BYU promotes Brian Santiago to replace longtime athletic director Tom Holmoe
PROVO, Utah (AP) — BYU has promoted Brian Santiago to replace longtime athletic director Tom Holmoe.
The school announced on Tuesday that Santiago will be elevated from deputy athletic director after working under Holmoe, who retired after 20 years earlier this year.
'We are excited to build on the forward momentum and legacy of Tom Holmoe, who is retiring, with the appointment of Brian Santiago as BYU's next director of athletics,' BYU President C. Shane Reese said in a statement. 'Brian has a track record of leadership and an ability to lead BYU Athletics as we navigate the complex and rapidly evolving waters of college athletics. It's become clear to me throughout this search process that Brian will seek to strengthen BYU's academic and spiritual mission, and he understands how it blesses the lives of our student-athletes.'
Santiago has served as BYU's deputy athletic director since 2017 after spending the previous nine years as a senior associate athletic director. He started at BYU as an assistant basketball coach in 1997 before moving into athletic administration.
Santiago graduated from Provo High School and played basketball at Utah Valley and Fresno State.
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However, they won't make the decision solely by cap space. The Bills are likely going to let the two players battle it out this summer, and it wouldn't be a surprise if they gave each player time with the second unit. Trubisky has been Allen's backup before and has more mobility to his game than White, which could help the Bills keep a similar playbook to the one they run with Allen in event of an injury. White, however, is a more natural thrower, particularly in the intermediate and deep areas of the field. The counter to that is he's more unlikely to be able to escape the pocket if things break down. It really may just come down to who has the better camp and preseason, and who they trust the most to steady the ship if Allen has to miss any time, but it appears to be an open competition. LB Joe Andreessen — The last three days couldn't have gone much better for Andreessen. With Baylon Spector not participating in team drills, Andreessen received more high-impact snaps behind Terrel Bernard. With that increased time on the field, Andreessen showed enhanced instincts in coverage from what he was during his rookie year, and made several plays on the ball. He has certainly positioned himself to battle Spector for the primary backup middle linebacker job this summer, and given some of Spector's in-season struggles, Andreessen could easily win it with a good preseason. WR Jalen Virgil — Minicamp is a time for offensive skill position players to stand out, as the non-padded practices generally swing toward receivers in one-on-one battles. But the reason Virgil stood out is his overall versatility. He showed last year, in a short amount of time, that the Bills trusted him enough on special teams to, at one point, sign him to the 53-man roster when injuries struck. Then during team drills, Virgil put together some good reps with all three of the Bills' top quarterbacks. That included a one-handed grab in the back corner of the end zone over rookie cornerback Dorian Strong. He has an uphill climb to the 53-man roster, but this was a good start. TE Keleki Latu — At this stage for undrafted rookies, you want to see if someone can show workable traits that hint at potential once you get back to training camp. Latu stood out in that capacity, as the 6-foot-7, 244-pound tight end showed impressive athleticism and route running for his size, and seemed very natural catching the ball. The only thing we haven't seen to this point is how he is as a blocker, which won't be accessible until the pads go on in late July. While Latu isn't a threat to make the team outright in 2025 at this point, if he shows consistency in pass-catching areas throughout training camp, there appears to be enough talent there for him to become a developmental piece for their practice squad this season. (Top photo of James Cook: Gregory Fisher / Imagn Images)
