For BYU’s Kalani Sitake, ‘alumni’ is more than a label. Here’s how one is aiding Cougars in spring

PROVO (KSL.com) — There were two Isaiahs on BYU’s practice field during spring training camp, but only one of them will suit up this fall.

That would be Isaiah Glasker, the All-Big 12 third-team linebacker who will look to run it back for his senior season when the Cougars kick off Sept. 5 against Utah Tech.

But the other Isaiah may be just as memorable.

That would be former defensive lineman Isaiah Bagnah returned from his first season in the CFL to mentor his former teammates. Bagnah is something of a volunteer assistant coach, eager to lend a hand before he reports to training camp after his rookie season with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last year.

Provo has become something of a second home for Bagnah, the Lethbridge, Alberta, native who played two seasons at defensive end and earned his degree from BYU after starting his college career at Boise State.

The 6-foot-3, 260-pound defensive end still has plenty left in the game a year after he had four tackles and a sack in five games with the Tiger-Cats.

But when the ball stops bouncing, as it does for all players one day, he’ll make a heckuva coach, BYU’s Kalani Sitake said after watching his former player for a few weeks.

“He’s learning as much as he can, and he’s really increasing his football IQ,” Sitake said of Bagnah, who has been spending most of his time with the defensive tackles under first-year defensive coordinator Kelly Poppinga. “He can be a coach, easily. He’s just still playing; he’s young. You should become a coach when you’re old like me, and your body doesn’t function well. But I love having those guys around.”

BYU will welcome back more alumni next week as it hosts the program’s annual alumni day next Friday, April 3 that concludes with a free-to-the-public alumni game at LaVell Edwards Stadium (6 p.m. MDT, BYUtv App).

But Sitake’s open-door policy for former players has been on full display apart from the designated weeks of honoring the program’s past greats. A year ago, he welcomed back former offensive line standout Connor Pay as a volunteer assistant coach and retained him as an offensive quality control assistant for the 2026 roster, for example.

The former BYU fullback going into his 11th season at his alma mater has a similar approach with any of his players who want to get into coaching: come back and learn from the program you already know. Bagnah took advantage, even if he isn’t quite ready to hang up his cleats.

“I’ve been a part of the program, so I kind of knew how things roll,” Bagnah said during a recent episode of the Coug Connect podcast. “It’s been a little bit of a learning curve for me, because I’m typically on the outside. But now I’ve been with the interior guys, just learning myself. It’s been cool to see things from a different perspective.”

Former players like Bagnah contributing on the field doesn’t just help those players, either. It also offers a new perspective for the current players who will one day fill those same shoes — as professional football players, alums of the program, or former greats.

“It’s just good to see our guys come back home — any time they can do that,” Sitake said.

It’s good to be back, Bagnah added, even as he reconnected with former teammates who were once brand new — and even a couple who transferred in as he was filtering on to the next chapter.

Bagnah highlighted Viliami Po’uha, a freshman from South Jordan on his 2024 team, and rising fifth-year senior Justin Kirkland, the West Haven native who transferred home from Oklahoma State after Bagnah graduated, as standouts from spring camp.

“When he was with me, he was a freshman — and he was baling,” Bagnah said of Po’uha. “The way that they’ve got him now, he’s bigger, stronger and you can just tell. His hands are great, his footwork is great especially on the interior, and he’s got this pass-rush move that I never knew he had in his bag.

“It’s cool to see him really mature, and his game has matured, too.”

Kirkland, too, should benefit the Cougars’ defensive line alongside standout defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa after he played in just four games (and two postseason contests) to preserve a redshirt in 2025 due to injury, the former defensive lineman noted.

“Those two are killing it,” Bagnah said. “It’s crazy how good they work off each other. … They’re clicking like that, with stuff that we don’t even talk about in the meetings. But they’re both very powerful, and they’ve got it down.

“If they can keep getting better, I’m really excited to see that dynamic.”