Kalani Sitake is about to make BYU history.
For the first time in the university’s 150-year history — yes, we know football hasn’t been played that entire time — a current football coach will deliver a campus devotional during spring practice.
The only other sitting football coach to deliver a campus devotional was future College Football Hall of Famer LaVell Edwards way back in 1976. He gave his talk on June 15 that year, long after spring practice was over and well before fall practice began.
It was also 24 years before BYU’s football stadium was named for Edwards.
There is a direct line to draw from Edwards to Sitake. It is baldly evident in the wisdom Edwards relayed in 1976 — he shared four universal, relatable and timeless lessons learned from coaching football — and the way Sitake runs the program today.
The 4 timeless lessons LaVell Edwards shared in 1976
Sitake, 49, played for Edwards. He has said repeatedly that Edwards was the example for the “love and learn” culture Sitake has cultivated in the football program.
After BYU beat Utah in November, Sitake said this about love in a football setting:
“It’s what tough guys do,” Sitake said. “(Coach Edwards) taught me that lesson, and then all I did was try to love as many people as I could, and now they’re here with me and I call them my brothers. And so who knows what can happen and the relationships you can have by just being kind and being Christlike. ... That’s the beauty of the gospel in football. There’s nothing like it, and that’s what tough guys do.”
Edwards was 45 when he spoke in 1976. He said that he had long tried to visualize what a spiritual person looked like, and he had come to decide that “a spiritual person can indeed reside in each one of us without changing our basic personality. The Lord made us different for his purposes.”
The coach shared four ways to become a spiritual person within the framework of one’s own personality — develop self-control, follow a clearly defined set of goals, be of service to others and be receptive to the Holy Ghost.
Football and self-control
Edwards was legendary for many reasons. He still ranks ninth on the all-time list for Division I coaching victories with 257. (Sitake has 72.) While those who knew him quickly found out that he was hilarious, his national image included what some referred to as a face of granite on the sidelines. That was partially a sign of a carefully, intentionally cultivated self-control.
He considered it a sign of character and that it had both practical and spiritual application.
“I believe, first of all, before that we can become a spiritual person, or before we can become anything, we must develop the ability to control ourselves,” he said.
“Early in my coaching career, there were times when I didn’t exercise great self control, whether it be on the sidelines, whether it be in my relationships with those that were under my charge. At that time, I can think back on a few games that were lost, on a few players that quit the teams as a result of this, and as I think back on it now I have sorrow for missing the opportunity of creating a positive experience in the lives of some of these young people.”
He made a very conscious decision, one that not only led to the Hall of Fame but to the development of hundreds of men like Sitake.
“I came to grips with myself that if I were going to stay in this business, and that if I were going to be a success in this business, that I would need to develop the capacity or the ability to control myself in all situations and to try and be a positive influence in the lives of those that I had the opportunity of working with,” he said.
“We can discipline ourselves to whatever degree that’s important to us, and it is extremely important to each one of us,” he added.
The player who dedicated himself to clear goals that led to an NFL career
Edwards told a story about Orrin Olsen, whose two older brothers had played in the NFL before he committed to play at BYU. Olsen was a successful defensive player in his first two seasons — he was an honorable mention all-conference defensive end as a sophomore. But Edwards told him the team needed him to switch to offense and play center the following year, and that it would give him the best chance to play professional football.
He also told Olsen he would be removed from the game on fourth down because the team would need a deep snapper to deliver the ball 13 yards backward to the punter in 7/10ths of a second.
“One of the things that I believe that I found or noticed probably more than any since I have been in coaching (is) those that do not succeed, whether it be in the field of athletics, whether it be in the classroom or whether it be in life, I believe are those people that fail to realize the real potential they have,” Edwards said. “I know this is true with a lot of athletes, they don’t fully realize what they can become and what they can do, and therefore they do not establish goals for themselves, or at least high enough goals for themselves.”
Olsen set a clear goal for himself. He asked to borrow a helmet, pads, a jersey and a football for the summer. He practiced in 95- to 100-degree heat. When he returned in the fall, Edwards said Olsen became the first player he’d had in 25 years coaching who could complete the deep snap in 7/10ths of a second. Olsen was the all-conference center in each of his final two years and then played for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Be of service to people
Edwards said he told his teams that there are four kinds of players — those that make things happen, those that watch things happen, those that wonder what happened and those that don’t realize that anything ever happened.
“We need to be people that make things happen,” he said, “and the way that we can make things happen is to be of service to people.”
He said peace comes from within and acts of service provide a peaceful feeling inside.
Last season, Sitake’s BYU team committed itself to an act of service for African students seeking higher education through BYU–Pathway Worldwide.
Be receptive to the Holy Ghost
Edwards was a dedicated member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout his life. Church President Gordon B. Hinckley stood on the field at Cougar Stadium on Nov. 18, 2000, to honor him by declaring the facility would be renamed LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Edwards said to have the Holy Ghost be a living a part of oneself, “it must be fed, it must be nurtured, it must be taken care of. And we can only do this through prayer, through study, through adhering to the voice of the prophet, to our bishop, to our branch President, to our quorum leaders, and to all those that have an interest and our welfare at heart.”
He testified that the gospel of Jesus Christ is real and that he was dedicated to it.
“I can’t think of anything that I do that isn’t revolved around that which I believe. It’s a part of me.”
Edwards guided BYU to a National Championship in 1984 and to 19 conference championships. In April 2001, months after he retired, he delivered another BYU devotional.
How to watch Kalani Sitake give BYU’s devotional on Tuesday, March 11
Sitake will speak Tuesday at 11:05 a.m. to what is expected to be a large crowd — devotionals are free and open to the public, by the way — at the Marriott Center on campus. The devotional will be broadcast on BYUtv, BYUtv.org, KBYU-TV 11, Classical 89 FM, BYUradio 107.9 FM and SiriusXM 143.
Sitake is no stranger to speaking at devotionals. The team regularly holds devotionals the night before road games. And in June 2023, Sitake spoke at a BYU Athletics fireside/devotional from the pulpit on the floor of the Marriott Center.
He talked about the heartbreak Cougar Nation experienced in 2020 when No. 8 BYU lost to Coastal Carolina. BYU’s final play fell 1 yard short of the winning touchdown. The coach said everyone faces difficult moments and that the best way to approach them is to follow Jesus Christ’s example.
“He fills in that extra yard,” Sitake said, per The Daily Universe. He added, “As we talk about Christ in our program, I tell (the players), ‘Let’s follow the toughest guy who ever walked on this earth: Jesus Christ. Let’s follow his teachings and do what he did.’”
