One of those individuals was former Heisman Trophy finalist and NFL linebacker Manti Te’o.
What’s interesting is that Te’o didn’t play for Sitake. Te’o played college football at Notre Dame and was a superstar for the Irish.
Despite not having Sitake as a coach, Sitake impacted Te’o’s football career as a young player.
Te’o shared his story during the 2025 Polynesian Bowl broadcast after the telecast had a sideline interview with Sitake.
The 10th-year BYU football head coach became the first coach of Tongan descent to become an FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) head coach.
Sitake was one of three individuals inducted into this year’s Polynesian Football Hall of Fame. The Polynesian Football Hall of Fame class was honored this past weekend in Hawaii.
Manti Te’o on Kalani Sitake: “Will always have a special place in my life.”
Te’o gave a congratulatory message to Sitake on his induction into the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame.
“Coach Kalani Sitake will always have a special place in my life,” Manti Te’o said during the Polynesian Bowl broadcast on NFL Network.
“I was in the eighth grade and I was playing with some varsity players at the All-Poly football camp. I just had my helmet hit me in the nose. So I’m on the sideline, tears coming down my eyes, and the blood coming down my nose, and I feel this person put their arm around me, and it’s Coach Kalani. He was a linebacker coach at the University of Utah at that time.”
Sitake was an assistant coach at Utah for a decade. During that time, the All-Poly Camp was a padded event with some of the state’s best scrimmages on the recruiting scene.
All-Poly Camp
At that All-Poly Camp, as a young eighth-grade player, years before emerging as a five-star linebacker out of Punahou High School in Hawaii, Te’o shared his interaction with Kalani Sitake.
“He put his arm around me and said, ‘Hey, young man, one day, you’re gonna be somebody special. And when that happens, I hope you remember me.’ It meant so much to me to have a coach really believe in me at that time. It’s no surprise to me why he has the success at BYU that he’s having. So congratulations to Coach Kalani [on induction to the Polynesian Bowl Hall of Fame].”
