The Kalani Sitake era begins now, BYU football 2016 thread.

[Uncle Ted]

LOL, Bronco on Kalani... The conversation was essentially:

Wrubell- Kalani Sitake is the next BYU HC. What do you think?


Bronco- I hope we've left BYU in a good position going forward.


Wrubell- Was he someone you recommended?


Bronco- Uh... it's not appropriate for me to say.


Wrubell- Do you know Kalani?


Bronco- We've talked a couple times when he was coaching for Utah. With BYU's limited resources, it looks like they've taken the same approach they took when they hired me.

I wonder if football still comes 5th at UVa given how much they are paying him.

[Sizzle]

Probably right. I actually forgot how strong 2004 was. Ok, easily a top 5 schedule in program history?

You played three teams who ended the season undefeated, including the eventual national champion and one that could be argued as one of the top teams in CFB history in that USC team. So yeah, it was easily one of the toughest schedules in program history.

[Sizzle]

The hires Sitake has to nail:

1) Offensive Coordinator: Who is going to be the compliment to SItake's defense. As a fanbase, right or wrong, we need an offense that puts points on the board. Who is going to be the guy to come in and be Kalani's counterpart? I wouldn't mind seeing Jason Beck get a shot at that to keep some continuity. I would really like Sark to come be the OC, but I think given his situation that's a pipe dream. I don't want A-Rod. Ty is the other name that gets thrown around, but I think it's a mighty big jump to come from no college coaching experience straight into an offensive coordinator. Dennis Simmons may be an outside name to consider. I don't know that he'd come to BYU unless it's as OC.
2) Strength & Conditioning Coach: Losing Trick Daddy Wintrich is not ideal. I wish we'd been able to hold on to him another few seasons. I think the team played more athletically this year than prior years. I hope they consider a S&C coach who has similar philosophies. Maybe that's Jordan Pendelton, someone who loves the program. Maybe it's someone else. But the S&C hire is crucial and with a limited recruiting base, I am a strong believe that this position is key in maximizing everything we can get out of our players. If not JP, Dave Stroshine has a good rep having worked with a lot of local players in the NFL in the off-season and was a name thrown around before Wintrich was hired.
3) Quarterback Coach: Mangum has the chance to be absolutely special. He had a great relationship with Beck and the other QBs. Who can come in and help Mangum reach his potential? The good news is BYU has a lot of former QBs who could be great coaches, some with experience: Sark and Jason Beck are two guys mentioned as OCs that could fill both roles. Ty Detmer as a QB coach I think would be a home run hire. I don't think we'll see a Brandon Doman or Robbie Bosco reprise in the role. John Beck may be another guy that gets a phone call if the others above aren't interested/fits.
4) OL Coach: BYU's OL has missed some continuity since Jeff Grimes left for better opportunities. I think 2J had them trending in the right direction and wasn't thrilled to see him go. I think there is a slim chance he comes back. Getting the OL right is a big thing for whomever he brings in.
5) Defensive Coordinator: I think there are a lot of options here. Ed Lamb from SUU would be a home run hire in my opinion. Maybe Morgan Scalley (if nothing else to hurt Utah). I think Kalani has enough of a defensive network that this isn't a huge concern in my mind. My preference would be to have Kalani less involved with the defense and more focused on running the program, recruiting, etc.

[jay santos]

BYU competitive advantages:
QB's that can pass. We have obviously had good luck recruiting (or developing) above average passing QB's.
Big, bruising Poly RB's that can break the first tackle, catch the ball out of backfield, and block in the passing game
Big but slow OL. Anae has been brilliant at taking advantage of the size while minimizing the downside of the slowness by utilizing wide splits, draws, and quick hit passes
Big, physical front seven, generally on the slow side but with mix of some athletic Poly's or going undersized at positions, we can be cover slowness weakness
Tight end. Between our Poly and Scandinavian recruiting base, we can usually produce good TE's. I fault Anae a bit for going away from this since the Harline-Pitta era. I'd like to see us take better advantage of this.
Possession WR's that run good routes and catch the ball.

Competitive disadvantages:
Secondary. Credit to Bronco for recruiting success in this area the last few years especially, but we're still winning recruiting battles with San Jose State or Tulsa on these guys usually, not winning battles with top P5 teams.
Fast, deep threat WR's.
Speed RB's that get to the edge.

Bronco's defensive system was designed for small teams like New Mexico which can recruit small, fast guys but not big bruisers on the line to be able to stop the run. He's been able to tweak it to BYU's personnel, to make it work pretty damn good. The strategy has been to put enough pressure on the QB that only accurate passing QB's will beat you. That's rare enough in college football that it didn't happen that often. He's also gone a little undersized than our old 4-3 under Schmidt, which has helped us with our speed in general. Even though Sitake tutored under KW, I am very concerned how our D will work out. I think Sitake might underestimate the athleticism difference he has to work with in the secondary personnel vs where he's coached in the past. Maybe he can upgrade the talent level, but he'll also need to figure out a system to hide the weakness.

Anae 1.0, IMHO, was the perfect BYU offensive system. He took Leech's offense and then Reynolds helped him integrate BYU's running strategy and involvement of TE and RB as receiver. Anae 2.0 was too much Rich Rod for my liking. It worked with Taysom. It took him a while to drop it when Mangum took over, but by the end of the season the offense was pretty much back to Anae 1.0. I hope the new staff can replicate this.

[jay santos]

LOL, Bronco on Kalani... The conversation was essentially:



I wonder if football still comes 5th at UVa given how much they are paying him.

Wow. Why is Bronco such an awkward dipshiz when it comes to these interviews? I won't miss this kind of stuff.

[wally]

Stake is going to energize the BYU alumni base. No more Jason Buck or KVN hammering the coaching at BYU on the radio and a return to tradition with an alum coach. If Kalani can leverage that football alumni base rather than be consumed by it, he will do great things for BYU especially in recruiting. As has been mentioned, his assistant hires are crucial, and we will see what his organizational and delegation skills are as time passes. I am optimistic for BYU, and nervous as a Ute.

[beefytee]

I was really concerned when BYU hired Bronco. I thought the right choice would have been Reynolds. The issue I had with Bronco wasn't that he wasn't a good coach, he had done great things with BYU's defense. The issue was that he hadn't really been a winner anywhere he played or coached, at least at the div 1 level. Thankfully he was a winner as a head coach. I'm guessing he is pretty successful at Virginia.

The issues with Sitake are obvious. Who knows how good of a coach he really is? I'm hopeful but not too optimistic that he will do as well as Bronco. Hopefully, he will prove me wrong the same as Bronco did.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Stake is going to energize the BYU alumni base. No more Jason Buck or KVN hammering the coaching at BYU on the radio and a return to tradition with an alum coach. If Kalani can leverage that football alumni base rather than be consumed by it, he will do great things for BYU especially in recruiting. As has been mentioned, his assistant hires are crucial, and we will see what his organizational and delegation skills are as time passes. I am optimistic for BYU, and nervous as a Ute.

Saying something objective and friendly about BYU? SU is going to be pissed.

[jay santos]

I was really concerned when BYU hired Bronco. I thought the right choice would have been Reynolds. The issue I had with Bronco wasn't that he wasn't a good coach, he had done great things with BYU's defense. The issue was that he hadn't really been a winner anywhere he played or coached, at least at the div 1 level. Thankfully he was a winner as a head coach. I'm guessing he is pretty successful at Virginia.

The issues with Sitake are obvious. Who knows how good of a coach he really is? I'm hopeful but not too optimistic that he will do as well as Bronco. Hopefully, he will prove me wrong the same as Bronco did.

Bronco's dumb for taking so much of his staff with him. He has the potential to have huge success at Virginia if he can recruit. Anae needs a QB to be successful, but other than that, I expect him to be a solid OC. Bronco will always have a good D no matter where he is. He should have filled his staff with proven recruiters in that area. I could see him year in year out top 20 with the kind of talent he could bring in at Virginia, but not sure he does that with his rag tag white LDS coaching staff.

[YOhio]

Saying something objective and friendly about BYU? SU is going to be pissed.

I agree with SU. Wally is being patronistic and we hate it.

[Applejack]

Stake is going to energize the BYU alumni base. No more Jason Buck or KVN hammering the coaching at BYU on the radio and a return to tradition with an alum coach. If Kalani can leverage that football alumni base rather than be consumed by it, he will do great things for BYU especially in recruiting. As has been mentioned, his assistant hires are crucial, and we will see what his organizational and delegation skills are as time passes. I am optimistic for BYU, and nervous as a Ute.

Exactly my thoughts. Trading robot bronco for sitake: you couldn't have scripted it better. Here's to byu finding a way to screw it up.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

KS I trust you with the defense, Tanner has the highest ceiling for a BYU QB this millennium, please higher an OC that will get him there.

[LiveCoug]

Looks like Tuiaki is coming with Sitake

[Topper]

As DC or linebacker coach?

[LiveCoug]

As DC or linebacker coach?

That is the question. Hopefully as a LB coach, but that would be a lateral move with a pay cut, most likely. Maybe he loves Provo and Sitake that much