BYU officially hires Aaron Roderick, Fesi Sitake and Ryan Pugh as assistant coaches

We know who BYU’s head coach is. We know who BYU’s new offensive coordinator is. We’ve had hunches about who some of the actual assistant coaches will be. But now, thanks to a BYU announcement, we have a bit more clarity.

Today, BYU announced the hiring of Aaron Roderick, Fesi Sitake and Ryan Pugh as offensive assistant coaches, while also announcing that current TE coach, Steve Clark, will be retained.

Sitake and Pugh weren’t given titles more specific than “offensive assistant coach” in the release, while Roderick was identified as the “passing game coordinator”.

Roderick returns to coaching after being let go as Utah’s offensive coordinator in 2016. He has close ties to Kalani Sitake as the two coached on the same staff for more than 10 years between Southern Utah and Utah. While at Utah, Roderick worked primarily with the wide receivers and quarterbacks.

Fesi Sitake will join the staff after a very successful stint at Weber State where the Wildcats made a nice run in the FCS Playoffs where they were taken down in the last minutes by no. 1 James Madison. The offensive performance in that game was impressive despite the loss as Weber State put up 28 points on a JMU defense that held all of their opponents (besides FBS North Carolina) to less than 14 points. Sitake was the offensive coordinator for Weber State for the last two seasons and has seven years of experience at the collegiate level.

While Cougar fans are likely familiar with Sitake and Roderick, Ryan Pugh will be a new name and face to BYU Football. The 29-year-old played as an offensive lineman under the tutelage of Jeff Grimes while at Auburn and was a graduate assistant with Grimes for three seasons. The last two years he was the offensive line coach at UT-San Antonio.

BYU also announced that Steve Clark would be retained. While BYU’s offense last season was an unmitigated disaster, the one bright spot came by ways of Clark’s tight end group, specifically Matt Bushman. BYU’s press release stated that official assignments will be made after one more assistant coach is hired on the offensive end.

All three hires provide an unique element to the coaching staff under Jeff Grimes. Roderick has experience as an OC and is likely looking at this as an opportunity to improve him resume. Fesi Sitake is a rising star in the profession and will also bring play-calling experience to the staff. Ryan Pugh is still young in his coaching career but is obviously trusted by Jeff Grimes.

Stay tuned for more updates to follow.