Kalani Sitake is coming off his best season as BYU’s head football coach — an 11-1 record, a No. 11 finish in The Associated Press poll and a team led by quarterback Zach Wilson, who’s expected to be a high first-round selection in next month’s NFL draft.
So, would that success translate to Sitake being ranked among the nation’s best coaches? On Thursday, The Athletic’s Chris Vannini released his top 15 rankings of the nation’s top Group of Five coaches, and Sitake landed at No. 13.
“Sitake’s status seemed up in the air not long ago, but last year’s 11-1 season brought fans back to the glory days of BYU football. He’s 38-26 in five years, with four winning seasons,” Vannini wrote. “The expectations at BYU are high as an independent. Now the Cougars move into a new era with the departure of quarterback Zach Wilson.”
Two days before Vannini’s list came out, two of his colleagues — Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel — released their rankings of the nation’s top 25 college football coaches, and Sitake was not on either list. Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, however, was No. 12 on Feldman’s list and No. 15 on Mandel’s.
One of the coaches who just missed being ranked in Vannini’s top 15 was Utah State’s Blake Anderson, the first-year coach from Arkansas State.