BYU changed the reporting line above Kalani Sitake nine days before the 2026 football opener.
Sitake now reports directly to university advancement vice president Keith Vorkink. Athletic director Brian Santiago also reports to Vorkink and remains responsible for BYU’s other 20 varsity sports. Deseret News first detailed the reorganization Thursday, and KSL Sports and the BYU Daily Universe independently reported the same split.
That is a meaningful structural change. It is not an announced firing, a second athletic department or proof of every rumor that has followed BYU football this summer.
Start with the new line on the organization chart, then keep it separate from the decisions BYU has not made public.
BYU’s new athletics reporting line
| Area | Day-to-day leader | Reports to under the new structure |
|---|---|---|
| Football | Head coach Kalani Sitake | Keith Vorkink, advancement vice president |
| Other 20 varsity sports | Coaches and sport administrators under athletic director Brian Santiago | Brian Santiago, who reports to Vorkink |
| University oversight of athletics | Keith Vorkink | University administration |
Vorkink already oversaw athletics as part of a university portfolio that also includes broadcasting, communications, alumni and external relations, and philanthropies. The difference is that football’s head coach now reaches that university-level office directly instead of through Santiago.
Santiago still holds the athletic director title. BYU’s official staff page says he took the job in May 2025 after years as a deputy AD, and Thursday’s reporting does not say he has been removed from the department or stripped of responsibility for the other teams.
A headline saying football no longer reports to the AD can sound like BYU created a free-standing football company overnight. The published structure is narrower: Sitake and Santiago now have parallel reporting lines to the same vice president.
What the split can change for football
A direct line to Vorkink gives Sitake a shorter route for requests that require university approval rather than an ordinary coaching decision.
College football now touches revenue sharing, NIL operations, staffing, facilities, fundraising, contracts, compliance and player personnel. Some of those issues sit inside athletics. Others require finance, legal, advancement or senior-campus approval. Removing one administrative step can make escalation clearer when the football program asks for resources or needs a decision that crosses those boundaries.
It does not guarantee that every request will be approved. BYU announced no new football budget, support position, general manager, facility project or compensation change Thursday. A shorter route to the decision-maker is still a route to a yes or a no.
The timing will draw attention because BYU opens against Utah Tech on Sept. 5. Sitake’s staff should be deep into game preparation, not reorganizing who calls third down. The football operation on the field does not need to change for the reporting line above the head coach to change.
That is probably the immediate goal: alter the administrative path without asking coaches and players to rebuild their weekly routine before kickoff.
What the move does not prove
The reorganization arrived after public discussion about football investment and months of speculation about the relationship between Sitake and Santiago. Deseret News reported that context and cited sources familiar with the department’s decision.
Fans should not turn context into a verified private argument.
BYU has not released meeting notes, a list of disputed requests or an account from either Sitake or Santiago saying a personal conflict caused the change. The public fact is the new reporting line. Claims about the exact internal trigger remain reporting and interpretation unless the people involved put more on the record.
The move also does not settle Sitake’s long-term contract or say anything new about his coaching authority. BYU retained him after a 12-2 season in 2025, and our look at Sitake’s Big 12 tenure edge covered the stability he brings into year 11. Thursday changes who receives his administrative requests. It does not rewrite the offense, defense or staff hierarchy.
Nothing published Thursday assigns Santiago’s remaining sport portfolio one by one, either. He was already the department’s athletic director. The useful update is that football has been pulled out of his direct chain, not that every other program received a new boss.
Marc Hill is the obvious open question
BYU hired Marc Hill as a deputy athletic director on Aug. 11, barely two weeks before this reorganization.
Hill spent 27 years at Kentucky. BYU’s announcement says he served as the primary administrator for Kentucky football and men’s basketball, managed budgets and daily operations, and worked as a liaison between coaches and the rest of the department. That background looks unusually relevant now.
It is still not a published assignment.
Our analysis of Hill’s hire warned against inventing his portfolio from his resume. That warning survives Thursday. Deseret News reported that Hill’s role in the new structure remained unclear. BYU has not named him football’s administrator, Santiago’s replacement or Vorkink’s designated football operator.
Hill could become a bridge between Sitake’s program and university administration because he has done similar work before. He could also receive a broader operational portfolio under Santiago. Until BYU defines the job, both are possibilities rather than facts.
His eventual assignment will tell fans whether this is only a reporting-line repair or the first step in a larger redesign.
The other 20 sports cannot become an afterthought
Football generates the attention and carries the largest operating demands. Giving it a dedicated path to university leadership can reflect that reality without diminishing the rest of the department.
Coordination could get messy.
Facilities, fundraising, medical services, academics, compliance and communications do not fit neatly into football and non-football boxes. BYU also has national goals in men’s basketball, women’s soccer, volleyball, track and field, and other programs that share people and resources with football. Two reporting lines still need one process for settling priorities.
That makes Santiago’s remaining job substantial, not ceremonial. He now has to lead 20 sports while Vorkink handles direct oversight of the school’s most expensive and visible program. Clear boundaries could let each leader spend more time on a manageable portfolio. Fuzzy boundaries could create more meetings, not fewer.
BYU’s all-sports fans should watch whether the school explains who approves shared budgets, who evaluates coaches outside football and where Hill fits. The all-sports index shows how much of BYU Athletics lives beyond Saturdays. A football fix should not leave those teams guessing about their own chain of command.
Four answers will show whether the structure works
The organization chart is only the first receipt. The next ones should be practical.
- Who handles football administration during the season? Sitake reports to Vorkink, but a head coach still needs somebody working through contracts, travel, budgets and campus approvals every day.
- What is Hill’s portfolio? His Kentucky background makes this the most obvious unanswered personnel question.
- Which decisions now move faster? A real restructure should eventually show up in staffing, resources or operating clarity. A new arrow on a chart is not enough.
- How are shared services divided? Football and the other sports still use one university. BYU needs a clean way to handle the resources they share.
None of those answers has to arrive before Utah Tech for the Cougars to play good football. They do need to arrive if this is supposed to be a durable operating model rather than a late-August patch.
For now, the verified change is simple. Sitake and Santiago both report to Vorkink. Sitake owns football. Santiago remains the athletic director over the other programs. BYU moved its biggest sport closer to university leadership without announcing the rest of the machinery around it.
That is enough to matter. It is not enough to fill in the blanks for them.
Sources and further reading
- Deseret News, Aug. 27: BYU restructures athletics and moves football under Keith Vorkink for the new reporting lines, timing, university statement and unresolved questions around the final structure.
- KSL Sports, Aug. 27: BYU athletic department reportedly restructured for independent confirmation that Sitake no longer reports to Santiago.
- BYU Daily Universe, Aug. 27: BYU athletic department undergoes restructuring for a second local report on the change.
- BYU Athletics: Keith Vorkink staff biography for his advancement vice president title and existing oversight of athletics and other university areas.
- BYU Athletics: Brian Santiago staff biography for his May 2025 appointment and prior department responsibilities.
- BYU Athletics, Aug. 11: Marc Hill joins the senior leadership team for Hill’s title, Kentucky football role and operating background.
- BYU Sport Nuts: football hub, 2026 schedule, Sitake tenure analysis and Marc Hill hire analysis.
