Late Friday night and early Saturday, several of Sitake's former teammates at BYU began congratulating him on social media websites.
"Congrats to my former teammate for all his success," wrote former BYU player Reno Mahe. "Today will be forever be [your] day as the first Tongan head coach for a college football [program]! BYU just turned the tide on the [Polynesia] pipeline."
Sitake, 40, surfaced as a candidate for the job almost immediately after 11-year coach Mendenhall announced he was taking the head job at Virginia because Sitake is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.