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Coaching familiarity creates a unique dynamic in Utah-BYU football rivalry
Coaching familiarity creates a unique dynamic in Utah-BYU football rivalry
PROVO, Utah — The Holy War rivalry features a lot of overlap for coaches on both sidelines.
When No. 23 Utah heads south to play No. 15 BYU on Saturday, many coaches on both sides will be facing the teams where they once played or coached.
“This is a fun game,” said BYU coach Kalani Sitake, who spent 10 years on Utah coach Kyle Whittingham's staff. “The fact there’s connections and we’re familiar with them and they’re familiar with us, it just makes it even more fun.”
Whittingham has five assistants who played for the Cougars: offensive coordinator Jason Beck, running backs coach Mark Atuaia, wide receivers coach Micah Simon, tight ends coach Freddie Whittingham, and quarterbacks coach Koy Detmer Jr. Beck and Atuaia also coached at BYU under Bronco Mendenhall.
Beck, Atuaia and Simon are coaching against their alma mater in the rivalry game for the first time.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity I have to be here and to learn from and grow from this staff, especially coach Whittingham,” Atuaia said.
Whittingham played at linebacker for BYU from 1978-81 before becoming a graduate assistant under LaVell Edwards. He later moved to Utah as a defensive line coach under Ron McBride in 1994.
It’s a similar story at BYU.
Sitake served as linebackers coach, defensive coordinator and assistant head coach under Whittingham from 2005-14. Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick had two stints as offensive coordinator, and linebackers coach Justin Ena also coached under Whittingham.
Cougars defensive coordinator Jay Hill and defensive line coach Sione Pou’ha both played for Whittingham before later joining his coaching staff.
"You want to do everything you can as a coach to help your assistants progress and get to the next level,” Whittingham said. “That’s an obligation and one of the core responsibilities of a head coach is to try to get his staff to be able to excel and progress.”
Much of BYU’s recent success under Sitake can be traced to what he learned under Whittingham.
Sitake helped Whittingham and the Utes make a successful transition from the Mountain West Conference to the Pac-12. This experience helped Sitake understand what program-building steps were needed when BYU made a similar jump in competition from FBS independent to the Big 12.
Every upgrade he made from recruiting to the strength and conditioning program was modeled after what Whittingham did with the Utes.
“I had a front row seat to all of it,” Sitake said. “There’s a lot of things he’s helped me with as a coach in the profession. I know he’s had a huge impact on our staff too. ... I’ll always have a lot of love and admiration for Kyle.”
While the rivalry between Utah and BYU is intense on the field and among fans on social media — one man was arrested this week for allegedly making threats against Utah fans — the coaches share no animosity.
Many are close friends off the field, and their families are also close to one another. Whittingham and Sitake are often seen together in the offseason, everything from playing golf to attending Utah Jazz games.
“Kalani is a good friend of mine. That’s no secret,” Whittingham said. “He’s become an outstanding head coach.”
Utah and BYU have followed a similar template in building their football programs. Key offensive and defensive statistics this season attest to those similarities.
The Utes rank second in scoring defense and fourth in total defense in the Big 12. The Cougars are third in scoring defense and second in total defense .
Utah is second in the league in scoring offense and third in total offense . BYU is third in scoring offense and fifth in total offense .
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