Source: Penn State to hire Ikaika Malloe as defensive line coach/run game coordinator
Penn State has filled another staff opening. The Nittany Lions are hiring former UCLA defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe as their defensive line coach/run game coordinator, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
Brandon Huffman of 247Sports first reported the hire.
Malloe has spent the majority of his career on the West Coast after playing in college at Washington. His first Power Four job was at Washington, where he was the defensive line coach from 2016-2019 before adding the co-defensive coordinator title in 2020. He then shifted from the defensive line to outside linebackers in 2021 before departing to become UCLA’s special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach in 2022.
Malloe spent one season as defensive line coach in 2023 with new Penn State defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who was UCLA’s defensive coordinator at the time, before taking over as DC for Lynn when he left for USC.
He held the defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach job at UCLA for the 2024 season and the first few games of 2025 before leaving the program after UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster was fired.
