BYU Coach Reveals How Close Penn State Was to Landing Kalani Sitake

One thing that often gets forgotten when coaches decide to take new jobs is that some others have to lose their jobs because of it. 

We see that happen around the college football world a ton, and it's something that certainly happened when Penn State decided to move on from head coach James Franklin. While Franklin brought a lot of guys over to Virginia Tech, and head coach Matt Campbell also brought in a lot of guys from Iowa State, there are still some odd men out, which is the unfortunate part of this business.

At the same time, there are coaches working behind the scenes who really want their head coach to stay in town, and it sounds like that was the case for Kalani Sitake and some of his staff at BYU. 

Speaking to reporters recently, BYU's offensive coordinator said that he was really hopeful that Sitake would stay with the program, which is exactly what happened. 

To make matters more interesting, however, he made it seem as though the Penn State interest was genuine and a real possibility.

"Some of it was probably private enough that I wouldn't share, but I will say that, I mean, it was a legitimate story; it was happening," BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick told USA TODAY Sports.

"It was … it was possible. My connection to him and my appreciation for him is such that I was, you know, I was hoping they would work out for all of us to stay here, but, I'm super loyal to him, too.

"The whole time I was hopeful that the university would step up and find a way of retaining him and they did. You know, I'm really glad they did because I want, I want to coach for him and coach here as long as I can. And I've had chances to leave. You know, we've had some good years and each year somebody comes calling and, it's tough to leave him. He's awesome."

Had Sitake taken the Penn State job, I don't think it's crazy to say that Roderick would have followed him there. Obviously, that isn't what happened, but this is just another reminder of how crazy things can get in the college football world, especially at any given moment.