New BYU head coach Kalani Sitake got his pre-Christmas shopping out of the way in one fell swoop Thursday as he announced Ty Detmer as his offensive coordinator and Ilaisa Tuiaki as his defensive coordinator.
Detmer, of course, is a legendary former BYU quarterback and immediately picks up the mantle Steve Spurrier left behind as college football's most accomplished coach, with 15,000 passing yards, a Heisman Trophy, a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame and a 14-year NFL career to his credit. But while Detmer has a wealth of playing experience from which to draw, he is relatively new to coaching. A six-season stint as the head coach at St. Andrew's Episcopal in Austin, Texas, is the extent of his coaching experience.
Unlike Sitake and Detmer, Tuiaki is not a BYU graduate, but he is a Provo native. He follows Sitake from Oregon State, where he coached linebackers and ran special teams in 2015. Prior to that he served on staffs at Utah and Utah State. Tuiaki was a finalist for the FootballScoop Defensive Line Coach of the Year award in 2014 and in 2013 became the only non-coordinator to garner a spot as a Broyles Award finalist.
“It’s an honor to announce Ty Detmer and Ilaisa Tuiaki as the offensive and defensive coordinators on our coaching staff at BYU,” Sitake said in a statement. “Each has an exceptional football mind and a real passion to help our young men succeed on and off the football field. I am looking forward to working with them as we complete our staff and prepare our team for the 2016 season.”
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.