On Wednesday, BYU head coach Kalani Sitake explained for his push for increased resources for players and staff saying that in today’s age more resources are required to take the Cougars to the next level.
“As long as I’m the head coach here at BYU, I’m going to always fight like crazy to get this place [to where] they can be a premiere program,” Sitake said.
“I feel like the players deserve that and the coaches and staff deserve it,” he continued, “and most of all Cougar Nation deserves it. And so that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
Recently in a radio interview, Sitake voiced some of his concerns and challenges that the team faces with resource allocation from the athletic department. In the interview, Sitake described the situation as trying “to do the most with the least.”
After a video of the interview gained traction online, there has been speculation on social media about the relationship between coach Sitake and the BYU athletic department. However, for Sitake the relationship boils down to one thing.
“I’m easy to get along with as long as you just take care of our football team and take care of our boys,” Sitake said. “The focus has got to be on the players.”
Sitake acknowledged that he’s made some comments in the recent past about his desire for more resources to help supplement the football program. However, he said, once the season kicks off his entire focus is going to be on excelling on the field and meeting fan expectations.
Outside of that, Sitake gave some insights into players returning from injury, specifically offensive lineman Zak Yamauchi and running back Jovesa Damuni.
Yamauchi, a transfer from Stanford, joined the Cougars back in the spring. As of mid-July, Yamauchi’s status was up in the air. But after the first week of fall camp, Yamauchi has received the green light and is participating in the full 11-on-11 team scrimmages.
For Damuni, the staff is still taking precautions to ensure a full recovery. Damuni was injured during spring practice and will likely not practice in fall camp. But, he is still expected to get the green light to play during the season.
Sitake also discussed some of the differences between this year’s team and last season’s 12-2 PopTart Bowl champions.
“It starts with the quarterback. He knows the offense a lot more now than he did last year,” he said.
Additionally, Sitake talked about adjusting to a younger and less experienced wide receiver group, especially compared to last year’s experienced roster.
“We have to lean on our receivers that maybe haven’t been main starters throughout the season and some of them will be new and get more reps than they’ve seen before but the quality of reps and quality of talent is there,” he said.
“It’s our job in the next few weeks to get them ready by game one and make sure that they can do it for 12 games,” Sitake said.