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PROVO — The first official day of Brian Santiago's tenure as athletic director at Brigham Young University commenced Wednesday.
But the 27-year BYU employee who returned to his hometown as an assistant on Steve Cleveland's basketball staff before transitioning to athletic administration, which includes deputy athletic director since 2017, has been on the job for a while now.
Santiago, a 1988 graduate of Provo High who starred on the Bulldogs' 1987 state championship squad, has been — by multiple admissions — the "right-hand man" of outgoing athletic director Tom Holmoe for years.
So it should come as no surprise that Holmoe and his wife, Lori, were among the guests at Santiago's formal introduction by BYU president Shane Reese and advancement vice president Keith Vorkink, who interviewed 50 applicants before landing on Santiago.
"Tom's been telling me he's ready to hand the baton and hand me the keys, and he wants to move forward," Santiago said. "I want our athletic department to know, every single person, that we're moving forward in a consistent way to what we've been doing.
"We have incredible momentum in the athletic department right now — maybe the best we've ever had."
Coming off an 11-win season in football and Sweet 16 appearance in men's basketball — the school's two flagship sports — it's easy to see the momentum in BYU athletics as Santiago takes over for his friend and mentor following two decades of Holmoe's leadership.
With a pair of national championships in men's and women's cross country, the Cougars currently rank seventh in the Learfield Directors' Cup standings.
Holmoe, a former BYU defensive back and four-time Super Bowl champion, was well invested in the success in Cougar football — and for good reason.
Santiago, who played basketball at Utah Valley and Fresno State, has long been viewed as a "basketball guy," even playing pivotal roles in the hires of current head coaches Kevin Young and Lee Cummard, as well as former women's basketball coach Amber Whiting.
But the former professional basketball player for the Arecibo Capitanes, who leans heavily on his Puerto Rican heritage, was also in the room when Holmoe interviewed head football coach Kalani Sitake.
And the first matter of formal business, beyond press releases, announcements, and an appearance on BYUtv's Sports Nation, was an early afternoon meeting with the 2025 football team.
Basketball and Olympic sports championships like cross country are important, but the gridiron is where BYU's bread gets buttered, so to speak — and Santiago knows it.
"Some people aren't away — they see me as a basketball guy," he said. "Tom and I have been in the trenches with Kalani since we hired him; we hired him together.
"One of the great experiences that I've had in my time in college athletics was that interview with Kalani Sitake, and subsequently with Kevin Young last year. … But football drives the ship. There's nothing more important at BYU than our football program. We have an exceptional head coach. This is an exceptional human being and exceptional leader, and the staff that he's put around him is exceptional. That's driving the ship."
Of course, in 27 years in BYU athletics including 17 years as a senior associate athletic director and the past eight as Holmoe's top assistant, Santiago admits he has some detractors. In an era of social media and unfiltered internet comments, those detractors aren't hard to find, either.
"We are who we are," Santiago said. "I feel like I can stand with confidence in who I am. I think that part of my competitive nature came with me when I was born into this world."
But he said he "can't wait" to get to know his detractors who are going to see "that I'm not the same person now that I was 27 years ago." Over those nearly 30 years, Santiago said he's learned from "incredible mentors, leaders and presidents of this university" to help shape who he is today.
"These are people who have shown me that you can be competitive and passionate, but you can also lead with love and compassion to take some of that edge off. … If you're not in the competitive world, you're going to get run over. Last I checked, we're going to chase excellence and we're going to chase greatness. But let's go on this journey together; the more we can interact together, the more you'll see who I am as a person."
That leads the first-time athletic director back to Day 1 of his administration, where after he shakes hands with coaches, donors, administrators and football players in that afternoon meeting, he also has plenty of work to do.
Setting aside the changing environment of college athletics — with name, image and likeness and the impending House settlement pushing toward the summer — Santiago has a hire to make. The Cougars hired an athletic director but now have a hole among his assistants.
Santiago doesn't have any new hires in mind, though he'd want one "sooner than later," if possible. He'll look at external candidates for the job.
But he also wants to take a good look at the athletic department internally and promote responsibilities from within, mentioning senior women's administrator Liz Darger by name.
"We're going to end up elevating a number of people in the administrative team and our executive team, empower them and give them an opportunity to really make a difference in our athletic department," he said. "I just think it's a different day. You're not going to find one or two people carrying the lions' share of it. That's what I'm excited about; we have excellence in our athletic department right now. And people are going to start to step up."
