BYU football coaching staff: Steve Kaufusi retained, Mike Empey and Nu'u Tafisi hires made official

Bronco Mendenhall took nearly his entire staff to Virginia upon accepting the Cavaliers' head coaching job. One of the few who didn't make the trip to Charlottesville was defensive line coach Steve Kaufusi, who BYU announced was being retained by new head coach Kalani Sitake.

In a series of tweets, BYU announced the retention of Steve Kaufusi as the defensive line coach. They also confirmed the previously reported hires of Mike Empey as the offensive line coach and Nu-u Tafisi as the strength and conditional coach.

Steve Kaufusi named defensive line coach!! #BYUFOOTBALL #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/OVkf1GO2oB

— BYU Football (@BYUfootball) January 14, 2016

Kaufusi has coached the BYU defensive line since 2002, tutoring BYU greats like Brady Poppinga, Jan Jorgensen and Ziggy Ansah.

RELATED: BYU football coaching staff tracker

Prior to BYU, Kaufusi coached defensive line at Utah from 1995 to 2001.

As a player, Kaufusi played defensive line at BYU in 1986 and 1987, recording 74 tackles, nine sacks and one interception.

Kaufusi served his mission to Nukualofa, Tonga, the birthplace of his new boss, Kalani Sitake.

Kaufusi is the father of current BYU basketball player Corbin and graduating football senior Bronson, as well as Alexis, who played basketball for the Cougars and was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.