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San Diego

Kalani Sitake, as it turns out, was right.

He was right, he knew he was right, and now everybody else knows it, too.

At the tail end of his first season as BYU's head coach, preparing his team now for Wednesday night's Poinsettia Bowl, the Cougars having finished their initial regular season under Sitake with an 8-4 record, it's easy to reflect back on what the man said before the season even started. It has relevance on account of its influence on what might come next.

Sitake informed all those who had doubts about him and about his key assistants, neophytes at their jobs, all around, that everything would be OK. He was a first-time head coach, Ty Detmer was a first-time offensive coordinator, and Ilaisa Tuiaki a rookie defensive coordinator.

No big deal.

"Having guys you can trust to do their jobs, handle their responsibilities, manage their side of the ball, is important," he said. "These guys are good. I promise you, these guys are ready. Some guys got it. They just have it. I see it all working out."

It did work out. Not all of it, but most of it.

He also said there would be situations that would be messed up and things attempted that would fail, punctuating the statement with an, "Oh, well."

He was right about that, too.

"I'm really secure about the way things are going, confident but also cautious," he added. "Do I think we'll be undefeated for 10 years? No. There will be some things that smack me in the face. Sometimes, you have to own up to some things. Sometimes, you do the wrong things. Sometimes, it's OK to let people see that you struggle. But we'll be all right."

So, the man's a football prophet.

Detmer's offense was more conservative than many would have liked, and it was altered from the attack he quarterbacked at BYU back in the early '90s, but he had reasons to play it the way he did. Foremost among them, he had the best Cougar running back ever to utilize. The argument could be made that Jamaal Williams should have gotten the ball even more than he did. He had 208 carries for 1,165 yards and 11 touchdowns, numbers that would have rocketed much higher had two things been different — if he had stayed healthy and if the offensive front had been better at grading the road.

Still, Detmer had marginal talent at receiver and a quarterback who wasn't a great passer. The coordinator made mistakes, at times, perhaps the most infamous the limited play-call at Utah on a two-point conversion that would have won the game for BYU. The play failed and the Cougars lost.

Oh, well.

There were other missteps.

But more triumphs.

Tuiaki's defense looked bad against West Virginia and Toledo, but overall finished 15th in the country in allowing just 19.4 points a game. That defense was generally aggressive and specifically proficient at causing turnovers, gaining 29 this season.

As for Sitake himself, there are things he wishes he'd done a bit different, although he doesn't get overly detailed on the matter, but he's optimistic about what will come next. He said he doesn't regret having Taysom Hill at quarterback this season, a disputed point among many observers, with Tanner Mangum, a more gifted passer, spinning footballs on his finger on the sideline: "Nah, it's Tanner's team now. He'll do great next season."

That season starts Wednesday, with the senior Hill out and done with an injury.

Sitake also indicated he's looking forward to the results of his recruiting, knowing that fine coaching is well and good, but that the real foundation of a program moving forward is built on the quality of its players. This is a purported area of strength for Sitake, evaluating talent and reeling it in, so much of the Cougars' ascent will depend on that strength being realized.

More than anything in his first year, Sitake wrapped his meaty arms around a team that needed his embrace. Bronco Mendenhall had his own set of strengths, but warmth wasn't one of them. Players such as offensive lineman Tuni Kanuch said Sitake changed the overall vibe, and made the Cougars feel like family: "There's a lot of love in him."

Somebody once said love is like a boomerang — you chuck it, you get it back.

There will be even more love for him if BYU finishes the season by beating Wyoming on Wednesday night, ending Sitake's first go-round with nine wins.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on the Zone Sports Network, 97.5 FM and 1280 AM. Twitter: @GordonMonson.