Again and again during this past season, and the season before, Kalani Sitake said it was BYU football’s intention “to improve” and “to get better.” He repeated some version of that refrain a hundred times, a thousand times, a hundred-thousand times.
It was more than an intention, it was a necessity, the only acceptable thing. There was nothing optional about it. The Cougars “had to” elevate and enhance and refine themselves.
It mattered little whether BYU won or lost, even if it won big. His postgame and postseason comments forever dialed in on his team’s shortcomings. He couldn’t and can’t help it, that’s just Sitake’s nature. Perhaps it stems from the way he was raised. The successes are OK and all, they pat him on the back, they give him a shot of adrenaline, and ultimately they gave him a huge boost in pay. But the failures … those durn failures trouble him, they irk him, they punch him straight in the face.
He simply can’t look past them, he can’t leave them unspoken, he can’t let them be. He’s not a sourpuss, not a negative dude, but imperfection stays with him, like a shadow he can’t shake.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) BYU Cougars quarterback Bear Bachmeier (47) runs for a touchdown as BYU hosts TCU, NCAA football in Provo on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025.
After Bear Bachmeier’s stellar outing in BYU’s bowl win over Georgia Tech, when Sitake was asked afterward about his quarterback’s performance, he muttered something or other about the freshman still having to learn, there was that one interception … blah, blah-blah, blah-blah … but, you know, he kinda did pretty well. Ya think? He threw for 325 yards and a touchdown, completing 27 of 38 throws, and bringing the Cougars back for the Pop-Tarts victory.
Yeah, get Sitake alone in a private, quiet space, and the man might even confess that the negatives feel worse than the positives feel good.
And for BYU, that’s not a bad thing, it’s a really good thing.
It’s the exact thing the Cougars need.
Ignore the fact that they’ve gone 23-4 over those two seasons. Focus more on this fact: There have been no conference championships, no invitations to the College Football Playoff, and a significant mark left on them from two beatdowns by Texas Tech.
Here’s what Sitake knows: Being good at being good isn’t good enough. Greatness is what BYU is looking for, working for, playing and paying for.
That’s one of the reasons he stayed on at BYU when he could have gone to Penn State. Indeed, the financial offer to him by the powers that be in Provo was substantial, but he was convinced by someone — including maybe himself — that the commitment and resources are in place there to attain the excellence that he’s sought and that he seeks.
Imperative and impressive it is, then, that Sitake has happily held on for dear life during the current transfer portal, retaining the services of almost all of his best players, despite Michigan’s luring away defensive coordinator Jay Hill and cornerbacks coach Jernaro Gilford. Check out the names. Faletau Satuala is coming back. Evan Johnson is back. Isaiah Glasker is back. Therrian Alexander is back. Keanu Tanuvasa is back. Siale Esera is back, and more. On the flip side, Bachmeier is back. LJ Martin is back. Bruce Mitchell is back. Parker Kingston is back. Everybody who’s anybody is back.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) BYU Cougars wide receiver Parker Kingston (11) runs for a touchdown as BYU hosts TCU, NCAA football in Provo on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025.
Does keeping those guys make the Cougars better or does it just help them not to get worse? You could fairly assume that each of those players, with more experience and more training, more familiarization during the offseason, will advance their games in the season ahead. Especially Bachmeier, the babyfaced quarterback who did this past season what freshman QBs almost never do — enable their team to thrive while growing into their role.
Add to that those who are incoming — transfers such as tight end Walker Lyons from USC, linebacker Cade Uluave from Cal, receiver Kyler Kasper from Oregon, offensive lineman Paki Finau from Washington, offensive lineman Zak Yamauchi from Stanford, offensive lineman JR Sia from Utah State, linebacker Jake Clifton from Kansas State.
It appears Sitake has not healed up from the hurt he felt — and feels, still — from the double-barreled blasts inflicted by the Red Raiders upon him and his team. He’s fully aware there is mileage to make up from nyah to nyah. And he also knows it’s a good bet that TTU and a few others inside the Big 12 will advance and are advancing themselves this offseason.
BYU not only “has to” get better than it was last time around, it has to get better than its league opponents who are getting better, too. It has to knock down doors in college football that have remained shut, even as BYU has stepped up and stepped forward. And the Cougars — the school, its administration, its boosters, its coaches — seem motivated to do that.
It’s easy for some teams — in college and in the pros, in leagues of all sorts and all sports — to get good and just sort of stay good. Good for them is, in fact, good enough.
That’s not Sitake. It’s not BYU, either. Not anymore. For all of major college sports’ faults, with the way they are done nowadays, extraordinary it is that traditional blue bloods are not the only ones who can flex some muscle. The Cougars aim to flex and flex some more.
In doing so, Sitake just might shake that shadow, the one that’s vexed him, by his way of thinking, for far too long.