Over the last few days, six Power Four programs have finally filled their vacant head-coach spots. The one big-name program still stuck without a hire since October? Penn State. According to Todd McShay, James Franklin’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, is the reason Penn State are still coachless.

On December 1st, Todd McShay hopped onto his namesake show and kept it blunt about Jimmy Sexton’s role in Penn State’s hiring struggles: “Jimmy Sexton is messing around with Penn State right now because Penn State let go one of his guys, James Franklin, in a manner that he didn’t appreciate.

And so now they’re kind of sitting back, and every time they go try to hire a coach or get serious with the coach, that coach was represented by Sexton, winds up with an extension, or winds up going to maybe UCLA or, you know, so it’s fascinating to see.”

Allegedly, Sexton didn’t like the way Penn State handled Franklin’s firing after starting 3–3 this season. Despite Franklin stacking up 9–10 win seasons for almost a decade, Penn State pulled the trigger, and that apparently didn’t sit well with Sexton. So now Todd McShay believes he’s making life extremely difficult for Pat Kraft. Every time Penn State gets close to hiring a big-time coach, Sexton swoops in, raises the price, pushes extensions, or nudges that coach toward another program.

For example, we’ve actually seen this play out in real time with a couple of coaches Penn State was eyeing. Eli Drinkwitz was a solid name for Penn State. But then, right around Thanksgiving, he suddenly signed a massive new six-year, $64 million contract extension to stay put in Columbia. Same scene with Vanderbilt’s Lea Clark.

Sexton even played a role in Bob Chesney jumping to UCLA just as Penn State showed interest. With so many of their top options being Sexton clients, the Nittany Lions were essentially pushed “out of the Jimmy Sexton game.” That left them eyeing coaches not represented by him, mainly Kalani Sitake, but now BYU’s billionaire boosters are also allegedly running their own version of the Jimmy Sexton strategy.

BYU Billionaires protecting Kalani Sitake from Penn State

BYU boosters are doing anything and everything to keep Penn State away from Kalani Sitake. Jason McGowan, founder of America’s favorite cookie chain, Crumbl Cookies, even launched a giveaway to flood Sitake with support:

“Love, respect, and gratitude of Cougar Nation. He has given everything to this program. Let’s show him how much he means to all of us. To make it fun, I’m giving away four 50-yard-line seats and airfare to the Big 12 Championship Game for two incredible responses. Share your heart. Let’s lift Kalani together.”

McGowan has been a clutch figure for BYU students, even paying off their school lunch debt after SNAP cuts. Min Kim, owner of Nutricost, is also backing the effort to keep Sitake home. Barstool’s Liam Blutman detailed how Kim is taking on a major role in helping cover Sitake’s salary:

“I’m told that ‘once church approves,’ donors can pay coaches’ salary — and once they do, they’ll allow Min to do it.”

Sitake has been exceeding expectations for years now. He’s sitting at 83–44 and has handled the Big 12 transition far better than naysayers and critics predicted. The Cougars are just a Big 12 title game away from making the playoffs. If we’re being honest, with Sexton blocking every major lane, Kalani Sitake is Penn State’s most viable and realistic option for them. But don’t expect Provo folks and boosters to give up Kalani Sitake easily.