BYU Football: Realistic expectations for Bronco Mendenhall successor Kalani Sitake

Kalani Sitake replaces Bronco Mendenhall as the BYU football head coach, so what should Cougars fans expect from him in 2016 and beyond?

After two weeks after the news broke out that Bronco Mendenhall was leaving BYU, the BYU Athletics Department finally came to a decision on his replacement. Oregon State’s defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake was named as the new BYU head coach on Saturday, putting to rest the anxiety that has swirled around the program.

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The official decision came after BYU’s game against its rival the Utah Utes in Las Vegas, where the Cougars fell 35-28 after falling behind 35-0 in the first quarter on five turnovers.

Fans were especially concerned after BYU’s first option, Navy’s coach Ken Niumatalolo, decided not to accept the offer to come to BYU. Speculation arose that perhaps BYU was waiting for the bowl game against the Utes, so that the Cougars could then make a run at Utah’s head coach Kyle Whittingham.

In the end, Sitake was the choice to lead his alma mater as a former team captain who gets his first head coaching opportunity. Before his one year at Oregon State, where he had the No. 117 total defense, he previously served as the defensive coordinator at Utah for six years and was Whittingham’s assistant head coach for three years.

Plenty of excitement surrounds the hiring of Sitake as he becomes the first FBS head coach to be from Tonga, but fans will need to be patient with him in his first year.

The schedule for the 2016 season is the main reason he’ll have trouble matching this year’s nine wins in the regular season because it’ll likely rank among the toughest schedules in the country.

It would be a nice if he could go 6-6 with that schedule. If there’s a silver lining in being patient, remember Mendenhall also went 6-6 in his first year before going 43-9 over the next four year and having four top-25 finishes.

I think Sitake is a good hire in the big picture and knows how to win at BYU and recruit the type of player that BYU needs to be successful.

But heading into next year, Sitake is playing catch up considering there is less than two months until National Signing Day and he will have to assemble a coaching staff with most of the current BYU staff following Mendenhall to Virginia.

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Plus, he lost precious recruiting time as he tries to keep the current commitments at BYU instead of decommitting and looking at other programs.

I can see Sitake doing big things with BYU and taking them to the level Mendenhall had at his peak, especially if quarterback Tanner Mangum continues to develop. But expecting too much, too soon is a lot to ask for from a first-year head coach who is playing catch up

I think it’ll take a year before he can put the Cougars in a spot to seriously contend for a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl bid. That means fans have be patient with the first-year head coach next year and be okay with an 8-5 season for the fourth time in five years.

Sitake will have the pressure of returning to his alma mater and the pressure of replacing Mendenhall who won 99 games in 11 years, but once that subsides after 2016, he’ll be ready to start filling the big shoes left by his predecessor and contend for a New Year’s Six berth.