About More to Life

Doing small things with great love. The More To Life Foundation was born from this belief. It’s a simple idea, but not a small one.

Though he now finds himself in his dream job as the head coach at BYU, Kalani Sitake’s life has not been without challenge. The biggest began at age 6 when his parents divorced.

“Despite having a lot of love in my life, the divorce had a lasting effect on me and my siblings,” he says.

He struggled with confidence and defeating thoughts. A couple years after the divorce, Kalani’s life changed at a Cascade Elementary assembly.

“All the BYU players were there, telling us to stay away from drugs, eat our veggies and don’t take rides with strangers,” he remembers.

Afterward, classmates clamored for autographs, but he shyly stayed back. A player sought him out and asked his name.

“He embraced me and it was beautiful,” Kalani says. “That moment started the healing process and I felt that I had purpose. It changed my life. I was already a BYU fan, but now I was going to die a BYU fan.”

“I have told the student athletes that experience and how grateful I am for a player who listened to the spirit and embraced me, even if it didn’t make sense to him,” he says. “A smile, a gesture can change someone’s life in less than 10 seconds. That experience has impacted me for 30 years.”

These “moments” that transform lives are the goal of the More to Life Foundation.

“Think about the possibilities if you could change even just one person’s understanding of what they’re capable of,” says Kalani. “Imagine if you could help them to see how powerful they can be in bringing positive change to the world.”

“We’ve all heard how there are three types of people: those who are immovable, those who can be moved, and then those that just move. We need to get more people moving and doing good. We need to start a movement. It’s very important.”

Special thanks to Jeanette Bennett of Utah Valley Magazine for some of the content of this article.

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About Coach Kalani

Kalani Sitake was named head coach of the BYU football program on December 19, 2015. In his first season, Kalani led the Cougars to a 9-4 record and a win in the San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. Other season highlights included road victories over Michigan State and Arizona and a home victory over Mississippi State.

Prior to BYU, Kalani served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Oregon State and also spent 10 seasons at the University of Utah. He started at Utah in 2005 as the linebackers coach and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2009 before also being named assistant head coach in 2012.

Kalani has coached several Pac-12 and Mountain West Conference honorees, including Morris Trophy winners Star Lotulelei (2011) and Nate Orchard (2014). He also helped mentor 14 NFL Draft picks during his time at Utah, including 12 all-league players and three freshmen All-Americans. He helped the Utes win seven of eight bowl games during his tenure.

His coaching career began in 2001 as the defensive backs and special teams coach at Eastern Arizona before becoming a defensive graduate assistant at BYU in 2002. Kalani then joined the staff at Southern Utah where he coached running backs, tight ends and offensive line during the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

Born in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, and raised in Laie, Hawai’i and Provo, Utah, Kalani is the first FBS head football coach of Tongan descent. He is the 14th head coach in
BYU history, and just the fourth since 1972, when Hall of Fame coach LaVell Edwards took over the program.

He began his BYU playing career in 1994 prior to serving a two-year mission for
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Oakland, California. After returning and redshirting in 1997, Sitake was a three-year starter at fullback for the Cougars from 1998-2000 under Edwards.

He was named BYU’s Football Scholar Athlete of the Year in 1998, Impact Player of the Year in 1999, along with team captain and the most valuable running back in 2000. He signed a free agent contract with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2001, but was forced to retire due to an injury.

Kalani graduated from BYU in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in English. He and his wife Timberly have three children, Skye, Sadie and Kelaokalani (KK).