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DRAPER — Just one day after the BYU football team lost its fourth game of the season, a 28-27 loss at Boise State, the Cougars were back on the Wasatch Front for a bigger event.
And it had nothing to do with the gridiron.
New coach Kalani Sitake and the Cougars held their annual fireside at the Utah State Prison last Friday, where they spoke with inmates a little bit about football — and a lot about life.
“Even after losing a close game, it was important for these young men to be here,” Sitake said. “I hope they can feel the love and appreciate that we have.”
Sitake, who continued the tradition of former coach Bronco Mendenhall, spoke about the adversity of losing close games like Thursday, or the one-point loss at Utah in the second game of the season.
“I’m in the position now of a head coach of great young men that love life and love to serve others,” Sitake told the crowd. “I’m honored to be their head coach, and to be their friend.
“I can honestly say that they make me a better person.”
Just as in years past, BYU players spent the evening singing hymns, sharing scriptures, and addressing the challenges and trials they have faced on their road to college football.
Some of the various talks touched on gridiron principles, or the challenges of being an independent football in a Power 5 conference world. Other times, the topics focused on things much more serious than a game.
“If we keep fighting every day to live up to our potential, eventually we are going to make it,” offensive lineman Parker Dawe said during his address.
Regardless of the nature of their discourses, BYU’s players knew Friday night’s fireside at the Utah State Prison was something they wanted to do — even when Mendenhall left last December for Virginia.
“I think it’s a great tradition that coach Mendenhall started and something that we want to continue,” Sitake said. “Especially when it’s about service and helping others.
“Our guys are definitely about that. Players who have done it before have great things to say about it, and so we are going to try to continue to do this.”
