My bar for retaining the current coaching staff was reaching bowl eligibility. They reached that in 6 games in dominant fashion. I don’t think we fully appreciate the development on both sides of the ball to get BYU to this spot. BYU’s coaching staff largely elected to run it back with the same team that won 5 games a year ago. That was a huge gamble. Jake Retzlaff was the worst QB in the Power 4. Caleb Etienne was borderline unplayable. They had one of the worst running games in the country. The offense added one contributor out of the portal and have gone from the 100th ranked scoring offense to the top 25.

The defense had better vibes last season, but the statistics were equally bad. BYU ranked 91st last season in yards-per-play allowed. BYU added 2 FCS transfers to replace Eddie Heckard and Max Tooley are now in the top 10 this season. Last season, I feared that BYU did not have the talent to compete at a P5 level. Apparently, they did. All it needed was some refining.

Every member of the staff deserves credit. Jay Hill for bringing chaos back to Provo. Aaron Roderick for rebuilding this offense and its quarterback. TJ Woods for restoring the nasty in this Cougar offensive line. Most of all Kalani Sitake for fostering a culture of development, personality and effort that builds up his players to be better versions of themselves on and off the field. What BYU’s staff has built in one offseason is, frankly, a biblical miracle, and it must be preserved at any cost.