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Kalani Sitake will remain BYU’s head football coach after agreeing to a new long-term contract extension on Monday.
Sitake is 83-44 since taking over at BYU in 2016. The Cougars have won 11 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2006 and ’07, and have won at least 10 games in four of his last six seasons at the helm.
“For me, it’s like I’ve never really thought about leaving ever but I’m also competitive and I want to be able to take care of people,” Sitake said. “This is just one of those moments where I felt like us being in the Big 12, we can make the right moves and I don’t really need to do this anywhere else. I can do it here. I feel like we’ve got some great momentum.”
Penn State made Sitake a top candidate in its search to replace James Franklin, who was fired earlier this season after a 0-3 start in Big Ten play. Sitake had conversations with Nittany Lions athletic director Pat Kraft and received an offer reportedly worth eight figures annually.
BYU made retaining Sitake a top priority and put together a contract extension that swayed him to stay at the school where he played as a fullback under LaVell Edwards in 1994 and from 1997 to 2000 following a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
As part of retaining Sitake, BYU made commitments to deeper investments in the football program that included everything from higher salaries for assistant coaches and support staff to enhanced football facilities.
“I think the expectations are already set by Kalani and his vision and passion for excellence,” BYU athletic director Brian Santiago said. “He’s built something really really special and we wanted to give him the resources to be able to sustain it.”
This new contract extension comes as Sitake prepares No. 11 BYU to face No. 4 Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game on Saturday. This is the first title game appearance for both schools and a rematch of a regular-season game on Nov. 8 that the Red Raiders won 29-7.
The fact that Sitake will be on BYU’s sideline for that game and many others to come is a relief to the players he has coached and is currently coaching.
“If he left, I would have been super sad,” BYU receiver Chase Roberts said. “I would have probably cried in my bed and I’m not even coming back next year. That shows the character of Kalani and how much we care about this program.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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