BYU assistant Ilaisa Tuiaki trying to slow down the USU offense he once coached

Provo • Utah State’s eye-popping 61-10 win over San Jose State last Saturday brought both joy and sadness for BYU defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki, a former USU running backs and special teams coach.

It was sweet because Tuiaki still has a lot of friends on the USU staff, including coach Matt Wells. It was bitter because Tuiaki must figure out a way to slow quarterback Kent Myers, tight end Dax Raymond, running back LaJuan Hunt and USU’s usual fleet of speedy receivers when the instate rivals fight for the Old Wagon Wheel on Friday night in Logan. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. at Maverik Stadium.

“They are now playing with some confidence,” said Tuiaki, who got his collegiate coaching start at Utah State if you don’t count a year at Utah as a graduate assistant.

The 38-year-old Tuiaki first coached at Kearns High then was G.A. for a year (2008) before then-Utah defensive coordinator Gary Andersen replaced Brent Guy and got the USU program turned around, with Tuiaki’s help.

“I had a great time there, made a lot of friends, recruited a lot of kids, and so it is a special place to me,” Tuiaki said. “I loved it there. Really loved it there. The age of my kids at that time, it was fun to be with them and just kinda go through that and go through the building process with Gary Andersen. Yeah, I love Utah State. I love Logan.”

Tuiaki, a Provo native, was 1-2 against BYU in his three years at USU. The Cougars won 35-17 at home in 2009, but USU ended a 10-game losing skid to its biggest rival in 2010, winning 31-16 in BYU QB Jake Heaps’ freshman season. BYU won 27-24 in 2011 when Logan native Riley Nelson led a fourth-quarter comeback.

In 2012, Tuiaki went back to the University of Utah at the request of his current boss, then-Utah defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake.

That’s where Tuiaki moved over to the defensive side. After coaching running backs and tight ends his first season as a full-time Utah coach (2012), Tuiaki took Sitake’s advice and began scheming how to stop offenses from moving the ball.

“This was a good thing,” Tuiaki said. “A friend asked me to do something, and I stepped in and did it.”

In 2015, Sitake was hired by Andersen, now at Oregon State, to direct the Beavers’ defense, and Tuiaki followed his boyhood friend to Corvallis, where he was the linebackers and special teams coach.

“I got to see him kinda grow up as a coach, and when he came back to Utah with me, that connection was still there,” said Sitake, who was Tuiaki’s position coach at Southern Utah. “We went to Oregon State together and now we are here. It makes sense, if you look at our timeline, with how much we connect, and also our personal thing. Our families are connected and great friends.”

Sitake said Tuiaki’s background as an offensive coach at USU prepared him to be a better defensive coordinator.

“I think he is doing a great job,” Sitake said.

That’s true even though the Cougars are off to a 1-3 start. Most have fingered the offense as the culprit, but Tuiaki says the defensive coaches and players have to share the blame.

BYU safety Zayne Anderson, a junior who played under the Bronco Mendenhall defensive regime in 2015, said Tuiaki has a much different style than Mendenhall and former BYU DC Nick Howell.

“Coach Tuiaki is a funny guy,” Anderson said. “He’s a really smart guy, makes good play calls and puts us in the right position. … He’s not as intense as some coaches, but he still expects a lot from us.”

Tuiaki is looking forward to his homecoming, even if he will be wearing a different shade of blue.

“The Cache Valley is full of both types of fans, Utah State and BYU fans,” he said. “It is a big game for not only that valley, but the players as well.”