PROVO, Utah — BYU head football coach Kalani Sitake today announced the promotion of Aaron Roderick to offensive coordinator and Fesi Sitake to passing game coordinator on his staff.
Roderick, who has served as passing game coordinator the past three seasons, will continue to coach quarterbacks, while Fesi Sitake will maintain his role coaching receivers in addition to his new responsibilities as the passing game coordinator. Assistant coaches Steve Clark (tight ends), Eric Mateos (offensive line) and Harvey Unga (running backs) will continue in their same position responsibilities on Roderick’s offensive staff.
“Aaron is the right person to take over as our offensive coordinator with the departure of Jeff (Grimes),” Kalani Sitake said. “Jeff did a tremendous job as offensive coordinator and Aaron is the perfect choice to help us build on the success Jeff, Aaron, Fesi and our offensive staff have achieved together. I know firsthand the exceptional coach Aaron is from working on the same staff for 15 years during our careers. He is an experienced play-caller and coordinator and a great mentor and teacher. I’m thrilled to have Aaron as our new offensive coordinator.
“Fesi came to BYU three years ago as one of the game’s up-and-coming young coordinators and he’s played a big role in our success. He has improved his team wherever he has been and that is certainly the case here at BYU. We are better because of Fesi’s contributions in our staff room, on the practice field and on the sidelines. I’m excited to have him working closely with Aaron and the other coaches in 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 incredibly honored to be the offensive coordinator at BYU because I understand this program’s legacy and truly appreciate the great coaches that have been in this position in the past to build that legacy,” Roderick said. “I’m grateful to Kalani for this opportunity. He and I have worked 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 trust and respect. I also really appreciate Coach Grimes for not only wanting me to be a part of his staff when I came back to BYU but also putting a lot of trust in me with the passing game. He is a great coach and a great man who I really respect and enjoyed working with the past three years. I can’t wait to work with the players and take on this challenge with Fesi and our talented coaching staff.”
Fesi Sitake, who has coached BYU’s receivers the past three seasons, has 11 years of coaching experience, including five seasons as a coordinator.
“I am thrilled at the opportunity to continue my experience here at BYU as the passing game coordinator,” Fesi Sitake said. “I’m grateful for Kalani and his willingness to provide this opportunity for me. Working with Aaron Roderick has been 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 this incredible staff and these amazing players. Go Cougs!”
AARON RODERICK
A former BYU wide receiver, Roderick has served five seasons as an offensive coordinator and five years as a passing game coordinator during his 21-year coaching career. As BYU’s passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach the past three seasons, Roderick helped develop and mentor a room of outstanding quarterbacks while playing a significant role in the progress and overall success of the offense each season.
As passing game coordinator and a play-caller, Roderick was a key part of BYU’s potent offensive attack in 2020 that is ranked No. 3 in scoring offense (43.5 ppg), No. 7 in total offense (522.2 ypg) and No. 8 in passing offense (332.1 ppg) while ranking in the top 15 in 10 different statistical categories overall. The Cougars’ production as an offense in 2020 ranks No. 4 all-time at BYU in single-season scoring average behind only the 2001, 1980 and 1983 teams, while ranking No. 6 in program history in total offense with the most yards per game since 2001.
In 2020 BYU tied for No. 1 nationally in yards per play at 7.84, and led all of FBS programs in plays of 30 or more yards with 45 while ranking No. 3 in both plays 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, capped with a 49-23 victory over UCF while setting both a Boca Raton Bowl and BYU bowl record for most yards of total offense with 655.
Under Roderick’s tutelage, this year BYU quarterback Zach Wilson finished No. 8 in the Heisman Trophy voting, 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 passed for 3,692 yards and 33 touchdowns while posting a 196.4 passing efficiency. He finished the year ranked in the top 10 nationally in 11 offensive categories.
Roderick helped the BYU passing attack improve each of the past three seasons, going from a passing game ranked 90th nationally when he took over to a No. 8 ranking in 2020. During his coaching career, Roderick has experience coaching quarterbacks, receivers, running backs and linebackers while working at BYU, Utah, Southern Utah and Snow College.
A Bountiful, Utah, native, Roderick coached at the University of Utah for 12 seasons on former Cougar Kyle Whittingham’s staff. While at Utah, three of the four 10-win seasons achieved by the Utes came with Roderick calling the offensive plays. Roderick was Utah’s co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach his last two years on the staff in 2015 and 2016 and served as Utah’s passing game coordinator from 2012-2013. His first stint as co-offensive coordinator at Utah was in 2010, when Utah tied for 23rd in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 33.1 points a game. Roderick also called the plays for Utah during the last six games of the 2009 season when the Utes finished ranked No. 18 in the nation with a 10-3 record.
After coaching the wide receivers for his first nine seasons at Utah, Roderick moved to the quarterbacks in 2014 as the passing game coordinator. Quarterback Travis Wilson played his last two seasons under Roderick and finished his career as the Utah record-holder for QB starts (39) and games played (46) and No. 2 all-time with 24 career wins. Roderick also coached two of the seven Ute receivers in school history to reach 1,000 yards in a season and helped seven receivers gain opportunities in the NFL, including draft picks David Reed (fifth round) and Freddie Brown (seventh round).
Before going to Utah in 2005, Roderick spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator at Southern Utah in 2003-04. Roderick oversaw a Thunderbird offense in 2004 that finished 21st in the NCAA FCS in total offense (412.5 ypg) and 14th in passing offense (270.5 ypg)—at the time a school record. SUU quarterback Casey Rehrer ranked sixth in Division I-AA in total offense and 19th in pass efficiency under Roderick’s tutelage, while receiver A.J. Smith finished fifth in the country in receptions per game (7.18 rpg). Roderick coached running backs at Snow College in 2002 after beginning his coaching career as a graduate assistant at BYU, assisting with the linebackers in 1999 and receivers in 2000 and 2001.
As a player, Roderick was a three-sport all-state athlete at Bountiful High School prior to earning All-America honors at Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, where he broke the school’s single-season punt and kick return records. After two years at Ricks College from 1994-95, Roderick redshirted at BYU in 1996 as a member of the Cougars’ 14-1 Cotton Bowl team. Roderick went on to start as a receiver and return specialist in 1997 and 1998 and also earned academic all-conference accolades. BYU went 29-11 in Roderick’s three seasons on the team.
Roderick graduated from BYU with a degree in sociology in 1998 before earning a master’s of sociology from his alma mater in 2002. 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 BYU’s receivers coach the past three seasons. In addition to helping the Cougars improve each year as an overall offensive unit, Sitake has thrived as a teacher and mentor of the receiving 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 strengths of the team, producing three receivers with more than 600 yards, including BYU’s first 1,000-yard pass catcher since 2012.
Dax Milne earned Pro Football Focus All-America Second Team honors in 2020, making 70 catches for 1,188 yards to rank No. 4 in the nation in receiving yards. Gunner Romney added 767 yards on 39 receptions despite missing nearly three full games to average 19.7 yards per catch, which ranks No. 15 nationally. Neil Pau’u added 45 catches for 603 yards while the receivers overall combined for 15 touchdowns in 2020.
Prior to coming to BYU, Sitake oversaw the Weber State offense as offensive coordinator in 2016 and 2017 after serving as passing game coordinator his first two seasons in Ogden. Sitake, who coached quarterbacks at WSU, helped lead the Wildcats to a 2017 Big Sky Conference title, a school-record 11 wins, two wins in the FCS playoffs, a top-10 national ranking and the No. 18 FCS scoring offense at 33.7 points per game. Senior quarterback Stefan Cantwell posted the fifth-most single-season total offense yards in school history (3,583), and the Wildcat offense had eight players that earned Big Sky All-Conference honors.
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 served as the passing game coordinator for a Wildcat team that finished 6-5, its first winning season in five years.
Prior to joining the Weber State staff in December 2013, Sitake spent three seasons coaching at his alma mater, Southern Utah, on current BYU assistant head coach Ed Lamb’s coaching staff. He served as a student assistant, wide receivers coach 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 Sitake’s tutelage, wide receiver Fatu Moala garnered second-team all-Big Sky Conference honors after leading the team with 65 receptions for 810 yards and nine touchdowns in 2012. In 2011, Sitake was instrumental in developing a young Thunderbird receiving corps into a productive unit, including overseeing the maturation of true freshman Brady Measom, who wound up leading the team in receptions and earning Great West Conference Rookie of the Year honors from both the coaches and the media.
As a player, Sitake was a two-time Great West All-Conference performer at Southern Utah and finished his career as one of the top wide receivers in SUU history. As a senior in 2010, he had 877 receiving yards, the ninth most in Thunderbird history at the time, and finished sixth in the nation in receptions per game. He also excelled as a return specialist and during his junior year finished seventh in the country in punt return average.
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.
