Passion and people: Why BYU head football coach Kalani Sitake loves what he does
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- BYU football coach Kalani Sitake greets fans at LaVell Edwards Stadium before the start of a game against Sam Houston on Saturday, September 2, 2023.
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- BYU head coach Kalani Sitake talks to his team after practice at the indoor practice facility on Saturday, March 25, 2023.
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- BYU head coach Kalani Sitake talks to reporters at the conclusion of the first day of 2023 spring camp at the indoor practice facility in Provo on Monday, March 6, 2023.
Imagine life as a college football coach.
Sure, the big paychecks sound appealing and there would definitely be a thrill to being around the game all the time, but there are plenty of things that would be tough.
There is the constant challenge to recruit the right players, the stress of trying to win every week, the demands regarding donations and meeting with media, the time commitment of managing every aspect of the program, all surrounded by the uncertainty regarding where the winds of coaching fate might blow you.
So how does BYU head coach Kalani Sitake handle it all?
He keeps his perspective by focusing on how much he loves what he does and the people he gets to do it with.
“I’ve been asked questions quite a bit about the pressure and the stress, but with all honestly — and this sounds crazy — I don’t feel a lot of that stress,” Sitake said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Herald earlier this month. “I’m energized just to go to work. I love what I’m doing, so does it feel like work?”
“I get to talk about stuff that I have loved basically since I was born. It’s a really good moment for me. So even in the tough times, I feel like how can I complain when this is what I live for? I’m just glad I found my passion.”
He did not that not everything is easy and there are tough things to deal with, but said he tries to focus on the things that matter most.
“I get motivated by the people that I get to be around and interact with,” Sitake said. “It’s hard to even put into words how much I get out of the relationships I have.”
The goal of a football team is to win football games, but it goes much deeper than just wins and losses on the field for Sitake. He cares deeply about seeing people succeed in life as well as sports.
“If it was all about the record, I probably wouldn’t be drawn to it,” Sitake said. “There are so many things I love about this place. If you asked me what matters most to me, I would start naming people and talking about experiences I’ve gotten to share with them.”
He joked that he sometimes tries to tell his wife that he had a really hard day but that she knows he is doing what he loves to do.
“It’s like basketball players,” Sitake said. “They get to do their hobby for a living. It’s such a hard day getting to play basketball and shoot the ball 30 times in a game. It’s great when people realize that they are in a good spot and appreciate it.”
For Sitake, that’s his barometer as far as how long he will coach.
“The moment I don’t appreciate it is the moment I shouldn’t be doing it,” Sitake said.
While BYU is where he feels like he is supposed to be right now, he said he has always been open to opportunities and wants to follow his faith.
“Really my goal in life is to find what God’s will is for me and what his plan is,” Sitake said. “I’m committed to doing whatever Heavenly Father wants me to be doing and connected with whoever he wants me to be connected with.”
He talked about how at one point he thought that path led through pro football, only to get hurt.
“I was done playing before I even started,” Sitake said. “It was hard to sit there and say, ‘Heavenly Father, I didn’t know my plan was this. I thought I was supposed to be a Hall of Fame player in the NFL.’ But it allowed me to say, OK, what is the next step?”
He said he doesn’t live in fear of the future but looks at what’s ahead.
And, in the short term, that is taking the 2024 BYU football team and making it be the very best it can be.
“I really believe that we’re in a really good spot,” Sitake said. “I like where we’re at currently. The underdog role is back for us now. We can go in with a chip on our shoulder and away we go. It’s going to be fun.”
