Josh Pate critical of Penn State coaching search, provides latest intel on Kalani Sitake

One day after rivalry week ended a handful of schools hired new head coaches. Penn State was not among them.

The program remains the most high-profile opening in the country after jobs at Auburn, Florida and LSU were filled this weekend. But college football analyst Josh Pate isn’t encouraged by what he’s seen from the Penn State coaching search.

“The Penn State coaching search continues,” Pate said on Josh Pate’s College Football Show. “Everyone else has hired a coach. Ole Miss didn’t even know their job was open until today. They already filled theirs. I mean, I don’t really know where we are. I really don’t know where we are.

“I will tell you this: This search feels lost. It has for a while. It feels lost to me. I say that with some hesitance, because you just never know. Pat Kraft could be duping everyone and he could have a home run, grand slam, like turn-the-world-on-its-ears mystery candidate and he’s going to unveil it and everyone, including me, has to say, ‘Wow, big apologies to Pat Kraft.’ I don’t think that’s where we are, but maybe that’s where we are.”

Penn State also has the distinction of being one of the first jobs to open this cycle. That creates a little more angst with no hire seemingly imminent yet.

Pate provided the latest on the search. It appears to be turning to another Power Four head coach.

“What we need to do is we need to step back for just a second and we need to acknowledge the latest reporting and the latest rumor and intel that we’ve gotten,” Pate said. “We think they’re meeting with Kalani Sitake, who is the head coach at Brigham Young. This has been pretty widely reported in Penn State circles. So if you’re following Penn State this is not news to you. If you’re not following Penn State, that probably came out of left field a little bit.

“I have no clue how advanced their talks have been with him. I have no idea if he’d be a fit. He’s never lived close to that part of the country. He’s never recruited over there. It could be oil and water, it could be a great fit, I have no idea. I don’t even know how interested he is. I am pretty sure he would want to coach in the Big 12 Championship Game this week.”

That timing makes things awkward for Penn State. Pate pointed out why.

“The whole purpose of firing James Franklin when they did was to get a head start on the coaching search market,” Pate said. “Well everyone else has come in behind them and filled their spots before Penn State has, so fail on that part. And also, if you end up firing James Franklin early in the season only to wait for a guy to coach in the conference championship game, therefore missing the national signing day window, you also screwed yourself.”

All in all, Pate was quite critical of Penn State’s entire approach. He conceded the right hire could change his outlook, but for now he’s calling it a mess.

“It’s well-documented I thought it was dumb to fire James Franklin. It’s well-documented many Penn State fans disagreed with me, which is fine. Here we are now,” Pate said. “By the way, you just have the added caveat you made Virginia Tech one of the big winners in this whole ordeal, because not only did Virginia Tech massively upgrade their situation, they hired your head coach who was in the national semifinal less than 12 calendar months ago, with no scandal since then that could explain his firing, and they got a head start on recruiting and they’re going to poach your players and they’re going to poach your support staff. They’re good to go. They’re ready for national signing day, or they’re getting ready for it this Wednesday. You have no clue who your head coach is going to be.

“Wednesday is signing day, the class is falling apart. I don’t know. I’m not here to question whether athletic directors are qualified for their job, because 95% of what they do is behind the scenes. But this seems like it’s been a mess. The way to salvage it is prove everyone wrong and hire a great head coach. And I hope they do, because I love the Penn State program. But right now it’s tough for me to see it, candidly.”