BIG 12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 7, 2026

Kalani Sitake

Ford Center at The Star

BYU Cougars

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Now joining us on stage, BYU Head Coach Kalani Sitake. Coach, we'll start with your opening statement.

KALANI SITAKE: Thank you. Welcome, everyone. It's an honor for me to be here as a head coach of BYU and really excited about the questions and the interaction that we have.

I want to first thank the Big 12 Conference, our Commissioner, Brett Yormark, and his leadership and everyone that has made today possible, accommodating with the staff. Really appreciate everything that they did today to make this happen.

Really excited about the opportunity to be here with this team. Looking forward to this fall. I want to express gratitude to all the media members that are here as well covering our program and those that I've been able to interact with and those that are here interacting with our six players that we brought.

I want to express gratitude and appreciation to BYU, our administration. And our fan base is amazing.

Finally, before I answer the questions, I want to express my love and appreciation to our players that are currently working out minus the six guys that are here. Really excited.

As we looked at the number of players to bring and who to select for the Media Day, we had a good number to look from, probably more than we have in years past. I'm honored that we were able to bring three offensive players: Bear Bachmeier, our quarterback; our offensive lineman, Bruce Mitchell; and our running back, LJ Martin. And then that with our three defensive players: Isaiah Glasker, our linebacker; our defensive lineman, Keanu Tanuvasa; and our cornerback, Evan Johnson.

Really excited to be here. Excited for the season, and excited for the opportunities that we have with the 12-game schedule ahead of us. I'm also excited about any questions that you guys may have. If you don't have any, that's great too.

Q. Obviously you had a great season last year. I just want to know how are you keeping your team from being complacent and getting comfortable with such high expectations?

KALANI SITAKE: Yeah, I think the key is to keep focusing on what we can accomplish, the work ethic. I'm honored that I get to work with amazing young men that have great work ethic and complacency is not in their vocabulary.

So finding ways to improve. We know that last year was some really cool things, some awesome success, but at the same time, we know what we can do better, we can improve. I'm looking at the opportunities to just find a way as a head coach to get these guys to play their best 12 times.

With that being said, we still need to make mistakes in practice and make sure that we be aggressive in the way that we train. Obviously the season is going to come down to -- is going to require some physical part of the game, too, and a little bit of pain. I think all that's necessary.

These guys committed to getting that done, and I'm excited to be their coach.

Q. Your running back LJ Martin, he only needs 1,631 yards to become BYU's all-time leading rusher. Considering that he was named the Preseason Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, do you feel there's going to be more pressure on him and puts a bull's eye on his back for this upcoming season?

KALANI SITAKE: Well, the great thing about LJ is that he is not a "me only" guy. He's ready to do whatever it takes for our program, our team to be successful.

I just want to make sure that he knows he doesn't have to do it himself. He can depend on the other ten guys on the field with him, and he can also depend on the other two phases.

The goal is for us to play complementary football in all three phases, and that might require him to run the ball a little bit more than other games, but I'm not really worried about getting him the necessary yards.

With the new rule, LJ has two years to play, so I don't know, maybe you guys can talk him into staying for another year. Right now we're focused on this season and getting him the opportunity to be at his best.

The fact that he can depend on an offensive line that has a lot of experience is going to be a key, and Bruce Mitchell leading the way I think is going to be very helpful for him.

Q. Just wanted to ask you, in terms of Bear, how much better can he be a year two versus what he was a season ago?

KALANI SITAKE: I don't want to put any expectations on him, but he knows the offense a lot better now than he did last year at this time. The goal for us is to put him in a position where he can still progress, find ways to get better, improve his game, and that comes in a lot of different ways.

You look at all the factors going into it. I think you guys see him and see the physical change that he's made. We need to make sure that there's a positive mental change in him, as he gains football IQ, that he realizes, like I said about LJ, that Bear doesn't have to do it himself. He can rely on his teammates and the other phases of the program to help him.

I think the goal is just for him to just manage his role as a quarterback, and he doesn't have to be the answer for everything.

Q. A lot of your players talk about how personable you are. My brother is even saying you're like a crazy uncle to them. I'm curious, how do you build trust and that chemistry with players, especially this summer with new players on the roster?

KALANI SITAKE: I think for me is not mess it up. I think even as a leader, I think sometimes me as a head coach, they don't really need me watching everything they do. Giving them autonomy and the opportunity to make decisions in the program results in them feeling like they have a part in it and that this is their program.

Listen, my job is to serve them as a head coach and to allow them to perform at their best, which means I have to put in a lot of work. It usually doesn't mean I have to interact with them all the time, but when I do interact with them, I need to make it memorable and not a waste of their time.

The worst thing that can happen is I'm talking to a young man, and he takes a look at his phone while I'm talking to him. It's, like, maybe I'm old school, but I'm trying to get as much information to them as possible. Most of the information is that they know that I care about them and I want what's best for them, even what's best for me. That's an easy way to lead.

If I'm being honest, I had LaVell Edwards as my mentor, who was a leader. I got to play for him. I was a captain for him. He's the best at it. You see a lot of people that have played for LaVell that are in football now: Kyle Whittingham at Michigan and Steve Sarkisian at Texas, myself here. You're looking at all the people who have interacted with him, Andy Reid in the NFL.

It's easy for me to just follow the guys that did it for me. LaVell Edwards has been the key to all of that happening.

Q. Just wanted to also touch on LJ and how have you seen him develop from the first time that you coached him to where he is now and be able to create -- actually contribute to the culture that you've created inside that locker room having kind of an unselfish mentality?

KALANI SITAKE: Was that about LJ Martin?

Q. Yes.

KALANI SITAKE: Listen, I wish I could take credit for LJ. He comes from an amazing mom and father, so his parents have been great and have done a great job teaching him. I'm just trying to make sure he stays on the path that his parents set for him, which is alignment with what we do at BYU football.

If there's any questions that I would have, I would just go to the parents. They did an amazing job raising him. That's with all our young men. They come from amazing families and backgrounds.

I'm just trying to make sure that I don't mess it up, you know, that I keep the momentum going and that I provide them with a direction that their parents would want me to. Sometimes that's some correction, but with LJ it doesn't have to be. He's bought into everything we asked him to do.

In fact, the only thing that you could probably say about him is that he's really shy, and he doesn't talk much, but this is his second Media Day. I think last year I said that's the most I've ever heard him speak. He did it all in one day for the entire year.

He's been outspoken a lot more since then, so I think he's feeling a lot more comfortable in the public and in the media. Now we're getting to hear him and feel a little bit more about his maturity and about how he was raised. That's the thing is you guys are highlighting some amazing things about him. It had nothing to do with me. It had everything to do with his upbringing.

Q. Your team enters a season as one of the favorites to compete for the Big 12 Championship, and you have six players recognized on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team. What's the biggest point of emphasis this offseason to make sure this team continues to improve rather than becoming comfortable?

KALANI SITAKE: I think the goal for us is to always stay humble, stay hungry. Our culture is built on love and learn, which means that those are the things that you have to be working on. You can't sit there and rest on anything that you've accomplished.

Complacency has never been part of the equation. The goal for us is to try to find ways to get better. It's not just get better in football. It's how can we improve in everything in our life? How can they make one thing better every day? How can they show a little bit more discipline and have that transform into the field and help us be in a position to get victories?

We're working on all those things, but each one of them is specialized. It's not like one system will fit them all. Luckily, I have the staff and the resources available where we can apply sports science in the training room and find ways to push these guys' bodies and let them recover and make sure they're ready to train and be at their optimal performance level by the time we get to game 1.

Q. You tried to make the playoff case after that second loss to Texas Tech last year, but you probably knew the inevitable was coming the next day. I just wonder your view of the 24-team model versus the 16?

KALANI SITAKE: The 24, or what were you saying?

Q. Your view of the 24-team model if that were to be coming down the road?

KALANI SITAKE: Yeah, I mean, I don't make all the decisions when it comes to how many teams get in the playoff. I'm not in the business for campaigning for that either.

We just have to go do our job and play our best and see what happens. I understand how difficult it can be for a committee to select teams, and there are going to be some teams that are going to be left on the outside. My approach is just to stay humble, hungry, and work harder at trying to find ways to be better.

So I'm not going to campaign for that, but I can say that if you ask me the system and how many teams you want to be available, 24 makes the most sense to me where everybody can feel comfortable being in a playoff. The FCS has been doing it for a while now. Other divisions of football have been doing it.

I'm not the decision-maker in that stuff. All I can deal with is what we have right now and focus on that and be positive and optimistic about it.

Q. Last year during the rivalry game with Utah and leading up to that game there was a lot of intensity, some threats of violence and stuff like that. I wanted to ask you, how are you hoping to change the culture surrounding the rivalry now that Morgan Scalley is taking over at Utah?

KALANI SITAKE: Yeah, first of all, Morgan Scalley is a good friend of mine. We worked together for a decade at Utah when I was coaching there. I was great friends with Kyle Whittingham too. Kyle Whittingham leaves, and another great friend of mine is the head coach at Utah. Nothing has really changed there.

The rivalry games, if you want to change some of the outlook on it, there are so many positive things that are going around on both sides. So I think we celebrate some of the really cool things that are happening with the rivalry game.

For some reason a lot of the negative stuff gets all the attention, but there are some really cool, positive moments and families that are on both sides. I mean, I have family members that graduated from Utah and family members that graduated from BYU. That's what actually makes it intense and fun is that it affects households. You know what I mean?

The respect level and the love, I mean, I don't know if there's going to be anything different. We've always respected and loved our rivals. I think they feel the same way about us. I know I was there. I think that's what makes it even more fun.