BYU AD Brian Santiago sees bright future for football, basketball and underperforming spring sports

FRISCO, Texas — BYU athletic director Brian Santiago was a busy man at the recently-completed Big 12 football media days at The Star upon having gone through his first full academic year at the helm of BYU sports.

Santiago, who succeeded longtime BYU AD Tom Holmoe in May of 2025, spoke to dozens of coaches, fellow ADs and media outlets throughout the day on Tuesday when the Cougars were featured along with seven other programs in the 16-team league.

“I just love how much blue I see in this place,” Santiago said as he glanced around the Dallas Cowboys’ indoor practice facility some 40 miles away from the NFL team’s AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. “It’s fantastic. Let’s go.”

In a conversation with the Deseret News, Santiago repeated much of what he said in a chat in mid-May when he reflected on his first year in charge, that this is the “golden age” of BYU sports, in some respects.

“There’s never been a better time to be a BYU fan. Cougar Nation is alive all over the world. I don’t think there’s ever been more interest than there is right now, in BYU sports,” he said. “Our responsibility is to keep that momentum going. There’s this wave of positive momentum.”

Santiago said BYU president C. Shane Reese and leaders of the faith that supports BYU, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, continually “talk about the amazing momentum” that BYU sports have achieved the past few years.

Recently, BYU finished No. 25 in the Learfield Directors’ Cup Division I standings for the second straight year and led the Big 12 in that metric that measures overall athletic department success for the second straight year.

“I love that alignment, and it’s our responsibility to make sure that we have the right people in the right places to carry on that momentum,” Santiago said. “It is always going to point back to our coaches and players, and our responsibility in the athletic department is to make sure we have the right coaches in place.”

Santiago said nothing has surprised him or shocked him in his first 14 months on the job because he was prepared well by Holmoe in that regard. However, there’s a difference between being the No. 1 guy and the No. 2 guy, he has learned.

“Until you’ve sat in this seat, you don’t realize all the things that come at you on a day-to-day basis. They’re calling me, right? When you’re there for 20 years as a (deputy AD), you don’t get a lot of those calls. You’re involved in a lot. But when you actually sit in this seat, you realize, hey, any challenge that comes, it’s coming at you. But overall, I feel like Tom prepared me a lot.”

Santiago sits down with Deseret News for Q&A

Here’s more from our Q&A with Santiago on a variety of topics related to BYU sports; Some answers have been edited for brevity and clarity:

DN: You finished No. 25 in the Directors’ Cup for the second consecutive year; Is that enough, or do you have higher aspirations?

Santiago: “You’re always looking for metrics on how to measure your success as an athletic department. That’s one of them that’s pretty telling. … But we have a goal and a vision to be a top 10 Directors’ Cup program across the board every year. We have been that after the fall sports seasons. We want to continue it so that after the spring sports are finished we are right there at the top. We feel like across the board we want to be nationally relevant in every sport.”

DN: BYU baseball (14-16, 28-28) tied for eighth in the Big 12 and failed to make the NCAA Tournament again. You moved on from your women’s volleyball and women’s gymnastics coaches. Why haven’t you made a baseball coaching change?

Santiago: “That’s a very fair question. I think that we’re building something in baseball. I’ve said it publicly. We want to continue to invest in that sport. We want to continue to invest in putting resources there to give them a chance to continue to climb. … Every year that we’ve been in the Big 12 we’ve grown in our (total) wins.

“I think we’ve been right on the brink of breaking into the national scene the last two years. And we’re right there. I love what coach (Trent) Pratt’s doing. And I love that we’re building something that’s gonna be sustainable into the future. I love his staff. I love the players. They’re doing a good job on the recruiting trail, and they deserve a chance to chase greatness with resources. And we need to continue to put resources there.”

DN: Same question on BYU softball (7-17, 18-33), which finished 10th out of 11 teams in the Big 12 this season and has had trouble gaining traction in the league. Why no change there?

Santiago: “In softball, we’ve been elite for a long time, been nationally relevant for a long time, and hit a little stumbling block last year. But our vision in softball is to be nationally elite for a long time to come. And we’ll see where that takes us in the next year.”

DN: How troubling is it two of your top softball players have transferred to Oregon recently, presumably for better NIL opportunities/packages?

Santiago: “It’s always troubling when we have student athletes leave, because we want them all to stay. We take a lot of pride in retaining student athletes and having them choose to be at BYU. In a lot of college sports right now, you have to have a great culture to retain your talent. And that’s what we’re focused on right now. But yeah, I am always sad, especially because I have great relationships with a lot of these student athletes, and I’m always sad when they choose to go elsewhere.”

DN: Speaking of NIL and revenue sharing, how is BYU doing in comparison to your Big 12 counterparts?

Santiago: “Listen, I think that we’re in a really good space. We are going to continue to build. We have to give our programs resources to be competitive. … I have been super impressed with the way Kalani retained his his team, and the pieces that they’ve added from the portal. It’s super impressive in this day and age. You have to have resources to do that, and we’re gonna continue to try to build and give them the resources they need to be successful.”

DN: Basketball coach Kevin Young’s name was once again linked to an NBA head coaching job, this time to the Chicago Bulls (who hired Tiago Splitter). Do you expect this to be an annual thing?

Santiago: “Anytime you have great coaches, you’re gonna have people that are interested in them. I’m just super grateful that KY and Kalani and our other great coaches continue to choose BYU. In a way, if you look at it, it’s a great compliment to them. With Kalani last fall, similar situation. They’re great at what they do, but I love that they’re choosing BYU for all the right reasons, and I’m hoping that we can sustain excellence for a long time to come.”

DN: The sexual assault case against former BYU receiver Parker Kingston has been dismissed, although prosecutors have stated that they intend to refile the charge. If the charge is not refiled, or if Kingston is ultimately cleared, could he play football for BYU again?

Santiago: “That is a university decision. We are allowing the university processes to take place.”

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