The BYU football team is preparing for the Big 12 championship game, against Texas Tech. BYU is also working hard to keep their head coach. Cougars coach Kalani Sitake is in talks with Penn State for their coaching job, but BYU continues efforts to try and keep him.
“BYU is working hard to try to keep head coach and current Penn State target Kalani Sitake and there’s some optimism at the moment on the BYU side that they may be able to keep him,” CBS Sports reporter Matt Zenitz posted to X, formerly Twitter. “Fluid situation.”
BYU football can make the College Football Playoff by defeating Texas Tech in the conference championship. If the Cougars lose the championship game, it is highly unlikely they will make the CFP.
Penn State has been looking for a coach for months. The Nittany Lions fired former coach James Franklin, after he lost three consecutive Big Ten games. Franklin already has a new job, as he will lead Virginia Tech starting in 2026.
BYU is 11-1 on the season. The team's only loss is to Texas Tech.
BYU's Kalani Sitake is the top target in the Penn State coaching search
It was reported recently that Sitake is the top candidate at Penn State. The Nittany Lions lost out on a lot of other candidates they were looking at, including Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti.
Sitake has been at BYU a long time. He played his college football at the school, and then returned to the Cougars as a graduate assistant. He has coached the Cougars since 2016.
Sitake addressed the rumors he may leave, ahead of BYU's conference championship game against the Red Raiders.
“Well I have to address it cause the world is small now and people can see stuff on social media and everything,” Sitake said, per Sports Illustrated. “And [the media] does a great job at covering things, so yeah I'll address it. But [the players] are used to me saying this is a good sign things are going well for us. But I will say that this isn't about me. What I've asked our team to do is to be focused on what we're trying to accomplish. There are marks of finishers and that's what we're trying to do.
We're trying to finish the season the right way…it's required of us to be at our best to play against Texas Tech…I've asked our team to be focused on what we can control….this is a great distraction to have, let's be honest. But right now we need to be focused on giving our best shot against Texas Tech.”
The Big 12 championship game is on Saturday.
