BYU head coach Kalani Sitake is trying to keep things simple in the face of huge expectations in 2026.
After going to the Big 12 Championship game and losing to Texas Tech, the Cougars are a trendy pick to get over the hump and win the title. They should be competitive with the Red Raiders, who are seen as the favorites, along with Houston, which many peg as the league’s third-best team.
Six of Sitake’s players made the all-Big 12 preseason team. Running back L.J. Martin was named the conference’s preseason player of the year. The Notre Dame contest, set for Oct. 17 in Provo, looms large on the schedule.
Sitake, who played for the legendary LaVell Edwards, seemed remarkably chill for a coach poised to help his program break through as a Big 12 champion and a College Football Playoff participant. He could emphasize many things with his team as they prepare for fall workouts.
Kalani Sitake’s Four-Word Focus
But Sitake, as he explained at Big 12 Media Days, is trying to keep things as simple as possible. After winning 12 games, he’s urged his players to align with a four-word mantra designed to be simple and focused — “stay humble and stay hungry.”
“I think the goal for us is to always stay humble, stay hungry,” Sitake said. “Our culture is built on love and learn, which means that those are the things that you have to be working on. You can’t sit there and rest on anything that you’ve accomplished.”
It could have been a much different offseason in Provo had Penn State successfully pried Sitake away after the season. BYU signed him to a long-term extension, and while the Cougars didn’t disclose the terms it’s believe he’s one of the game’s highest-paid coaches. On3 reported the annual salary at $9 million. The deal also reportedly included NIL commitments and an increase to his assistant coach salary pool.
BYU has won at least 11 games in each of the last two seasons after going 5-7 in its first season in the Big 12. Before that, Sitake led the Cougars to a pair or double-digit win seasons in 2020 and 2021 as an independent.
He has 11 returning starters, with a lean toward his defense, and did have to replace defensive coordinator Jay Hill, who followed Kyle Whittingham to Michigan. Former special teams coach Kelly Poppinga will be the new defensive coordinator.
After narrowly missing a CFP berth last season the Cougars also return quarterback Bear Bachmeier, who Sitake expects to take a significant jump in 2026. If he does, the Cougars may just follow him straight into a playoff. But he won’t take anything for granted.
“Complacency has never been part of the equation,” Sitake said. “The goal for us is to try to find ways to get better. It’s not just get better in football. It’s how can we improve in everything in our life? How can they make one thing better every day? How can they show a little bit more discipline and have that transform into the field and help us be in a position to get victories?”
