BYU head football coach Kalani Sitake has been named to the Board of Trustees of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), the association announced Monday.

Sitake is one of seven head coaches named by the AFCA as the newest members of its Board of Trustees. In addition to Sitake, SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee, Liberty University head coach Jamey Chadwell, Army West Point head coach Jeff Monken, Western Michigan University head coach Lance Taylor, Western Colorado University head coach Jas Bains and Trinity University head coach Jerheme Urban have been named as new members of the AFCA Board of Trustees.

These seven coaches will join a group of distinguished head coaches who guide the organization from their roles on the Board of Trustees. Sitake will be a second Big 12 Conference representative and Lashlee will be a second Atlantic Coast Conference representative, while Chadwell will represent Conference USA, Monken will represent the American Athletic Conference, Taylor will represent the Mid-American Conference, Bains will be a Division II representative and Urban will be a Division III representative.

The Board formulates policy and provides direction for the AFCA, which was founded in 1922 by Amos Alonzo Stagg, John Heisman and others. Returning members of the AFCA Board of Trustees include 2025 president Bobby Hauck of the University of Montana, first vice-president Jim Catanzaro of Lake Forest College, second vice-president Steve Ryan of Morningside University and third vice-president James Franklin of Penn State University.

Also serving on the Board in 2025 are: Clark Lea, Vanderbilt University; Jay Norvell, Colorado State University; Jason Simpson, University of Tennessee-Martin; Alvin Parker, Virginia Union University; Bret Bielema, University of Illinois; Chris Klieman, Kansas State University; Tony Elliott, University of Virginia; Charles Huff, University of Southern Mississippi; Brent Venables, University of Oklahoma; Grant Newsome, University of Michigan, ex officio member and chairman of the Assistant Coaches Committee; Van Malone, Kansas State University, ex officio member and chairman of the Minority Advancement Committee; Michael Christensen, Carson (Calif.) High School, ex officio member and chairman of the High School Committee; and Scott Strohmeier, Iowa Western Community College, ex officio member and Junior College representative. AFCA Executive Director Craig Bohl serves as secretary-treasurer of the organization.

Sitake completed his ninth season as the head coach at BYU in 2024, leading the Cougars to an 11-2 overall record and a four-way tie for first place in the Big 12 Conference at the end of the regular season. BYU then won the Alamo Bowl to give the Cougars a No. 13/14 final ranking and their fifth bowl win in seven bowl game appearance under Sitake, who earned his first AFCA Regional Coach of the Year honor in 2024.

Entering his 25th overall season as a college football coach in 2025, the former BYU team captain began his coaching career at Eastern Arizona in 2001, then returned to BYU as a graduate assistant in 2002. He spent two seasons at Southern Utah coaching various positions, then joined the Utah staff in 2005 as linebackers coach. Sitake spent 10 years at Utah, finishing as associate head coach and defensive coordinator before moving to Oregon State in 2015 in the same roles. He became the first FBS head football coach of Tongan descent when he was named head coach at BYU on December 19, 2015.

Leading the football program he once played for under legendary College Football Hall of Fame coach LaVell Edwards, Sitake was starter at fullback (1994, 1997-2000) for the Cougars and is the first former player under Edwards to be named the BYU head coach. He has led the Cougars to double-digit victory seasons in three of the past five years while achieving a 45-18 (.714) record to boast the No. 8 winning percentage among all FBS coaches in that span. Overall, Sitake has guided BYU to a 72-43 (.626) record in his first nine seasons and was inducted in January into the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame.