BYU fans were alarmed Thursday afternoon when Cougar Defensive Coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki told media that he had “zero” experience as a coach defending the triple-option.
Seeing as the Cougars will face two triple-option offenses in the month on September – Army and Navy – fans began to worry that the Cougar defense will have trouble containing the run against the Knights and Midshipmen. The silver lining, however, is that the Cougars are led by a Head Coach that has experienced a high amount of success in facing triple-option offenses.
Sitake, as a defensive coach, since he first entered the coaching world in 2001 at Eastern Arizona Junior College has faced 12 teams that run the triple-option offense. Those games are as follows:
2001 – (Special Teams & Defensive Backs) Eastern Arizona Junior College vs New Mexico Military Institute – Win: 28-21
2001 – (Special Teams & Defensive Backs) Eastern Arizona Junior College vs Arizona Western – Loss: 21-45
2002 – (Graduate Assistant) BYU vs Georgia Tech – Loss: 28-19
2002 – (Graduate Assistant) BYU vs Air Force – Loss: 52-9
2005 – (Linebackers) Utah vs Air Force – Win: 38-35
2006 – (Linebackers) Utah vs Air Force – Win: 17-14
2007 – (Linebackers) Utah vs Air Force – Loss: 20-12
2007 – (Linebackers) Utah vs Navy – Win: 35-32
2008 – (Linebackers) Utah vs Air Force – Win: 30-23
2009 – (Defensive Coordinator) Utah vs Air Force – Win: 23-16
2010 – (Defensive Coordinator) Utah vs Air Force – Win: 28-23
2011 – (Defensive Coordinator) Utah vs Georgia Tech – Win: 30-27
Overall, Sitake has a career record of 8-4 against the triple-option as a defensive coach, going 3-0 when handling defensive duties for the Utes. While Sitake hasn’t faced a triple-option offense since 2011, if there is one style of offense that doesn’t change often, it’s the triple-option.
