ChurchBeat
October 21, 2026
Kalani Sitake uses college football spotlight as an ambassadorship for Jesus Christ
BYU football coaches have used their platform to preach about Jesus Christ for decades, at least dating back to LaVell Edwards.
He was the first college football coach to emphasize the missionary program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He’s the only one to preach from the pulpit at general conference.
These days, his protégé Kalani Sitake is teaching a masterclass in how to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ on college football’s biggest stages.
Take Saturday for example.
In the morning, he bore his testimony on CollegeGameday in front of 3 million viewers, the third-most in the show’s history.
That night, he led BYU past Notre Dame in front of an ABC-TV audience of 9.2 million viewers, the second-largest of the day.
On Tuesday, he talked about honoring God on one of America’s largest sports podcasts, The Rich Eisen Show.
What Sitake said about Christ on College GameDay
Sitake spoke about three major faith-related subjects on the normally irreverent GameDay.
About his mentor’s example:
“It goes back to LaVell Edwards, and I’d be a fool if I didn’t do it the way he did. He’s BYU. He’s the father of BYU football. He helped change the game, and he did it with a lot of humility and grace. He did it with a lot of faith.”
About his testimony:
“We are a faith-based institution. We represent The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It shows that the gospel of Jesus Christ works in many things. It works in business. It works at home. It definitely works in football. We’re making it happen.”
About families:
He told viewers they should look up their genealogy and family history and get connected with their roots, a core Latter-day Saint practice.
About having fun without alcohol:
“I think we’re going to shock the nation with some sober noise tonight. It’s going to be awesome.”
About service:
He talked about taking players to Tonga this summer to help create some employment opportunities through BYU-Pathway Worldwide: “It’s important we give back to the community, and I belong to a wonderful program and a team that is all about service.”
What Kalani told Rich Eisen about God and culture
Eisen told Sitake that he worries for programs like BYU’s in a world where college sports is growing so expensive so fast.
Sitake said the entire sports world, including baseball’s World Series, shows that teams can win without spending the most money.
“Looking at sports today, it isn’t the rosters with the most money that win,” Sitake said. “Culture does still matter. Culture beats strategy every time.
“We’re going to work culture. We’re going to work education. We’re going to work knowledge. We definitely are going to work around what we feel is the right method, which is honoring God and having a connection to something bigger than yourself. When you do that, it creates an intrinsic motivation that will be a force in itself, and you can’t measure that on a sheet of paper or statistics.”
He said more about education:
“We’re a faith-based institution, so we’re going to focus on education,” Sitake said. “We still want these men to learn and receive educations.”
That includes teaching his players, who now earn money, to avoid instant gratification.
“It’ll never be about money for us. We know there is money out there and the players will receive compensation,” the coach said. “Our focus will be on transformation rather than transaction.”
Watch the entire Eisen-Sitake segment here:
What 2 Hall of Fame quarterbacks said about Sitake’s culture
Pro and College Football Hall of Fame QB Steve Young appeared on Pat McAfee’s national program on Monday.
They discussed how Sitake’s faith-based leadership and culture help retain players who choose to stay at BYU rather than chase higher NIL money elsewhere.
Young said there is a different “BYU way” of keeping players, and he attributed it to the school’s “beloved” head coach, who has created a culture of faith, humility and hunger.
“They hang out and take less money to be with him,” Young said. “That’s the spirit of what BYU is building, and I think the campus feels it. And you felt it on Saturday morning when they camped out since Tuesday.”
Sitake told Jim Rome on a different podcast that some players even skipped professional opportunities.
“We have a bunch of guys that came back that could be on NFL rosters right now, and they decided to forego their NFL career. I mean, they already have their degree in hand, and they decided to come back for a reason, and this was a major part of that.”
College Football Hall of Famer Gifford Nielsen appeared on the Y’s Guys podcast and said Sitake has built on what their coach, LaVell Edwards, built half a century ago when Nielsen was playing.
“Kalani wants to keep it going,” Nielsen said. “LaVell was his mentor. He has done a remarkable job helping these athletes understand their purpose in this entire situation.”
A former sports broadcaster himself, Nielsen said the stage is larger today than every before.
“How many eyeballs were on that game?” he said. “What is the media significance of that game? What’s the value of that game in financial dollars?”
Nielsen, who is an emeritus General Authority Seventy, called BYU “the athletic arm of gathering Israel” and said that it must be relevant and is succeeding.
“I think Kalani, because of the stature of the game today, has built on (what LaVell did),” Nielsen said. “He has convinced these young men they have a higher purpose, and he’s not afraid to show it.”
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About the Church
The First Presidency released a statement about Pope Leo’s cancer diagnosis.
President Henry B. Eyring dedicated the church’s 225th temple in Montpelier, Idaho.
Elder Ronald A. Rasband dedicated the Managua Nicaragua Temple, the country’s first.
A podcast looked at the first year of President Dallin H. Oaks’ leadership as church president.
The church’s accounts used the College GameDay momentum to answer questions about faith on social media.
A new New Joseph Smith Papers e-book explores his financial records.
The open house is underway for the Torreón Mexico Temple.
Church leaders announced the site of future Texas temple.
What I’m Reading
Here’s a relevant read that I really liked by my friend, Aaron Shill: “College GameDay” got really religious in Provo. Was it respectful?
And here’s another with amazing stories about who Sitake’s mentor was, from a man who knew him well: LaVell Edwards: A world-class warrior.
I appreciated this story by our Amy Ortiz: Is this really Joseph Smith? I watched 10 hours of research, and here’s what I think.
A Baylor study examined NIL’s impact on student-athletes’ faith.
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