"A private plane flew from State College, Pennsylvania to Provo, Utah, on Sunday night."
BYU fans dreaded hearing those words, but as of today they were in the local Utah news.
Coach Kalani Sitake is in the coaching carousel, and BYU fans are about to find out the drama and anxiety that Ole Miss fans have been going through for the past month.
Penn State, a plum job in the Big Ten Conference with a burgeoning alumni base and money to spend, has been calculated in its search, but with the regular season at a close as of this past weekend, finds itself competing with many more schools for the best remaining candidates.
Kalani Sitake has had a 22-3 run over the past two seasons at BYU, and doing that in a Power Four conference will catch the attention of other schools. While UCLA kicked the tires on a Sitake hire earlier this season, it appears that Penn State got a step further, actually meeting with Sitake over the weekend.
Will Kalani Sitake stay, or will he go?
Sitake faces a big conundrum - while he's beloved in Provo and among BYU's nationwide fan base, he's never had an opportunity this big to consider. Penn State is the best remaining job this cycle, the recruiting is built in, and the resources are massive, compared to BYU and the Big 12.
Having access to the Northeast and the Midwest in recruiting is a big benefit of coaching in the Big Ten, while still getting that college town atmosphere that College Station offers, with a rabid fanbase that is hungry for success at the highest levels of college football.
Sitake is well known for promoting values and pushing his players to grow as men, in addition to becoming great football players. While he has coached elsewhere as an assistant (Oregon State and Utah), BYU was his first head coaching job, and he has been there since being hired 10 years ago to replace Bronco Mendenhall.
In that time, Sitake has amassed an 83-44 record, helping BYU transition from independence to the Big 12. Moving to Penn State would be out of his familiar territory, and he would need to hire a strong staff that is familiar with the region to succeed early.
Staying at BYU would be about loyalty, something he learned from his mentor, LaVell Edwards, the BYU legend who turned down all overtures over a 29 year career with the Cougars.
However, Sitake will likely be facing an offer of $10 million a season, per some reports, which dwarfs what he reportedly makes at BYU ($3-5 million per year). And that's life-changing money for anyone, which is likely why he hasn't flat-out rejected Penn State's overtures at this juncture.
If nothing else, Sitake should consider the offer, since it will likely encourage BYU to increase his pay and that of his assistants significantly. That's the likely outcome if Sitake wants to stay in Provo.
But in a week in which BYU is trying to focus on the Big 12 Championship game, the timing couldn't be worse - BYU needs Sitake and the players locked in and focused on beating Texas Tech, not wondering if their coach is heading for the door.