BYU's Kalani Sitake off the hot seat

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900045302/morning-links-byus-kalani-sitake-off-the-hot-seat-potato-bowl-rankings-and-previews.html

Heading into the 2018-19 season, many head coaches of college football teams were on the proverbial hot seat.

For some, the seat ultimately proved too hot, leading to their dismissal

...

In other instances, bounce-back seasons saved coaches' jobs and saw them removed from the hot seat entirely.

According to Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon, BYU head coach Kalani Sitake was one of those coaches.

“Kalani Sitake's place on hot-seat lists was mostly semantics,” Kenyon wrote. “You don't overhaul the coaching staff if there's minimal concern. Last season, the Cougars ranked 106th nationally in yards per snap and 124th in scoring. This year, they're 100th and 95th, respectively. Meanwhile, the defense jumped from 46th to 21st in yards allowed per snap and 46th to 28th in scoring. BYU's offense must improve for Sitake to bolster his security, but attaining bowl eligibility was a sign of progress in 2018.”



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Things aren't back to great--but with a number of Freshmen and Sophomores contributing and significant strides from the "guh" of last year things appear on the rebound. These schedules are tougher than previous schedules in the MWC or early in independence and are intended to simulate a P5 conference slate as much as possible. UCF is a poster child for why the G5 model doesn't work. They are undefeated in two straight seasons--but have only faced 3 P5 teams in those 2 seasons (Maryland, Auburn in the Peach Bowl, and Pitt) and they aren't even sniffing the CFB playoff. Dominating the G5s is an antiquated strategy.

He was never on the hot seat. He was at least getting the last year on his contract no matter what happened this season.

The team was better this year, no doubt. The offense was slightly better, the defense was better, and we won more.



There are still major concerns. Recruiting is one. Game management, clock management, aggression (playing to win) are others. Off-the-field issues seem to have decreased. So while Kalani has greatly struggled, he also appears to be learning.



The questions are if the improvement will continue, and what his ceiling is. If he can't win 7 games in the regular season next year, he should be gone.

Mars wrote:

The team was better this year, no doubt. The offense was slightly better, the defense was better, and we won more.



There are still major concerns. Recruiting is one. Game management, clock management, aggression (playing to win) are others. Off-the-field issues seem to have decreased. So while Kalani has greatly struggled, he also appears to be learning.



The questions are if the improvement will continue, and what his ceiling is. If he can't win 7 games in the regular season next year, he should be gone.

I agree with all of this.The team was slightly better and Kalani does seem to be trying to learn.He also wants to be here. But he needs to be succesful. Just to many head scratchers.I agree 7 wins is the minimum to keep him around after next year. If he wins 7 extend the contract by a year.Like I said before I did not like the Kalani hire but I do like him as a person and I still want to see him succeed.

He was never going to get fired. We knew this.



Question is whether his contract will be renewed.

Gunk wrote:

He was never going to get fired. We knew this.



Question is whether his contract will be renewed.

I'm "fine" with extending the contract to prevent from being an issue during recruiting. But I want any extension to be coupled with a VERY low buyout should he not continue the slight upward trajectory we might have seen this year.



I want to be able to quickly and cheaply move on from Kalani after the 2019 season.

7 wins and he keeps his job only if he doesn't get whipped by Utah state and finds a way to end the losing streak to the utes. I also want to see the team motivated to win in every game instead of just 2 for the whole year(WI and the utes).

SpiffCoug wrote:

He was never going to get fired. We knew this.



Question is whether his contract will be renewed.

I'm "fine" with extending the contract to prevent from being an issue during recruiting. But I want any extension to be coupled with a VERY low buyout should he not continue the slight upward trajectory we might have seen this year.



I want to be able to quickly and cheaply move on from Kalani after the 2019 season.

Have you seen how "well" he is recruiting? The downward spiral there is an argument to get rid of him sooner, not to keep him around longer. A coaching change would probably give the recruiting a boost, and I'm pretty sure new coaches would prefer to recruit their own kids.

snoscythe wrote:

Gunk wrote:

He was never going to get fired. We knew this.



Question is whether his contract will be renewed.

I'm "fine" with extending the contract to prevent from being an issue during recruiting. But I want any extension to be coupled with a VERY low buyout should he not continue the slight upward trajectory we might have seen this year.



I want to be able to quickly and cheaply move on from Kalani after the 2019 season.

Have you seen how "well" he is recruiting? The downward spiral there is an argument to get rid of him sooner, not to keep him around longer. A coaching change would probably give the recruiting a boost, and I'm pretty sure new coaches would prefer to recruit their own kids.

Totally agree. I don't think he did enough in 2018 to keep his job. I would not give him the cheap extension or any extension. I would not bring him back for 2019.



But I think BYU will and will, unfortunately, extend his contract.

snoscythe wrote:

Gunk wrote:

He was never going to get fired. We knew this.



Question is whether his contract will be renewed.

I'm "fine" with extending the contract to prevent from being an issue during recruiting. But I want any extension to be coupled with a VERY low buyout should he not continue the slight upward trajectory we might have seen this year.



I want to be able to quickly and cheaply move on from Kalani after the 2019 season.

Have you seen how "well" he is recruiting? The downward spiral there is an argument to get rid of him sooner, not to keep him around longer. A coaching change would probably give the recruiting a boost, and I'm pretty sure new coaches would prefer to recruit their own kids.

It's not going poorly. We have a 4-star QB in the recruiting class. Solid recruits in the defensive front 7. The coaching staff got in-season commitments from solid 3-star offensive linemen from Texas and Hawaii. We're the late favorite for a couple of 3-star speedsters out of California/Arizona. Making late progress with solid RB prospects with multiple P5 offers.

YNot wrote:

SpiffCoug wrote:

He was never going to get fired. We knew this.



Question is whether his contract will be renewed.

I'm "fine" with extending the contract to prevent from being an issue during recruiting. But I want any extension to be coupled with a VERY low buyout should he not continue the slight upward trajectory we might have seen this year.



I want to be able to quickly and cheaply move on from Kalani after the 2019 season.

Have you seen how "well" he is recruiting? The downward spiral there is an argument to get rid of him sooner, not to keep him around longer. A coaching change would probably give the recruiting a boost, and I'm pretty sure new coaches would prefer to recruit their own kids.

It's not going poorly. We have a 4-star QB in the recruiting class. Solid recruits in the defensive front 7. The coaching staff got in-season commitments from solid 3-star offensive linemen from Texas and Hawaii. We're the late favorite for a couple of 3-star speedsters out of California/Arizona. Making late progress with solid RB prospects with multiple P5 offers.

Go look at the recruiting rankings and come back and tell me how well it's going. Last class was #78?

YNot wrote:

It's not going poorly. We have a 4-star QB in the recruiting class. Solid recruits in the defensive front 7. The coaching staff got in-season commitments from solid 3-star offensive linemen from Texas and Hawaii. We're the late favorite for a couple of 3-star speedsters out of California/Arizona. Making late progress with solid RB prospects with multiple P5 offers.

It's no use. Most of this board is a black cloud who wants Sitake fired. Nothing will change that.

Fido wrote:

It's not going poorly. We have a 4-star QB in the recruiting class. Solid recruits in the defensive front 7. The coaching staff got in-season commitments from solid 3-star offensive linemen from Texas and Hawaii. We're the late favorite for a couple of 3-star speedsters out of California/Arizona. Making late progress with solid RB prospects with multiple P5 offers.

It's no use. Most of this board is a black cloud who wants Sitake fired. Nothing will change that.

Winning



Without question, winning would change that.

Winning will help. But the culture is important too, at least for me. I'll cheer on my Cougs during a losing season, but it's really hard to stomach a bad culture. From hiring friends with weak resumes to being friends rather than a father figure to players to the honor code and illegal messes and not suspending players until after the news broke to not game planning to not practicing --> this is what concerns me more about Sitake than the straight up Xs and Ox and Ws and Ls. Of course, culture can and does influence the Ws and Ls.

byufan4ever wrote:

Winning will help. But the culture is important too, at least for me. I'll cheer on my Cougs during a losing season, but it's really hard to stomach a bad culture. From hiring friends with weak resumes to being friends rather than a father figure to players to the honor code and illegal messes and not suspending players until after the news broke to not game planning to not practicing --> this is what concerns me more about Sitake than the straight up Xs and Ox and Ws and Ls. Of course, culture can and does influence the Ws and Ls.

+1

My issue with Sitake is his coaching. I was not in favor of his hire but I wanted him to succeed because he was named the head coach at my favorite college football teams school. He was great in the media and seemed like a really cool guy so that made me want him to succeed even more. I defended Crowton during his 3 losing seasons but I have called for the firing of Sitake....why? Simple, the team simply looks unmotivated and unprepared. Crowton's teams actually looked like they wanted to play hard but mistakes caused losses. I felt like the mistakes could be cleaned up and we could be averaging over 50 points per game again like he coached the team to do in 2001. Sitake's teams simply look undisciplined and unprepared both offensively and defensively. I can't hardly stand to watch them. This year showed an improvement in the win column so there should be optimism that they can do better right? Well, now that the season can be evaluated as a whole, it is painfully obvious that if BYU had coaches that knew what they were doing in the slightest, BYU would have won 10 or more games this year. CAL should have been a win, NIU should have been a win, the utes most definitely should have been a win, Boise state should have been a win and even though we got whipped by Utah state, a good defensive game plan could have turned that game, you just don't get whipped by Utah state at home. Sitake is part of the good ole boy BYU club so he gets another year but he should have been fired after the 4-9 season last year and most definitely should have been fired after getting whipped by Utah state at home. I will watch next season and I will root for BYU to win every game and I could actually start supporting Sitake if the team starts looking like they are prepared to win next year(even in losses) but I simply don't see that happening.

YNot wrote:
It's not going poorly. We have a 4-star QB in the recruiting class. Solid recruits in the defensive front 7. The coaching staff got in-season commitments from solid 3-star offensive linemen from Texas and Hawaii. We're the late favorite for a couple of 3-star speedsters out of California/Arizona. Making late progress with solid RB prospects with multiple P5 offers.

Well, so far all of those add up to the #79 ranking class so far.



https://247sports.com/college/byu/Season/2019-Football/Commits/



You and I apparently have differing opinions on when things are solid or going poorly.



FWIW, BYU's overall class grade (0.8257) is the equivalent of a 3-star ranking for a recruit. So landing 3-star guys is not a good recruiting class--you need 4 and 5 star guys for a good class, and one is not nearly enough. Other than Connover, who is already reflected in the rankings, BYU doesn't have a single other offer out to a 4* or better recruit who has BYU as a school of interest who hasn't already committed to USC, Texas, Washington or the like. They're not coming.



BYU's decommits for 2019 would have an overall grade of 0.8555--a higher class rank than who is staying committed for now.



BYU does a good job of hyping their mid-tier talent signings with slick social media and highlights, but the fact of the matter is that the program is withering because of classes like the one that is being assembled right now, combined with departures of some of Kalani's better recruits who were supposed to be contributing the next two years.

It's going poorly if you expect BYU to recruit at the same level as Wisconsin, Miami, and Stanford or better. When has BYU ever competed with such schools?



In looking at 2019 recruiting, 54 schools have at least one 4-star commit. BYU and Boise St. are the only two non-P5 schools with a 4-star commit. 13 P5 schools do not have a 4-star commit.



Only 37 schools have more than one 4-star commit; with Boise St. as the only non-P5 school with multiple 4-star commits. Also, only 14 schools have at least one 5-star recruit; only 7 have more than one 5-star recruit.



The ordinal recruiting rankings are dumb. More commits increases your rankings. Utah is listed at #82, even though their 9 commits are solid and better than the top-10 commits of more than 40 teams ranked ahead of them. As we are seeing with the transfers of Davis, Kirby, and Folau, BYU has nice depth at key positions, but will have a scholarship crunch as a result. So, no need to freak out if BYU's ranking is lower than we want because of a small class.



FWIW, BYU's top-10 recruits are better than a bunch of schools currently ranked higher. I'd take BYU's #79 recruiting class (even without any more of the solid late additions that are likely), than many of the recruiting classes ranked ahead of us. We have an A-grade commit at QB. Solid B-level commits at linebacker, wide receiver, oline, and dline. It looks like we are close to landing a couple of B-level defensive backs and should close with a solid B-level running back and receiver. While it's not a homerun recruiting class like the top-half of the P5 lands, it's the sort of recruiting class that will keep BYU competitive when most of these guys hit the field in 3+ years.

snoscythe wrote:

It's not going poorly. We have a 4-star QB in the recruiting class. Solid recruits in the defensive front 7. The coaching staff got in-season commitments from solid 3-star offensive linemen from Texas and Hawaii. We're the late favorite for a couple of 3-star speedsters out of California/Arizona. Making late progress with solid RB prospects with multiple P5 offers.

Well, so far all of those add up to the #79 ranking class so far.



https://247sports.com/college/byu/Season/2019-Football/Commits/



You and I apparently have differing opinions on when things are solid or going poorly.



FWIW, BYU's overall class grade (0.8257) is the equivalent of a 3-star ranking for a recruit. So landing 3-star guys is not a good recruiting class--you need 4 and 5 star guys for a good class, and one is not nearly enough. Other than Connover, who is already reflected in the rankings, BYU doesn't have a single other offer out to a 4* or better recruit who has BYU as a school of interest who hasn't already committed to USC, Texas, Washington or the like. They're not coming.



BYU's decommits for 2019 would have an overall grade of 0.8555--a higher class rank than who is staying committed for now.



BYU does a good job of hyping their mid-tier talent signings with slick social media and highlights, but the fact of the matter is that the program is withering because of classes like the one that is being assembled right now, combined with departures of some of Kalani's better recruits who were supposed to be contributing the next two years.

Didn't Bronco "leave the cupboard bare" with recruiting classes ranked in the 50's and 60's?

The main problem with BYU football starts with Tom Holmoe. He should have been let go already and Sitake is not a good college football head coach. As long as both are at the helm of BYU football, expect a lot of 6 win seasons.