When BYU’s Kalani Sitake and Utah’s Morgan Scalley made their way to Frisco, Texas, nearly two weeks ago for Big 12 football media days, they represented opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of head coaching experience.
Sitake is now the longest-tenured Big 12 head coach after Kyle Whittingham left Utah and landed at Michigan, Mike Gundy was let go at Oklahoma State, Matt Campbell went from Iowa State to Penn State and Chris Klieman retired at Kansas State.
Scalley, meanwhile, is one of four first-year head coaches in the conference.
“So I’m the old guy now? That’s cool,” Sitake told reporters in Frisco when discussing his longest-tenured status.
Recently, reporters at two national media outlets — USA Today’s Jordan Mendoza and On3’s Brett McMurphy — released their rankings of Big 12 head coaches going into the 2026 season.
What these analysts said about BYU’s Kalani Sitake
Sitake, who is headed into his 11th season as BYU’s coach, has led the Cougars to a 23-4 record over the past two years. That included going 12-2 last season, reaching the Big 12 championship game and finishing the year ranked No. 11 in the Associated Press poll.
While Sitake’s teams have come up agonizingly short of reaching the College Football Playoff the past two seasons, the work he has done is reflected in both Mendoza’s and McMurphy’s lists.
Both have him ranked as the Big 12’s No. 1 head coach going into 2026.
“Even without a playoff appearance, Sitake has built himself into the standard of coaching. He’s had winning seasons in eight of his 10 campaigns at his alma mater, the most of any other coach in the league, and he’s 57-20 since 2020,” Mendoza wrote.
“That comes with back-to-back 11-win seasons, with the Cougars finding their footing in the Big 12 and on the fringe of making the playoff, with a great chance to be back in the conversation one more time. There’s a reason Penn State wanted this man.”
A bit controversially, both Mendoza and McMurphy ranked Sitake ahead of Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire and Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham, the two Big 12 coaches who’ve led their teams to the CFP during the past two years, the Red Raiders last season and the Sun Devils in 2024.
Mendoza ranked McGuire No. 2 and Dillingham third, while McMurphy reversed those rankings.
Sitake’s consistency, though, earned him the top spot.
“In the past two years in the Big 12, no one has done it better than Kalani Sitake. The BYU alum has led the Cougars to a 15-3 record in Big 12 play, the league’s best mark. Last year, the Cougars reached the Big 12 title game and in 2024 finished in a four-way tie for first place. Overall, BYU is 23-4 the past two seasons,” McMurphy wrote.
“Sitake enters his 11th year at BYU with an 84-45 record (.651), including double-digit wins in four of the past six seasons. Sitake’s success has garnered notice nationwide, including an offer from the Big Ten’s Penn State last year, which he turned down.”
What these analysts said about Utah’s Morgan Scalley
After serving as defensive coordinator at his alma mater for the past decade, Scalley has finally shed the head-coach-in-waiting tag at Utah and taken over the program.
For now, he appears low in these kinds of rankings — Mendoza has Scalley at No. 15 among the Big 12’s 16 head coaches, while McMurphy is more optimistic and rates Utah’s new coach at No. 12.
“Morgan Scalley‘s head coaching debut came earlier than expected, but he’s 1-0 after leading Utah to an easy victory against Nebraska in last year’s Las Vegas Bowl,” McMurphy wrote.
“Scalley has been part of Utah’s staff since 2006, including the past 10 years as defensive coordinator. In that stretch, Utah finished in the top half of the Pac-12 or Big 12 in total defense in nine of the 10 seasons.”
Here’s how the other first-year Big 12 coaches were ranked:
- Oklahoma State’s Eric Morris, who was head coach at North Texas the past three seasons, earned the highest rankings among the new coaches, coming in at No. 8 by McMurphy and No. 12 by Mendoza.
- Iowa State’s Jimmy Rogers, a head coach the past three years, including one at Washington State in 2025, is one spot ahead of Scalley at No. 14 in Mendoza’s rankings, while McMurphy also puts Rogers at No. 14.
- Kansas State’s Colin Klein, who like Scalley is headed into his first season as a college head coach, is ranked No. 16 by both Mendoza and McMurphy.
“The Utes coach-in-waiting finally gets his shot after the strange departure of Kyle Whittingham. Scalley built Utah into a tough defensive program, and knows the landscape as well as anyone since his playing days in Salt Lake City,” Mendoza wrote.
“However, the Utes’ defense did take steps back in recent years, and Scalley will be compared to Whittingham a ton, as the fanbase awaits to see if he can sustain success when he’s in charge.”