After BYU defeated Utah on Saturday night in Provo, Kalani Sitake could have opened his postgame press conference any way he wanted to.
But after a quick opening statement, he chose to take some time to praise for Utah’s head coach.
“I just want to take some time to express my love for Kyle Whittingham,” Sitake said. “I think a lot of times people misunderstand him because of the competitiveness that we have. And if we’re all getting judged on our competitiveness, I think sometimes that makes it hard for people to understand. I’m just going to tell you that he’s a mentor of mine. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him, and there’s a lot of us on this coaching staff that wouldn’t be here it weren’t for him.
“He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever known, and so I appreciate him. I told him at pregame before, regardless of the result, I hope he knows how much I appreciate him. And I hope our people, our fans can understand that he’s extremely competitive, but he’s a great man.”
Sitake coached under Whittingham at Utah from 2005-14 and has never been shy about praising his mentor and friend, who he has now defeated in three consecutive matchups after Whittingham won each of their first four meetings.
“He took a chance on me, made me a coordinator, mentored me,” Sitake said. “... I hope the Utah fans appreciate him and what he’s done there, but I just want to make sure that everybody knows that and just give him his flowers for what he’s done and hope everybody can just appreciate him for the man that he is, the coach and everything that he’s been, as a mentor to me.”
Kalani Sitake urges respect, love
With BYU’s recently rivalry success against Utah, Sitake also encouraged Cougar fans to remain respectful, avoid pride and keep everything in perspective.
“This is great, we got a win and you know, we got a little bit of a streak here going, and so I’m not trying to tell fans what to do, because we told them not to storm the field and they did it anyways, but I just hope that our fans would understand that, you know, we’re on a win streak right now, we know what it felt like to be on the other side of that before,” Sitake said. “The majority of our fans do, but show respect to our opponents. I just feel like it’s really important for me to say that at this time.
“... It’s like the pride cycle that we learn from the scriptures. If anyone can break the cycle (it’s by) being kind, and not stepping on your opponents when they’re down and trying to find ways to uplift them. I mean, we’re in the Big 12 together. It’s amazing. I never thought this would ever be possible that we’re in the Big 12 together and we get to play this game and be partners with this wonderful conference.”
In a video posted on X, Sitake reminded his team to “give Utah their credit.”
“We love those guys. It was a great battle. They brought the best out of us. You guys agree, yeah? ...
“Stick to the standard. Stay humble. Stay hungry.”
Last year after a last-minute victory over Utah in Rice-Eccles Stadium, Sitake gave a Christ-centered speech to his team that encouraged love for their opponents and referenced his time at the University of Utah.
“If it weren’t for this place I wouldn’t be your coach,” he said. “ ... Don’t you guys agree that they are ours, they’re our family? That’s the beauty of following Christ and living your life that way, even playing the game of football.”
What’s next for BYU?
Though he was quite excited about BYU’s 24-21 win and 7-0 start to the season, Sitake made sure to note that the Cougars should be far from satisfied and still have plenty left ahead that they want to accomplish.
“It was a great game, and I’m just glad that we were able to get that victory, but you know, we’ve got to figure some things out for next week, because last year we won this game and we didn’t win the next one (against Kansas),” Sitake said. “So as emotional and as excited as we are to win this game, I got 9 a.m. church tomorrow. I’ve got to be there, so we’ve got to put this one away, then move on and find ways to stay humble, stay hungry and get ready for the next week because this does take a lot out of you.”
