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Education Key for Tongan-Born BYU Football Coach

Brigham Young University’s new head football coach Kalani Sitake, who is garnering a lot of attention from excited fans and interested media, tells the Deseret News he didn’t get to where he is by accident.

“I’ve had to lean heavily on people to get this far,” Kalani says as he sits in his office. “My family especially. That’s the story. I’d be fine with no one talking about me. I’m not accustomed to being in the spotlight.”

His family support comes in large part from his father Tom, whose family emigrated from Tonga in the 1960s.

“Tom believed fervently in the power of education, industriousness, his Mormon faith and the discipline of sports,” wrote the Deseret News. 

Like many of his generation, Tom sacrificed his dreams of an education so his children would have that opportunity. This sacrifice and the education obtained by Coach Sitake as a result, is part of the foundation upon which he has built his life.

Brigham Young University is part of the Church Education System of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Read the profile on the new Tongan coach Kalani Sitake: ‘The Protector’ puts family, Cougars Under his wing.

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