorkink, Athletic Director Tom Holmoe and Deputy AD Brian Santiago," said Sitake in the release. "I have said this many times, but before I became the coach at BYU, I was first a Cougar fan and then a player here.
"We have the best fans in the world. I remain humbled to be the head coach at this great university and believe in its mission. I love the outstanding young men, coaches and staff we have in our program, and I'm excited about the opportunities we have ahead competing in the Big 12 Conference."
Since taking over the program in 2016, Sitake guided BYU from the ranks of FBS independents to membership in the Big 12 the past two seasons while earning a career record of 71-43 (.623) through nine seasons.
Posting a 29-9 record during BYU's final three seasons of independence from 2020-2022, Sitake was named an Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award Finalist and George Munger Collegiate Coach of the Year Award Semifinalist in back-to-back seasons in 2020 and 2021.
In leading the Cougars to a four-way tie atop the 2024 conference standing in BYU's second season in the Big 12, Sitake's teams have not only achieved double-digit victories in three of the last five seasons (11-1 in 2020 and 10-3 in 2021) but also posted a combined 44-18 (.710) record to give Sitake the ninth-best winning percentage currently among all FBS coaches in that time frame.
