Penn State unable to land BYU head coach Kalani Sitake, per reports

It appears Penn State is striking out on one of its top coaching candidates. After rumors about a potential hire of BYU head coach Kalani Sitake to take over the Nittany Lions, it appears Sitake is going to stay where he is.

Pete Thamel of ESPN, Sitake began letting those in the BYU program know of his intentions to stay with the Cougars, who are preparing to play for the Big 12 championship this week. Other reports making the rounds seem to confirm this development as well, which means Penn State's search will continue on in the most agonizing fashion.

This is a great development for BYU, and not great at all for Penn State.

If Sitake was the top candidate to get a job offer from Penn State, then this is a big swing and a miss at the worst possible time for Penn State athletics director Pat Kraft. Despite making a coaching change in the middle of the season, Kraft has seemingly been unable to land the next potential coach while a number of potential candidates are landing other jobs left and right.

This news comes on the eve of the start of the early signing period, which was already set to be a bit of a mess for Penn State. Penn State at one point had a top-10 recruiting class in this recruiting cycle, but Penn State's Class of 2026 has dwindled to just five commitments on the board, and there is some expectation at least one more could be dropping off the list on Wednesday when four-star safety Matt Sieg announces his final decision. Sieg is trending toward flipping to Virginia Tech and joining a handful of former Penn State commits who have chosen to follow James Franklin to Blacksburg.

With Sitake expected to be off the list, where will Penn State turn?

If there is one coach who should be seeing this as a positive development, it may be interim head coach Terry Smith. Smith's candidacy has been gaining plenty of vocal support from the football family and alums following a three-game winning streak to clinch bowl eligibility after a disastrous start to the season. Of course, if Smith is ultimately going to be the next head coach of the program, then this is a decision that needs to be locked in soon so Smith and his staff can get to work to patch up the recruiting efforts.

We will continue to monitor the headlines and rumor mill as Penn State's search continues on. A decision on who will be the next head coach is probably still closer than it feels right now, but this feels like a setback in the process.

Follow Kevin McGuire on Threads, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on X, Facebook, and Threads.

This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Penn State coaching search drags on after missing on Kalani Sitake