This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
After his first practice as BYU's head football coach, and after his first press briefing in the football offices lobby in the student athlete building on Tuesday, Kalani Sitake wanted to know if the Cougars' basketball team needs to win the WCC Tournament this week in order to get into the NCAA Tournament.
Yeah, this new guy isn't anything like his predecessor.
Sitake didn't immediately sprint to his office after the session with reporters, either. Instead, he walked over to a table set up nearby, grabbed himself a bagel and smothered it with cream cheese.
I saw it as an opportunity to introduce myself formally to the new coach as one of the beat writers who will be covering his team and every move he makes this year. We talked for a minute or two about some other reporters and columnists at The Salt Lake Tribune that he knows, then he mentioned that I also cover BYU basketball, and asked me the aforementioned question.
Interestingly, he also asked me why I thought the BYU basketball program was unable to land two prominent LDS basketball phenoms, Jabari Parker and Lone Peak's Frank Jackson. Parker played at Duke, and Jackson is headed there.
My answer — "Because it is not just another program, it's Duke, it's coach K, it's in the ACC, it can win national championships" — didn't satisfy Sitake.
"They would have been heroes at BYU, heroes to an entire religion," he said. "Look at what BYU did for Jimmer."
Suffice it to say, I now have a pretty good idea of what Sitake's sales pitch is going to be to the top Mormon high school football players in the country.
By the way, Mendenhall loosened up as his tenure at BYU unfolded, as has been well-documented. It just took him awhile. Sitake comes across as much more congenial, much more relaxed.
You can read more about Sitake's first day, and his impressions of the talent he inherited from Bronco Mendenhall, in this piece. Also, Tribune columnist Kurt Kragthorpe wrote about the quarterback situation here.
Tuesday wasn't entirely full of good news. As mentioned in my article, the Cougars will go through spring ball without two starting offensive linemen from last year, Kyle Johnson and Tejan Koroma.
I asked Sitake if the spring game is in danger, like it was a few years ago when Mendenhall was short on blockers.
"We will see when it gets closer to the spring game," he said. "It is hard to say right now. When you put the pads on, things happen, people get hurt once in a while. We will see. But yeah, we would like to have a spring game type deal.
But we have to make sure our team is doing the right things. We are lifting every day in the weight room to get stronger. The goal is to be ready in the fall, and not be ready for the spring game.
We want to have a spring game, but I can't tell the future. If you can tell me what is going to happen in two weeks, please let me know.
The goal now is to get a spring game organized, but it all depends on how many guys are going to come out of it healthy. We don't really put the pads on until Saturday, so once these guys start banging around a little bit, we will see how that holds up."
Here are a few more comments from Sitake and offensive coordinator Ty Detmer, comments that didn't make my report on Tuesday:
Sitake on what it was like being out there for first time:
"It was fun. It was fun. It was cool because I was able to look at both sides of the ball. I helped out on little things. You try to pick apart what could be better. As head coach, truing to see what you want to see what you could do differently, from the offensive and defensive side.
I was so used to being involved in coaching a lot more; it was nice to be able to manage the team, see what we could do time wise. Not as much hands-on as I would like to be, but we will get there eventually."
Sitake on the position changes and who stood out:
"Francis Bernard did some great things at linebacker today. I don't know if [Elaisa] Tuiaki will be willing to give him up anytime soon. But yeah, I think Micah Simon looked really good at receiver, too.
I know how Ed [Lamb] and [Tuiaki] think, and they will be trying to look at some of the receivers as possible DBs, too.
Overall, I thought the linemen looked a lot bigger than when we first got here. And so we are going to try keeping getting bigger and stronger. We will see how it all works out. But it is still a work in progress."
Sitake on who will be pass rushers in this group:
"There are a lot of guys who can rush the passer. A lot of guys who can fill that role. I think we are just kinda working through some things. We are keeping things simple so we can evaluate, still. And then we will start getting a little more settled in when we get closer to fall camp. Right now we will probably see a lot of guys moving from inside backer to outside, trying some d-end. Safety and corners will be moved around quite a bit, too, see what the best mix is."
Sitake on whether he will call defensive plays, or Tuiaki only:
"We will work together, but Tuiaki will call the plays. He is more than capable of doing that. He and I, we will work really well together. But today in practice he called the plays just like how I would have. And Ed said the same thing.
Ed will do the backfield stuff, but when it comes down to it, Tuiaki will call the plays."
Sitake on how much he will let coordinators do their thing:
"I will voice my opinion on a few things, but I think you can't have an option where you wait to see who is going to make the calls. Tuiaki, he's a great football mind defensively, and he understands the game offensively, so I think he's capable of calling plays. I will be there with him on the headsets, and I will be there with Ty. Those guys will be able to call the games just fine.
They did great today."
Detmer on the experienced offensive players who are back and how big that is:
"It is huge. You look out there, and across the board, we've got guys with experience. There are a couple positions, you know, maybe not as much. But the players really make things go. That's one thing I learned in the NFL — the good teams had good leadership in the player department. When Reggie White came into Green Bay, it changed the whole leadership of the team, because he was a leader in the locker room and really expected Favre to really come along. We have a lot of that in a lot of positions, so those guys run the team. Coaches can only motivate so much. It has got to come from the players, and we have those types of guys."
Detmer on how different the first day of practice felt:
"Once you get on the field and the juices start going, you start coaching, and it is fun. That's the part of coaching you really enjoy, is being on the field with the guys, and talking through it. You always feel like you need more time to really talk after a play, but that was a lot of fun today to be out on the field and see guys play and compete."
Detmer on whether he's a yeller or a non-yeller:
"Practice, a non-yeller. In games, I might get a little more animated."