PROVO, Utah – BYU football coach Kalani Sitake today announced the promotion of Aaron Roderick to offensive coordinator and Fesi Sitake to pass game coordinator on his team.
Roderick, who has served as a pass game coordinator for the past three seasons, will continue to train defenders, while Fesi Sitake will retain his role as coach of receivers, in addition to his new responsibilities as a pass game coordinator. Technical assistants Steve Clark (tight ends), Eric Mateos (offensive line) and Harvey Unga (running backs) will continue in their same position responsibilities on Roderick’s offensive team.
“Aaron is the right person to take over as our offensive coordinator with Jeff (Grimes) leaving,” said Kalani Sitake. “Jeff did an excellent job as an offensive coordinator and Aaron is the perfect choice to help us build the success that Jeff, Aaron, Fesi and our offensive team have achieved together. I know firsthand coach Aaron for working on the same team for 15 years during our careers. He is an experienced interlocutor and coordinator, as well as a great mentor and teacher. I am thrilled to have Aaron as our new offensive coordinator.
“Fesi came to BYU three years ago as one of the young and promising coordinators of the game and played a big role in our success. He improved his team wherever he has been and that is certainly the case here at BYU. We are better off with Fesi’s contributions in the teachers’ room, in the practice field and on the sides. I’m excited to have you working with Aaron and the other coaches on this new role. “
Roderick takes on the role of BYU offensive coordinator with 21 years of coaching experience, including 10 seasons as a coordinator.
“I am extremely honored to be the offensive coordinator of BYU because I understand the legacy of this program and I really appreciate the great coaches who have been in this position in the past to build that legacy,” said Roderick. “I am grateful to Kalani for this opportunity. He and I have worked together for 15 years in three different schools and he is the type of coach I want to work for and in whom I have so much confidence and respect. I also really appreciate Coach Grimes for not only wanting me to be part of his team when I returned to BYU, but also for putting a lot of trust in me with the passing game. He’s a great coach and a great man that I really respect and have enjoyed working for the past three years. I can’t wait to work with the players and face this challenge with Fesi and our talented technical team. ”
Fesi Sitake, who has trained BYU managers for the past three seasons, has 11 years of coaching experience, including five seasons as a coordinator.
“I am thrilled with the opportunity to continue my experience here at BYU as the pass game coordinator,” said Fesi Sitake. “I am grateful for Kalani and his willingness to provide this opportunity for me. Working with Aaron Roderick was an incredible learning experience and I appreciate your continued trust in me. I look forward to continuing my journey here at BYU with the rest of this incredible team and these incredible players. Go Cougs! “
AARON RODERICK
A former BYU receiver for BYU, Roderick served for five seasons as an offensive coordinator and five years as a passing game coordinator during his 21-year coaching career. As a BYU pass game coordinator and defender coach for the past three seasons, Roderick has helped to develop and mentor a prominent defender room while playing a significant role in the overall progress and success of the attack each season.
As a passing game coordinator and game marker, Roderick was a key part of BYU’s powerful offensive attack in 2020, which ranks No. 3 in offensive scoring (43.5 ppg), No. 7 in total offensive ( 522.2 ypg) and No. 8 in the offense (332.1 ppg) while ranking in the top 15 in 10 different statistical categories in general. Cougars’ production as an offense in 2020 ranks 4th in all times at BYU in average scores in a single season, second only to the 2001, 1980 and 1983 teams, while it ranks 6th in the program’s history in total attack with the most yards per game since 2001.
In 2020, BYU tied at No. 1 nationally in yards per move at 7.84, and led all FBS programs in moves of 30 or more yards with 45, while ranking No. 3 in both moves of 10 or more yards (234) and 20 or more yards (83). Overall, BYU scored 40 or more points nine times in 12 games in 2020, culminating in a 49-23 win over UCF, setting a record for both Boca Raton Bowl and BYU for most total attack yards with 655.
Under the tutelage of Roderick, this year BYU defender Zach Wilson finished 8th in the vote for the Heisman Trophy, was a finalist for the Manning Prize and semifinalist for the Player of the Year Walter Camp, Maxwell Prize and Davey O’Brien Prize. In 2020, Wilson passed 3,692 yards and 33 touchdowns, showing passing efficiency of 196.4. He ended the year ranked in the top 10 nationally in 11 offensive categories.
Roderick helped BYU’s pass attack improve in each of the past three seasons, moving from a passing game ranked 90th nationally when he took eighth place in the ranking in 2020. During his coaching career, Roderick has experience as a coach. defenders, receivers and running backs and linebackers while working at BYU, Utah, Southern Utah and Snow College.
Roderick, a native of Bountiful, Utah, trained at the University of Utah for 12 seasons with former Cougar Kyle Whittingham. While in Utah, three of the four seasons of 10 Utes’ victories came with Roderick calling the moves offensive. Roderick was Utah’s co-offensive coordinator and quarterback coach for his last two years on the team in 2015 and 2016 and served as the 2012-2013 Utah pass game coordinator. His first stint as a co-offensive coordinator in Utah was in 2010, when Utah tied for 23rd place in the country in offensive scoring, averaging 33.1 points per game. Roderick also called up Utah during the last six games of the 2009 season, when Utes finished 18th in the country, with a record of 10-3.
After training wide receivers in his first nine seasons in Utah, Roderick joined the quarterbacks in 2014 as the pass game coordinator. Quarterback Travis Wilson has played his last two seasons under Roderick and ended his career as the Utah record holder in QB matches (39) and games played (46) and as number 2 of all time, with 24 career wins. Roderick also trained two of the seven Ute receivers in the school’s history to reach 1,000 yards in one season and helped seven recipients win NFL opportunities, including draft picks David Reed (fifth round) and Freddie Brown (seventh round).
Before going to Utah in 2005, Roderick spent two seasons as an offensive coordinator, defender coach and recruiting coordinator in Southern Utah in 2003-04. Roderick supervised a Thunderbird attack in 2004 that finished 21st in the NCAA FCS in total attack (412.5 ypg) and 14th in pass attack (270.5 ypg) – at the time a school record. SUU quarterback Casey Rehrer placed sixth in Division I-AA in total attack and 19th in passing efficiency under Roderick, while receiver AJ Smith finished fifth in the country in receptions per game (7 , 18 rpg). Roderick trained running backs at Snow College in 2002, after starting his coaching career as a graduate assistant at BYU, assisting linebackers in 1999 and recipients in 2000 and 2001.
As a player, Roderick was a state athlete for three sports at Bountiful High School before winning the All-America award at Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, where he broke the single-season kick-off record for a single season. After two years at Ricks College in 1994-95, Roderick dressed again at BYU in 1996 as a member of the Cougars’ 14-1 Cotton Bowl team. Roderick started as a receiver and returns specialist in 1997 and 1998 and has also received academic accolades at every conference. BYU had 29-11 in Roderick’s three seasons on the team.
Roderick graduated from BYU in sociology in 1998 before earning a master’s degree in sociology at his alma mater in 2002. He served a two-year mission in Bogota, Columbia, through 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 a BYU receiver coach for the past three seasons. In addition to helping the cougars to improve each year as a general offensive unit, Sitake has thrived as a teacher and mentor to the receiving body at BYU. In 2020, after losing three senior holders, Sitake helped his relatively inexperienced group of returning players and newcomers to become one of the team’s strengths, producing three receivers over 600 yards, including the first pass catcher. 1,000 yards from BYU since 2012.
Dax Milne received honors from the Pro Football Focus All-America Second Team in 2020, making 70 receptions for 1,188 yards, ranking 4th in the country in yards received. Top scorer Romney added 767 yards in 39 receptions, despite losing almost three full games, averaging 19.7 yards per catch, which is in 15th place nationally. Neil Pau’u added 45 receptions for 603 yards, while recipients overall combined 15 touchdowns in 2020.
Before coming to BYU, Sitake oversaw the attack by Weber State as an offensive coordinator in 2016 and 2017, after serving as a game coordinator for passes in his first two seasons in Ogden. Sitake, who trained defenders at WSU, helped lead the Wildcats to a title at the Big Sky Conference 2017, a school record of 11 wins, two wins in the FCS playoffs, a top 10 in the national ranking and the 18th FCS with 33.7 points. points per game. Senior quarterback Stefan Cantwell posted the fifth highest number of offensive yards in a single season in the school’s history (3,583), and the Wildcat attack had eight players who received Big Sky All-Conference honors.
In 2016, Sitake helped lead Weber State to a 7-5 record, a third place finish at the Big Sky Conference and WSU’s first trip to the FCS Playoffs in seven years. In 2015, he served as game coordinator for a Wildcat team that finished 6-5, his first winning season in five years.
Before joining the Weber State team in December 2013, Sitake spent three seasons training in his alma mater, Southern Utah, on the current BYU assistant technical team, Ed Lamb. He served as a student assistant, wide receivers trainer and passing game coordinator.
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 the tutelage of Sitake, wide receiver Fatu Moala won the honors of second team at the Big Sky Conference after leading the team with 65 receptions for 810 yards and nine touchdowns in 2012. In 2011, Sitake was instrumental in the development of a young Thunderbird receiving bodies in a productive, including supervising the maturing of the true freshman Brady Measom, who ended up leading the team in receptions and earning the Great West Conference Debutant of the Year honors from coaches and the media.
As a player, Sitake was twice an artist at the Great West All-Conference in Southern Utah and ended his career as one of the greatest wide receivers in SUU history. As a senior in 2010, he had 877 receiving yards, the ninth highest number in Thunderbird history at the time, and finished sixth in the country in receptions per game. He also stood out as a return specialist and during his first year finished seventh in the country on average punt return.
Sitake was born in 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.