Exactly a week after Brian Santiago was introduced as BYU’s director of athletics last May, the longtime athletics administrator and the school were hit by a public relations crisis that drew national, and negative, attention to the faith-based school.
On May 21, 2025, starting quarterback Jake Retzlaff was accused in a civil lawsuit of sexually assaulting a woman at his Provo apartment in November of the previous year. As a BYU senior associate AD since 2008 and outgoing BYU AD Tom Holmoe’s right-hand man since 2017, Santiago knew right away that how he and the school handled the situation would be remembered for years to come.
“Three days into (his first full week on the job), we had some tough situations arise,” Santiago said. “All of a sudden you just realize really fast that you are not calling anybody else this time. In fact, the phone calls are coming here. So right off the bat, there was an adjustment.”
The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice on June 30 by a Salt Lake City judge at the request of both parties, but Retzlaff ended up transferring to Tulane rather than serve a seven-game suspension for violating BYU’s honor code — and Santiago had a notable memory from his first months as AD at a power conference school.
That Retzlaff spoke positively about BYU throughout his season at Tulane and returned to participate in pro day in Provo can be viewed as a win for the AD and the administration as a whole.
Reflecting on the first year
Santiago sat down with the Deseret News last Thursday for a one-on-one discussion about a variety of topics and reflected on his first year as the point man on all things BYU athletics. Having been introduced as Holmoe’s replacement on May 14, 2025, Santiago said that when last Wednesday came, marking his one-year anniversary, that he didn’t realize he had hit the milestone until this news outlet requested an interview on the subject.
“It was the first time I had even thought about it, that it has been a year,” he said. “Wow, time flies.”
Bottom line, said the father of four who will become a grandparent next month, along with his wife Kimberly, is that it “has been a great experience” filled with all the highs and lows imaginable for a person who oversees BYU’s 21 varsity athletic teams (11 women’s teams, 10 men’s teams) and their coaches.
“I am just so super grateful for this opportunity. I have always felt this way — that this is way bigger than one person. We are all doing this together. It is a message that I talk about with our staff all the time,” he said. “We have to be united, and we have to do this together. If we keep doing that, I think that we can continue to do this in a great way and hope that college athletics gets some semblance of calm waters. We need some calmness across the board.”
Indeed, the landscape of college athletics has changed more in the past year than at any time in recent memory, and Santiago is here for it, he said, with his typical “bring it on” attitude.
“All of it is happening in the midst of the greatest shift in collegiate sports in the history of time,” he said. “These are very unique times. We are trying to navigate them the best we can.”
Santiago said the department has been prepared not only by Holmoe, but the entire BYU administration, from President C. Shane Reese to advancement Vice President Keith Vorkink (who oversees athletics) to other members of the President’s Council.
“It has been a great experience, mostly just because of the people at BYU — our coaches, our senior administrative team, our student-athletes,” he said. “This is just a very special, unique place. I feel super humbled to be the athletic director. … We feel total alignment with our administration, and that’s certainly an alignment that matches with the governing board of the school.”
Retaining Sitake and Young, replacing others
Perhaps Santiago’s greatest accomplishment in Year 1 was retaining head football coach Kalani Sitake last December when Penn State threw big bags of cash at the 11-year BYU head coach. Losing Sitake to the Big Ten school would have greatly slowed the momentum that the BYU football program — 23-4 in its last two seasons — has gained as it enters its fourth season in the Big 12.
“That was huge. What can get lost is the incredible success they’re having,” Santiago said. “The last two years, there were absolutely no expectations of our football team. We were picked to finish last (in 2024) and we tied for the conference (regular-season) championship.
“We lose our quarterback (Retzlaff) a couple months before the season, and all expectations go off the table,” he continued. “Then we play for the conference championship. It is just a tip of the cap to Kalani and the football team. Then we go win a huge bowl game, the Pop-Tarts Bowl, where there was a massive (television) audience, 8.7 million viewers, if I am not mistaken.”
Santiago credited the entire BYU administration, boosters and players themselves for pitching in to keep Sitake in one so-called Happy Valley, and away from the other.
“I believe we have some of the best coaches in all of sport right here, so to be able to see Kalani choose BYU (over Penn State) was a massive momentum-builder,” he said. “Kevin Young choosing BYU (again) was big. We’ve been able to make some coaching changes that I think have elevated some of our programs. There’s positive momentum, and there is so much good going on here.”
Yes, Santiago made a couple of bold moves relative to fairly successful coaches whose programs had stagnated, perhaps underachieved, the past few years.
The school announced in December that women’s volleyball coach Heather Olmstead was leaving “to pursue new professional avenues” after 11 mostly successful seasons in Provo, but Olmstead has yet to publicly announce where those avenues took her, giving credence to some unsourced reports that she was forced out.
Santiago hired former BYU star and current Utah State coach Rob Neilson as Olmstead’s replacement on Dec. 23.
BYU parted ways last month with 11-year gymnastics coach Guard Young, despite the former BYU gymnast having earned Big 12 Coach of the Year honors on March 21 after a third-place conference finish. In a statement, Santiago said it was the “right time for a change in leadership that can take BYU gymnastics to the next level.”
Santiago promoted assistant Natalie Broekman to head gymnastics coach on May 4.
“I have come to depend on all these incredible people,” Santiago said. “We have leaders in the industry all around me, surrounding me. They help us continue the positive momentum. There’s so much positive momentum in BYU athletics that I feel like we all built together. I want to continue to lift, build and empower the people around here.”
Freshmen made first year a memorable one
At the Big 12 football media days gathering last July, Santiago predicted that his first year at the helm would be considered the “year of the freshmen at BYU,” and he was absolutely correct — even while not knowing then that freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier would win the starting job and lead the Cougars to a 12-2 record.
Last fall, freshman Jane Hedengren served notice that she was the real deal by setting a course record in a cross-country race before nationals, then placing second at nationals. Since then, she’s broken numerous course, track and school records, and most recently won the 5,000-meters title at Big 12 Track and Field Championships.
Basketball star AJ Dybantsa took over from there, leading the country in scoring, earning consensus All-America honors, and most likely becoming the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA draft. Dybantsa did that all while embracing everything that BYU is and stands for, much to the delight of Santiago and everyone else associated with the school operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Golfer Kihei Akina won two college tournaments this spring, and also tied for 16th at a PGA Tour event, the Puerto Rico Open.
“We have this incredible freshman class,” Santiago said. “You can’t not talk about Bear Bachmeier, Jane Hedengren, Kihei Akina and AJ Dybantsa. What a class.
“Jane is widely considered, at her age, maybe the best runner in the world. AJ is going to be the No. 1 pick. There’s a Bear on the loose in Provo. This guy came in and just captivated college football. … Kihei Akina is a top-10-ranked golfer in the country as a freshman and has literally carried our team. We have a chance to do something special with these freshmen leading out.”
Indeed, Bachmeier’s return, Sitake’s retainment and the success in 2025 means interest in BYU football is at an all-time high — and paying dividends. Count the home-and-home football scheduling agreement with Notre Dame, including the Irish’s visit to Provo this coming October, another of Santiago’s big wins in his first year, regardless of how the game plays out on the field.
Santiago: Injuries derailed BYU basketball season
Of course, there were some disappointments for the former Fresno State point guard and BYU sports, most notably in the other marquee sport, men’s basketball. A team that was picked No. 8 in the AP Top 25 preseason poll and expected to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament — perhaps get BYU to the Final Four for the first time in school history — failed to meet expectations in Young’s second season.
The Cougars lost in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament and were bounced by Texas in the opening round of the Big Dance.
“Super unfortunate that we had a couple of our best players, Richie Saunders and Dawson Baker, go down,” Santiago said. “Richie was kind of the heart and soul of our team. But we still captivated the nation with what was happening with basketball. … There have been some remarkable stories of individuals, athletes and coaches across all of our sports.”
Santiago said he continues to believe in Young and his staff, and hinted that signing the former NBA assistant to a contract extension on June 5 after Young led BYU to a Sweet 16 appearance in his first season in Provo was done to keep Young from returning to the NBA as a head coach.
“I just feel like we’re in a really strong place and am super grateful for it,” he said. “Super grateful for the people that make it happen. … Our student-athletes are remarkable and they inspire us. That’s why we all choose to be here is because we have some of the most incredibly talented and high-character kids in all of the country.
“We are going to continue to build. We have to chase greatness, but we gotta do it the BYU way. It is the only way that works here.”
Another first-year “win” that can’t be overstated: Football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball combined to go 6-0 against rival Utah in Santiago’s first year.
BYU’s women’s sports lead out — again
Technically, it was Holmoe who hired former BYU men’s basketball standout Lee Cummard to replace Amber Whiting, because the hiring happened on March 31, 2025 — about six weeks before Santiago was promoted. But Santiago’s fingerprints were all over the hiring, and it appears to be a good one.
The program recently doubled its win total from the previous season, finishing 26-12 and defeating rival Utah three times en route to making it to the finals of the WBIT. There is a renewed sense of optimism that BYU women’s basketball can compete in the Big 12.
“Lee Cummard comes in, elevates the women’s basketball program, and they make that postseason run (winning nine of their last 11 games),” Santiago said. “Those are some of the things that stand out.”
Last fall, while BYU’s women’s volleyball was underachieving and eventually losing star players to the transfer portal, the school’s women’s soccer team continued to amaze. Under the direction of Hall of Fame-bound coach Jennifer Rockwood, the Cougars shrugged off a mediocre regular season — by their standards — and won the Big 12 tournament. Then they reached the Sweet 16 of the College Cup before falling to No. 1 seed Stanford.
Led by the incomparable Hedengren and another BYU women’s coach seemingly destined for the Hall of Fame — Diljeet Taylor — the Cougars almost won the NCAA Women’s Cross Country Championships last fall, finishing as the national runner-up to North Carolina State.
“We have had some really remarkable individual and team success, but what gets me most excited is that people are starting to see through the window of BYU athletics in a bigger and bigger way on a bigger and bigger stage,” Santiago said. “The unique nature of this institution, and the church, is being seen, and that is super important.
“It goes back to that alignment, I’ve been talking about that, for me as the athletic director, when you sit in this seat, you understand at a new level how important that mission is. It is not just about the success of the teams. We have to do this the right way, or none of it matters.”
Although time didn’t allow the Deseret News to ask Santiago specifically about two spring sports — softball and baseball — that have struggled mightily in their three seasons in the Big 12, the AD will have some big decisions to make regarding those teams’ coaches in the coming weeks.
“If we are not excellent, we don’t really have a story to tell,” he said. “If we’re mediocre and we’re not winning, there’s not the same interest in our program, and our programs. But when we win at a high level, and we’re doing it in a unique and beautiful way, there are a lot of people super interested in BYU.”
And interest in BYU’s spring sports — not counting the always-reliable track and field programs — seems to be at an all-time low.
One last tribute to Tom Holmoe
Before he discussed his first year in detail, Santiago wanted to pay tribute to Holmoe, who announced his retirement in February 2025 after 20 years as BYU’s AD. In January, Holmoe and his wife, Lori, were called by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be mission leaders in the California Oakland/San Francisco Mission.
They will begin their three-year assignment in July.
“I have been here for 29 years, and I got to come to work every day with one of my closest friends, Tom, my mentor in the business,” Santiago said. “I’ve missed him quite a bit. We were together almost every day for 20 years.”
Santiago said he gets together with Holmoe a couple times a month to take long walks around BYU’s campus and get advice.
“I told him that I may need to make a call and have him reassigned to be a mission leader right here, in BYU athletics,” Santiago said, joking. “The reality of it is, when you’re in something every day with someone, and as close as we were, as in sync as much as we were, it is hard (to cut if off).”
Santiago said Holmoe has helped him navigate the “chaos” that college sports have become.
“I keep saying we want to chase greatness, and do it the BYU way, and I feel like we have made some significant strides that way, and have continued that momentum during some great changes that have created some chaos,” he said. “I don’t think there is an athletic director or school president anywhere in the country that’s not feeling the same chaos. It is chaos, but we are doing our best to manage it.”
