Bo Nagahi left Skyline High School as the 1999 Mr. Football. He captained Utah's undefeated 2004 team. Now the Millcreek native is back at his alma mater with a different mission: helping former Utes figure out what comes after their last game.

Nagahi joined Utah football in winter 2026 as director of alumni relations, a new position created by head coach Morgan Scalley, who took over the program in December 2025. The role focuses on career leads, mentorship, degree completion, mental health and substance abuse support for former players, according to the Deseret News.

"I know how I felt when I was done playing football here. I had a wonderful career. It was great. I didn't go on to the next level and I had a degree in my hand and I just didn't know what to do," Nagahi told the Deseret News on Aug. 21. "I know how I felt. I know how scary it was. And in talking to some of the alums, teammates and other guys, I found that I wasn't the only one."

Fewer than 2% of eligible college football players get drafted annually, meaning most face an abrupt end to their playing days with little infrastructure to ease the transition.

From Skyline to the Fiesta Bowl

Before his sophomore year at Skyline, Nagahi had never officially played football. He chose the school for its honors math program. By his senior year, coach Roger DuPaix called him "Mr. Everything for us," according to a 1999 Deseret News profile.

At Utah, Nagahi played cornerback and returned punts from 2000 to 2004. His senior season ended with a fumble return touchdown in a 52-21 win over BYU and three tackles in the Utes' 35-7 Fiesta Bowl victory over Pittsburgh, capping a 12-0 campaign that made Utah the first non-automatic qualifying conference team to crash the BCS.

Scalley was his teammate on that 2004 squad, earning second-team All-American honors as a defensive back. On the first play of a 63-28 rout of UNLV that season, Nagahi fielded the opening kickoff, ran it to the 10-yard line and lateraled to Scalley, who took it 90 yards for a touchdown.

Building a network from scratch

After football, Nagahi spent nearly two decades in medical device sales with Medtronic, NuVasive and Inari Medical, rising to director-level roles in enterprise sales, according to his Utah Athletics bio. Shortly after becoming head coach, Scalley reached out to his former teammate to lead the alumni initiative.

Nagahi has been building a contact list from scratch, reaching out to former players spanning every era of Utah football. The program has no existing database.

Scalley told the Deseret News on Aug. 21 that former players earned this investment, saying they love the program and want to know their legacy continues. He noted that current players didn't build the facility they use every day, and that alumni with deep passion for the program need to see the family atmosphere carry forward.

Former Utes kicker Golden Whetman, who played from 1999 to 2000 and still holds a share of the program's third-longest field goal at 55 yards, told the Deseret News that the shift under Scalley is tangible. Whetman said the new staff is fully invested in the former player experience in a way the previous administration was not, and that Scalley sees value in building the program beyond just the current roster.

Scalley also invited former NFL players Tony Bergstrom, a fellow Skyline alum, and Stevenson Sylvester to a recruiting weekend at the football facility during summer 2026.

Utah opens its 2026 season Thursday, Sept. 3, at home against Idaho at 7 p.m.