Last month, Kalani Sitake and his wife, Timberly, welcomed a new baby into their family — the BYU football coach even shared a photo on Instagram of him cuddling with newborn Sylvia.
The family addition is one of many exciting changes for the 46-year-old head coach, who’s led his program to a 21-4 record over the past two years and has BYU ranked No. 25 in the preseason Associated Press poll heading into 2022.
“I’m loving it. I forgot how much I enjoyed holding a newborn in my arms,” Sitake said during an appearance on “The Jim Rome Show” on Wednesday.
The Sitakes have three older children — Skye is 18, Sadie is 15 and Kelaokalani (KK) is 12 — but father said that just means “we have a lot of built-in babysitters for me and my wife.”
“It just feels like this newborn in our life completes what we needed. It’s nice to have Sylvia with us. The great timing of having our baby before the football season, it works out well for a football coach,” Sitake said.
“We’re just so happy, and the home is a fun place to be. I don’t mind getting a little less sleep when we have such a lovely baby.”
Here are three other top quotes from Sitake’s appearance on the show.
On quarterback Jaren Hall’s development
“Jaren’s been an amazing leader for us. (We’re) letting him feel like this is his offense, this is his team.
“I really like our quarterback room — I think (offensive coordinator and QBs coach) Aaron Roderick has done an amazing job with that group, and the mentoring he’s been able to do with Jaren, but also allowing Jaren to feel like this is his baby.
“... I think we can trust him going into this season and it’s going to be a lot of fun. I can’t wait to see him go.”
On challenging his veteran team
“This camp, because we’ve got a lot of returning production and a lot of veterans coming back, I thought it was important we give them a different type of camp experience. One example is we had a pretty tough and physical scrimmage on Saturday, and then turned around and did it again on Tuesday, and had no complaints from the players. That’s because of the great leaders.
“If I want leaders to step up, I need to give them opportunities to lead. The best leaders show up when adversity hits. … I like how they’ve answered the challenges we’ve given to them.”
On managing expectations for the season
“Once we got into camp, the focus has been on 2022 and on what we can do to give our seniors and our outgoing players this year the best opportunity to show up and make sure they get the best experience they can have.
“We know what everyone else is talking about — the expectations from everyone — and the one thing I want to do is match the expectations that our fans have for us and make them happy.
“At the same time, my focus is going to be on these young men who’ve given so much to the program.”