From Deseret News archives:

BYU, Utah football: Blood is thicker than water

Lifelong Cougar fan changing his colors this week

Published: Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008 12:04 a.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
PROVO — This is a week Tom Sitake should be torn in half, his emotions frayed, his loyalties tested.

He should be a guy in conflict, talking to friends, speaking to a shrink while he's laid out on a sofa in some room with fish staring at him through a big plate-glass wall.

Sitake has been a BYU fan all of his life — as loyal as you'll find on the planet. But his son, Kalani Sitake, a former Cougar fullback, draws a paycheck from the University Utah as the Utes' linebackers coach. It's his son's job to find a way to disrupt and ground Max Hall and the Cougar offense come Saturday.

"It's pretty simple," Sitake said Monday as he prepared for this week and a game he calls the most dramatic in rivalry history. "My loyalties are with my son. I love my son, I support Kalani, I have his back and he can count on me, win or lose.

"I am a BYU fan, I always will be, but my son has my love, my loyalty, and I want him to succeed."

Tom, who turns 59 on Wednesday, feels things in this conflict that few others will ever know.

Story continues below
To crawl inside his mind and know his heart, you have to know how devoted he is to what he believes. And in this case, his family comes first, even when he's flying two flags at his house — one blue and the other red.

His oldest son, David Pela, played defensive end for the Utes in the early '80s. Kalani turned down Hayden Fry at Iowa, Fisher DeBerry at Air Force and recruiting attention from Nebraska while a prepster in St. Louis, Mo., when LaVell Edwards came calling the day before signing day in the late-'90s.

His third son, T.J., followed Kalani to BYU out of Timpview High and finished his career in a loss to the Utes three years ago in LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Tom had to console T.J. that day. Then he went over to congratulate Kalani.

For the better part of a decade, Tom Sitake was a regular face seen at every BYU football practice from 1994 to 2005. Even now, when there is no conflict, he goes to BYU tailgate parties, where he helps shovel out food with his Polynesian friends who wear Cougar blue.

A year ago, he was released from his LDS Church calling as the first counselor in a Tongan ward bishopric. The bishop he served with was Joel Tuialeva, the uncle of former Cougar and Philadelphia Eagle running back Reno Mahe. The second counselor he served with was Jackson Unga, father of current BYU running back Harvey Unga.

Recent comments

go utes!

Anonymous | April 29, 2009 at 8:00 a.m.

Dec. 10th, 2008.

Congratulations Tom.

We will watch Utes on...

Folau Sr. | Dec. 10, 2008 at 6:46 p.m.

Cant wait for the real big game on Saturday...............Texas Tech...

football fan | Nov. 21, 2008 at 10:39 p.m.

Image

Tom Sitake, a lifelong BYU fan, has a son, Kalani, who is an assistant coach on Utah's football staff. He has torn loyalties for this week's game as a father who has had two sons play for the Cougars. Flags from both schools fly in front of his house, but he bleeds red Saturday because of Kalani's importance to the Utes' chances of winning.

previousnext

Latest comments

Most Utahns unhappy with Obama

But the nooooo the GOP passes over Sec. Condi Rice, Sec. Colin...

yes a saw a similar recipe on youtube on Utah Homes & Garden Television......

Why is Y. ignoring spew of hatred?

I wish we were hearing about how good the last drive of the game was and the...

Hatch: Abortion amendment may fail

I would like abortion to be the right of the individual not the government....

If a person needs an abortion, I feel it is betterr than an unwanted birth....

The senate bill already prohibits taxpayer money from being spent on...

Are you REALLY so desperate for attention that you'll troll the DN website...

Thank goodness it'll only be for one term.

3,396 comments now. And to the 10:17 comment above, I'm not "whining about...

you already own utah. why do you need another state?

Advertisements