Penn State was curiously quiet this weekend while the rest of the big job openings in college football started filling up. LSU, Florida, Auburn, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Michigan State and UCLA all agreed to deals with coaches on Sunday or Monday to fill vacancies, with the Nittany Lions watching as top candidates got scooped up.
As we learned later on Monday, there was a bit of method to the madness in Happy Valley, as Penn State is targeting BYU coach Kalani Sitake, with mutual interest from the Cougars coach. However, just as word got out that the Nittany Lions were closing in on their man, BYU began to put up a resistance to keep their beloved coach in Provo. Leading the public charge was BYU alum Jason McGowan, the CEO of Crumbl Cookies, who called Sitake “not replaceable” and vowed to “get off the sidelines and get to work” to keep the coach at BYU.
Penn State suddenly finds itself battling BYU’s various snack food empires in its pursuit of Sitake — Built Bar CEO Nick Greer is also a BYU alum and donor. We’ve seen the investment BYU’s mega-donors have put into making their basketball team a powerhouse, and now Penn State’s interest in Sitake has shifted their focus to the football program.
There is a reason McGowan called Sitake “not replaceable,” and it’s not just because he’s an excellent football coach. BYU’s coaching candidates pool is tiny compared to the rest of college football because the coach has traditionally been a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints (though it’s not an official university policy). That eliminates most coaches in the country, and having a proven winner at this level of college football who is part of the church is not something BYU can afford to lose.
That’s why Penn State tried to remain as quiet as it could about the pursuit of Sitake, but eventually word was going to get out. Now they are in a bidding war with a BYU program that has plenty of financial backing. Yes, it’s a bit funny that backing comes from cookie and protein bar magnates, but they are going to do everything in their power to make sure Sitake doesn’t leave because of funding.
That means Penn State now has to hope that Sitake — who has spent almost his entire coaching career at Mormon institutions — wants the job not because of a financial bump but to seek out a new challenge in the Big Ten. That is certainly possible. Penn State’s program ceiling appears to be higher than BYU’s, even with the Cougars being a Big 12 title game win away from a College Football Playoff berth. As we’ve seen countless times in college football, coaches struggle to resist the siren song of a new, bigger challenge.
BYU is hoping Sitake is different and that if they show they’re willing to make a strong financial commitment, his ties to the school, the church and the community will be enough to fight off that natural coaching wanderlust. We’ll find out soon enough if that will be the case.
If so, it will be a sweet victory for BYU, while Penn State’s coaching search crumbles apart.
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