PROVO, Utah – Kalani Sitake, head coach of BYU, today announced the promotion of Aaron Roderick to the offensive coordinator and Fesi Sitake to passing game coordinator in his staff.
Roderick, who has served as a passing game coordinator for the past three seasons, will continue coaching quarterbacks, while Fesi Sitake will retain his coaching role in addition to his new responsibilities as a passing game coordinator. Assistant coaches Steve Clark (tighthead), Eric Mateos (attacking line) and Harvey Unga (backs) will be in charge of Roderick’s attacking staff in the same position.
“Aaron is the right person to take over as our offensive coordinator with the departure of Jeff (Grimes),” Kalani Sitake said. “Jeff has done a tremendous job as offensive coordinator and Aaron is the perfect choice to help us build on the success that Jeff, Aaron, Fesi and our offensive staff have achieved together. I know firsthand that the exceptional coach is Aaron to work on the same staff for 15 years during the same career. He is an experienced play caller and coordinator and a great mentor and teacher. I’m delighted to have Aaron as our new offensive coordinator.
‘Fesi came to BYU three years ago as one of the emerging young coordinators of the game, and he played a big part in our success. He has improved his team wherever he has been, and that is definitely the case here at BYU. We are better off because of Fesi’s contributions in our staff room, on the practice field and along the sidelines. I’m excited to have him work closely with Aaron and the other coaches in this new role. ”
Roderick takes on the role of attacking coordinator at BYU with 21 years of coaching experience, including ten seasons as coordinator.
“I’m incredibly honored to be the offensive coordinator at BYU, because I understand the legacy of this program and appreciate the great coaches who have been in this position in the past to build the legacy,” Roderick said. “I am grateful to Kalani for this opportunity. He and I have been working together for 15 years at three different schools, and he is the kind of coach I want to work for and someone in whom I have so much confidence and respect. I also appreciate Coach Grimes a lot because he not only wants me to be a part of his staff when I come back to BYU, but that I also put a lot of confidence in myself with the game going on. He is a wonderful coach and a wonderful man that I have greatly appreciated and enjoyed over the past three years. I can not wait to work with the players and tackle this challenge with Fesi and our talented coaching team. ”
Fesi Sitake, who has coached BYU receivers for the past three seasons, has 11 years of coaching experience, including five seasons as coordinator.
“I am delighted to have the opportunity to continue my experience here at BYU as the passing game coordinator,” said Fesi Sitake. “I am grateful for Kalani and his willingness to offer me this opportunity. The collaboration with Aaron Roderick was an incredible learning experience and I appreciate his continued trust in me. I look forward to continuing my journey here at BYU with the rest of these amazing staff and these amazing players. Go Cougs! “
AARON RODERICK
Roderick, a former BYU receiver, served five seasons as an attacking coordinator and five years as a passing coordinator during his 21-year coaching career. As BYU’s coordinator and quarterback coach for the past three seasons, Roderick has helped develop and mentor a space of outstanding quarterbacks, while playing an important role each season in the progress and overall success of the offense.
As a passing game coordinator and a game caller, Roderick was a key part of BYU’s powerful offensive attack in 2020, ranking No. 3 in the rankings (43.5 ppg), number 7 in the total attack (522.2 ypg) and no. 8 in a transient offense (332.1 ppg), while they were generally ranked in the top 15 in ten different statistical categories. The production of the Cougars as an offense in 2020 occupies the number 4 at BYU in the average season for only the 2001, 1980 and 1983 teams, while the number 6 in the program history in the total attack with the most yards per games since 2001.
In 2020, at 7.84 nationally, BYU finished number 1 in yards per game, leading all FBS programs in plays of 30 or more by 45, while ranking number 3 in both plays of 10 or more yards (234) and 20 or more meters (83). Overall, BYU scored 40 points or more nine times in 12 games in 2020, with a 49-23 win over UCF, while setting both a Boca Raton Bowl and a BYU record for 655 most violations.
Under Roderick’s supervision, BYU quarterback Zach Wilson was no. 8 in the Heisman Trophy poll, he was a finalist for the Manning Award and a semifinalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year, the Maxwell Award and the Davey O’Brien Award. In 2020, Wilson hits for 3,692 yards and 33 touchdowns, while posting a 196.4 pass efficiency. He finished the year in the top 10 nationally in 11 attacking categories.
Roderick has helped improve the BYU pass attack over the past three seasons, from a passing game that was 90th at the national place when he took over in 2020 to a number 8 position. During his coaching career, Roderick has experience coaching quarterbacks, receivers, runners and linebackers while working at BYU, Utah, Southern Utah and Snow College.
Roderick, a Bountiful, Utah-born, coached former Cougar Kyle Whittingham staff at the University of Utah for 12 seasons. While in Utah, three of the ten seasons the Utes achieved came with Roderick naming the offensive plays. Roderick was the last two years in Utah’s offensive coordinator and coach of the last quarter in 2015 and 2016, and served from 2012-2013 as a passenger coordinator in Utah. His first period as co-offensive coordinator in Utah was in 2010, when Utah scored 23rd place in the country in offense, averaging 33.1 points per game. Roderick also mentioned the plays for Utah during the last six games of the 2009 season when the Utes finished 18th in the country with a 10-3 record.
After coaching the wide receivers for his first nine seasons in Utah, Roderick moved to the quarterfinals in 2014 as the coordinator of the game. Fullback Travis Wilson has played his last two seasons under Roderick, ending his career as Utah’s record holder for QB (39) and games played (46) and No. 2 consistently with 24 wins in his career. Roderick also coached two of the seven Ute receivers in school history to reach 1,000 yards in a season and helped seven receivers get opportunities in the NFL, including draft picks David Reed (fifth round) and Freddie Brown (seventh round ).
Before moving to Utah in 2005, Roderick spent two seasons as offensive coordinator, quarterback coach and recruiting coordinator in Southern Utah in 2003-04. Roderick oversaw a 2004 Thunderbird offense that finished 21st in the NCAA FCS in total offense (412.5 ypg) and 14th in passing (270.5 ypg) – a school record at the time. SUU quarterback Casey Rehrer finished sixth in Division I-AA in overall offense and 19th in passing under the supervision of Roderick, while receiver AJ Smith finished fifth in the country in receiving per game (7.18 rpg). Roderick coached running rugby at Snow College in 2002 after starting his coaching career as a graduate assistant at BYU, and assisting with the linebacker entrepreneurs and receivers in 2000 and 2001.
As a player, Roderick was an athlete of three sports at Bountiful High School before earning All-America honors at Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, where he broke the school’s single-season point and kick records. has. After two years at Ricks College from 1994-95, Roderick enlisted at BYU in 1996 as a member of the Cougars’ 14-1 Cotton Bowl team. Roderick started in 1997 and 1998 as a receptionist and rhetoric specialist and has also received academic awards for all conferences. BYU competed 29-11 in Roderick’s three seasons.
Roderick graduated from BYU in 1998 with a degree in sociology before obtaining a master’s degree in sociology in 2002 from his alma mater. He served a two-year mission in Bogota, Columbia, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is married to Ellen McConnell and has two children, Rachel and Quin.
FESI SITAKE
Sitake has served as coach of BYU for the past three seasons. In addition to improving the Cougars every year as an overall offensive unit, Sitake has thrived as a teacher and mentor of the reception corps at BYU. In 2020, after losing three senior starters, Sitake helped his relatively inexperienced group of returning players and newcomers become one of the team’s strong points, delivering three receivers with more than 600 yards, including BYU ‘s first 1000 meter pass since 2012.
Dax Milne acquired the Pro Football Focus All-America second team in 2020, scoring 70 catches for 1,188 yards to reach the no. 4 in the country. Gunner Romney added 767 yards on 39 receptions, despite missing nearly three full games to an average of 19.7 yards per catch, which is national number 15. Neil Pau’u added 45 catches for 603 yards, while the receivers totaled 15 touches in 2020.
Prior to joining BYU, Sitake oversaw the Weber State offense as offensive coordinator in 2016 and 2017 after serving his first two seasons in Ogden as a passing game coordinator. Sitake, who coached the backs at WSU, helped lead the Wildcats to a 2017 Big Sky conference title, a record of 11 schools, two wins in the FCS playoffs, a top-10 national rankings and the no. 18 FCS score at 33.7 points per game. Senior full-back Stefan Cantwell placed fifth most single season in school history (3,583), and the Wildcat offense had eight players who earned the Big Sky All-Conference honor.
In 2016, Sitake helped lead Weber State to a 7-5 record, a third place finish in the Big Sky conference and WSU’s first trip to the FCS Playoffs in seven years. In 2015, he was the passing game coordinator for a Wildcat team that finished 6-5, the first winning season in five years.
Before joining the Weber State staff in December 2013, he coached three seasons at his alma mater, Southern Utah, for the coaching staff of current BYU assistant coach Ed Lamb. He was a student assistant, broad reception coach and coordinator for pass play.
Sitake was part of the Southern Utah team that finished 8-5 in 2013 and advanced to the FCS Playoffs for the first time in school history. Under Sitake’s supervision, wide receiver Fatu Moala won the second team’s All-Big Sky conference after leading the team by 65 receptions for 810 yards and nine times in 2012. In 2011, Sitake was instrumental in developing a young Thunderbird reception corps into a productive unit, including overseeing the ripening of true rookie Brady Measom, who led the team in receptions and the Great West Conference rookie of the years from both the coaches and the media.
As a player, Sitake has twice been a Great West All-Conference artist in Southern Utah and has completed his career as one of the best wide receivers in SUU history. As a senior in 2010, he received 877 yards, the ninth most in Thunderbird history at the time, and finished sixth in the country in reception per game. He also excelled as a yield specialist and achieved seventh place in the country in the points learning average during his junior year.
Sitake is a native of Sandy, Utah. He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Riverside, California. He and his wife Holly are the parents of three children, Sefesi, Cayson and Emerson.