The smoke around BYU finally became fire on Thursday.

The school has restructured its athletic department, splitting football off from the other 20 sports, the university confirmed to The Salt Lake Tribune.

That means BYU head football coach Kalani Sitake will now have a new boss. Sitake and athletic director Brian Santiago will both report to the same university vice president, with Santiago remaining over the 20 non-football sports. The Deseret News was first to report the changes.

“Today’s organizational adjustments reflect BYU’s commitment to invest in our student-athletes and strengthen our world-class programs,” BYU spokesperson Audrey Perry Martin said in a statement. “Brian Santiago remains BYU’s athletic director. We will continue adapting to the changing landscape of college athletics in a way that aligns with the university’s mission.”

The restructuring comes after weeks of Sitake hinting — sometimes subtly, sometimes not — that the football program needed more resources.

During an interview on July 30, Sitake pushed for more investment in the football program. He described missed opportunities as “low-hanging-fruit stuff” and added that “we’ve been given the challenge of doing the most with the least.”

When asked about those comments a couple of weeks later, Sitake told the media he was trying to focus on his team, but didn’t shut down the growing speculation.

“My agent’s going to handle all of that stuff,” Sitake said. “I’m going to focus on this year’s team. As long as I’m the head coach at BYU, I’m going to fight like crazy to make this a premier program. The players deserve that. The coaches deserve that, and most of all, Cougar Nation deserves that.”

He reiterated those comments Tuesday, saying, “I’ll let that stuff take care of itself. But I’m gonna focus on the team.”

Was Thursday’s shake-up a sign that stuff had been taken care of? Maybe. If nothing else, it shows that BYU felt it couldn’t let the situation continue into the season.

The change comes just nine days before the Cougars open their season against Utah Tech.

The restructuring will likely only fan the flames of the much-rumored disconnect between Santiago and Sitake.

Earlier this month, Sitake was asked about his relationship with Santiago.

“How’s my relationship with everybody?” Sitake said. “I’m easy to get along with as long as you take care of our football team.”

Sitake is entering his 11th season as BYU’s head coach. The Cougars have gone 23-4 over the past two years and are expected to compete for a Big 12 title this season.

The change follows another athletic department move at BYU. The Cougars recently hired Marc Hill as a deputy athletic director. Hill was previously at Kentucky, where he was the football administrator.