Coaching Search Update: Talks With Penn State, Kalani Sitake Intensify

In another coaching search update, talks between Penn State and BYU coach Kalani Sitake have been intensifying.

Nittany Sports Now can confirm what FootballScoop and others have reported, which is that Sitake is indeed in the mix for the Penn State job.

Sitake, 50, is in his 10th season at BYU, where he played in the late 90s.

Sitake has had some struggles at BYU, going 4-9 in 2017 and 5-7 in 2023. But in the past two seasons, BYU has been a Big 12 powerhouse.

Last year, BYU finished 11-2 and the in the top 15. This season, BYU is 11-1 and about to play Texas Tech for the Big 12 Championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff.

BYU’s done all of this without quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who started last season but withdrew from the university over the summer.

FootballScoop reported that this information is coming from “ a source deeply connected to the Penn State search and with ties at all level of the sport” along with three different agents, all from different companies.”

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“I think it’s real but (is it) all for leverage,” one source told FootballScoop. “Why leave BYU, your school as well as your church, when you have it rolling now better than ever?”

This is a fair point.

Sitake is BYU royalty, having a chance to be the school’s at least the school’s most legendary coach next to LaVell Edwards, who he plays for.

Of Sitake’s 25 seasons in coaching, 23 of them have been in the state of Utah. The other two were at Eastern Arizona (2001) and Oregon State (2015).

Sitake can coach football. But how would he resonate in Pennsylvania? Stay tuned to Nittany Sports Now for more updates on the Penn State coaching search.