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Kalani Sitake shared two moments Tuesday during his BYU devotional about times in his life when he felt broken. Needless to say, that seemed like an rare thing to say for a top-25 college football coach.
But it’s not unusual for Sitake at all, two players said right after he became just the second BYU football coach to give a campus devotional in the school’s 150-year history.
“We just love knowing that our coach isn’t trying to act too cool or too tough,” said BYU co-captain and safety Tanner Wall, who is a graduate student working toward an MBA.
“He’s very willing to be vulnerable and share real, human emotions with us, and we’re able to do that with him as well know that he’s not going to judge us for that, but we’ll just feel loved and appreciated,” added Wall, who said the opening prayer at the devotional.
The player said those messages work.
“It’s meaningful for us to hear that from him, being someone who we respect and revere so highly,” Wall said. “We have teammates who are probably feeling similar to that, so it’s meaningful for them to hear that and draw a lot of strength and hope from him sharing those stories with us.”
Senior wide receiver Chase Roberts, who said the closing prayer, echoed BYU President Shane Reese, who introduced Sitake as “a true disciple of our Savior, Jesus Christ” who “walks the talk.”
“Kalani is the greatest example of just being Christ-like, just caring for people and loving people. He is who he is and is not ashamed of it,” Roberts said. “He’s going be who he wants to be, and that’s Christ-like.”
Perhaps the sweetest part of the devotional came after Sitake said when he was a fourth-grader broken-hearted by his parents’ divorce and a move from Hawaii to Utah, his BYU football hero, Vai Sikahema, consoled him and hugged him when the team visited Sitake’s elementary school. The moment healed him.
“Can you imagine how I feel now as I watch our players interact and connect with young people? It has to be more than just football, especially here,” Sitake said with evident emotion, as the video board behind him shared images of his football players hugging, talking to and laughing with children at practices and on school visits.
“That’s the main focus of why we play football at BYU,” Roberts said. “Of course we want to win games, but it’s really to win games so that we can have more of an impact on these kids, this younger generation, to be the light in their lives. That comes straight from Kalani and the messages that he shares in meetings, at games, practices — that’s his main focus.
“I think it comes a lot from that experience with Vai Sikahema and how it changed his life.”
For highlights from the devotional, which eventually will be available on BYUtv.org and at speeches.byu.org, watch this:
BYU also posted a fun video of a young staff member interviewing Sitake as they rode on a golf cart around campus:
My recent stories
“‘I was broken,’ BYU coach Kalani Sitake says at devotional, but God’s divine design healed him” (March 11)
“The football stories and life lessons LaVell Edwards shared at a campus devotional” (March 10)
About the church
At RootsTech, President Jeffrey R. Holland expressed gratitude for his father for bringing the priesthood and covenants into the family’s home.
The fires in Southern California were “essentially a megaphone to a deaf world,” President Holland said in a new video titled “Apostolic Comfort.” “We cry with you. We pray for you. You’re not forgotten,” he told Californians affected by the disaster.
Elder David A. Bednar and Sister Susan Bednar shared tender and funny stories and advice about marriage at BYU-Idaho to honor their 50th wedding anniversary. “You do not find the marriage you want to have. You create it,” Elder Bednar said.
Elder Neil L. Andersen shared gospel lessons he learned on the farm.
Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson shared her hope for women at an International Women’s Day celebration.
Four church leaders shared at RootsTech the things they wish more Latter-day Saints understood about temple and family history work.
Site work began for the Vancouver Washington Temple.
What I’m reading
Ten years ago, I covered the announcement by then-Elders Dallin H. Oaks and Jeffrey R. Holland that the church had launched the Fairness for All initiative that eventually fueled the Utah Compromise. My colleague Kelsey Dallas just looked back on some of what has happened since. Additionally, some of those who were involved in crafting the Utah Compromise combined to write a guest opinion piece about the effort.
I highly recommend this oral history about the day five years ago that the NBA postponed its season because COVID-19 hit a locker room. I love a good minute-by-minute recounting of big historical events, and this one is very interesting.
Take a look at the fun ideas being developed for what future commercial airplanes might look like, it’s pretty cool.
Behind the scenes
Sitake is the first BYU football player to serve as the school’s head coach since Edwin Kimball in 1948, so he knows the campus inside and out. He had campus-related jokes that were a big hit with students during the devotional:
- “The (192) stairs that connect the (Richards Building) to upper campus are actually worse than it looks. I’m still hopeful they’ll become escalators one day.”
- “Just save yourself all the trouble of trying to be creative with parking on campus and buy a parking pass. Trust me, they check the 15-minute parking spots every 10 minutes.”
- “Don’t worry … if you happen to get a C- in Biology, Physical Science and American Heritage, congratulations — you too can graduate from BYU.”
