PROVO, Utah — Steve Young is known to be mild-mannered off the football field, but when it comes to Penn State's pursuit of BYU head coach Kalani Sitake, the former Cougars great threw down some serious fighting words.
"They're going to have to rip him from our bloody hands!" said Young while appearing on The Dan Patrick Show.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Sitake remains at BYU, although nothing appears to have slowed the Nittany Lions' desire to bring him to Happy Valley.
Young added that it would be "super painful" if Sitake chose to leave Provo after 10 seasons leading the BYU football team, especially with the Cougars set to play Texas Tech for a conference title in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday.
"There's a symbiotic, kind of beautiful thing going on between everything BYU and Kalani and what he's doing, and I think he has the love for it, too, so the pain would be pretty extreme," Young said.
"They're going to have to rip him from our bloody hands!"
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) December 2, 2025
– @SteveYoungQB on Penn State's rumored interest in #BYU head coach Kalani Sitake. pic.twitter.com/f6gw2vDxbR
The Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback who set numerous records while at BYU admitted that it's a sign of respect that Penn State has noticed what Sitake has done in Provo to want him to be their next coach.
"That's a cool thing, too, in some way," added Young, before sharing that his school wouldn't go down without a fight to keep the coach.
