BYU coach Kalani Sitake will now report to a university vice president rather than athletic director Brian Santiago, who will continue to oversee the school's other sports programs.
Keith Vorkink, BYU's advancement vice president, will now supervise Sitake. Santiago also reports to Vorkink.
The splitting off of football comes after weeks of tension around Sitake, who this summer voiced concerns about resource allocation. In an interview with Cougar Sports Media, Sitake said the football program "has been given the challenge of doing the most with the least," later adding, "I still want more resources for these guys."
Asked about his comments following a preseason practice this month, Sitake told reporters that his agent would be managing any efforts to increase resources, adding that he would continue to "fight like crazy" for BYU to become a premier program. The 11th-year BYU coach also sidestepped a question about his relationship with Santiago, a longtime administrator named athletic director in May 2025, saying he gets along with anyone, "as long as you take care of our football team."
Santiago, who has been at BYU in different roles since 1997, replaced longtime athletic director Tom Holmoe, who hired Sitake. The former BYU fullback is 84-45 as Cougars coach, including 23-4 the past two seasons. Sitake nearly left for the same role at Penn State late last year before BYU rallied support to keep him with an enhanced long-term contract.
"Today's organizational adjustments reflect BYU's commitment to invest in our student-athletes and strengthen our world-class programs," university spokeswoman Audrey Perry Martin said in a statement to ESPN. "Brian Santiago remains BYU's athletic director. We will continue adapting to the changing landscape of college athletics in a way that aligns with the university's mission."
In a statement to the Deseret News, Vorkink said BYU wants to provide "more administrative support, not less" given a changing athletics landscape. In April, Sitake told ESPN that he never expected to leave BYU for another job, while noting that if money were the sole motivator, he would have departed.
"It's not just compensation or money," he said. "It's resources, it's support, it's flexibility. So compensation comes in different forms, and when you're looking at other places, the compensation usually comes in one form that everybody looks at. I have to consider everything all of it together. And once I knew BYU was in it for the long run, it made things a lot easier for me. I also want to do what's right by how I run the program and do what's right by my players."
BYU opens the season Sept. 5 against Utah Tech.
