Kalani Sitake Update – The CEO of Crumbl Cookies Has Entered The Ring To Save BYU From Losing Their Head Coach to Penn State

Christian Petersen. Getty Images.

SI – As if this year’s college football coaching carousel wasn’t weird enough, enter the fast-casual dessert industry.

Crumbl Cookies CEO Jason McGowan is a donor for BYU, and once he heard rumors surrounding coach Kalani Sitake and the Penn State job, he jumped into action. On Monday, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported the Nittany Lions were focusing their coaching search on Sitake, but a deal has not been signed yet.

The Cougars finished the regular season 11-1 and are preparing play No. 5 Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game Saturday. But, as we know, college football’s calendar doesn’t stop, and we are right in the middle of the coaching carousel, highlighted by Lane Kiffin’s massive move from College Football Playoff contender Ole Miss to LSU Sunday.

On Monday evening, McGowan posted a cryptic, yet obvious message to his X account as BYU and its donors make every effort to keep Sitake. “Some people are not replaceable. Sounds like it is time for me to get off the sidelines and get to work,” he wrote.

The college football calendar is the most ridiculous calendar in the world. The Chinese have nothing on it. It's ridiculous that college football even gives Lane Kiffin the opportunity to do what he did to Ole Miss ahead of a playoff run. It's ridiculous that there are two other coaches who have accepted jobs with SEC schools (Tulane's Jon Sumrall & North Texas' Eric Morris), while their current teams are still squarely in the mix for a playoff spot.. 

And the fact that BYU's HC Kalani Sitake is in the midst of making the most difficult, most life-changing decision he's ever made, in the same week he's about to coach the most important game his life... that is also patently ridiculous. 

Obviously, the rational part of me says college football needs to fix this immediately. It wouldn't even be that hard. Texas Tech HC Joey McGuire laid out a pretty simple fix just yesterday.

At the same time… it's all so perfectly college football. If you gave the NCAA a dose of truth serum, I'm sure they love that this is happening. It's chaos. It's controversy. It makes for conversation. It's the exact type of off-the-field, reality TV show-esque drama that gets eyeballs on your league.

One of the best parts of the college football coaching carousel is the side characters who pop up along the way. College football fans are crazy. They'll do anything in their power to help their team win. And some of those crazy college football fans just happen to be rich as fuck. So when their school is on the verge of obtaining (or losing) an elite head coach, they'll come out of the woodwork with a blank check. 

Enter BYU Crumbl Cookie Guy:

I don't think I realized quite how enormous and successful Crubml was as a brand. This Jason McGowan guy has an estimated net worth of $500M. I'm not sure how liquid he is, but that's seemingly enough to buy his favorite football team a shiny new same ball coach. This isn't the first time Crumbl Cookie Guy has thrown his money around BYU football either. When BYU defeated Utah this season, it was Crumbl Cookie Guy who stepped up and agreed to pay the field storming fine. So that BYU fans could celebrate a home victory over a team ranked beneath them accordingly. 

Now, Crumbl Cookie Guy is throwing his cookie money at Kalani Sitake. As of now (and it very well might change by the time you're reading this), Penn State reportedly has a massive offer on the table for Sitake to coach the Nittany Lions. The type of offer that had college football insider Liam Blutman all but certain Sitake would accept. 

But apparently Blutman forgot BYU is sitting on a Scrooge McDuck sized pile of cookie money. On top of that, the Mormon church still collects offering every Sunday. Well, actually… I don't think Mormons do that. But they do skim 10% off the top of all their members earnings. My point is, BYU still has buckets of money. Church & cookie. Also this guy's. 

But saying it was Crumbl Cookie Guy who saved Kalani Sitake is more fun. And it's Crumbl Cookie Guy who's out on the interent mobilizing the Mormons. 

Nobody weaponizes love like a church. Just keep that same energy if Kalani Sitake takes the Penn State job. 

Sorry, that was uncalled for. If it was any other school, I might roll my eyes at that a little harder. But BYU genuinely does LOVE Kalani Sitake. How couldn't they? How likely is it that BYU lands an elite college football coach, who is also a member of their relatively small religion?

I have no skin in the game whatsoever, and even I'd be pretty sad if Sitake left BYU. I think he'd be a great hire for Penn State. He's a coach who's consistently done more with less. But BYU losing him would be beyond heartbreaking for that fan base. He currently has the Cougars one game away from the playoffs. He's in conference where his team should be competing for a playoff spot every year. BYU is in such an awesome and stable position right now as a football program, and there's no reason to think that with Kalani Sitake, they couldn't keep this up for decades.

Considering Sitake's background, I'm sure most BYU fans assumed he would never leave. To that ripped away from you in the same week you're facing off against #5 Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship for a spot in the playoffs. Damn. I have a hard time feeling too bad for Ole Miss. They knew who Lane Kiffin was when they hired him. But if BYU lost a standup Mormon like Kalani Sitake… well shit… if I were a BYU fan, I might just turn atheist right there on the spot. And as of now, the whole thing still seems like a toss up. 

Time to find out how much Crubml Cookie Guy really loves his coach.