Penn State adds Ikaika Malloe and Tyson Veidt to coaching staff
Malloe, who was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at UCLA, is the new defensive line coach. Former Cincinnati defensive coordinator Veidt will lead the linebackers.
Penn State announced two more coaching additions to its defensive staff on Tuesday after hiring D’Anton Lynn to be the defensive coordinator last week.
Ikaika Malloe, who was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at UCLA the last two seasons, will join the program as the defensive line coach, replacing Deion Barnes, who departed for South Carolina.
The Nittany Lions also added Cincinnati defensive coordinator Tyson Veidt, who will coach linebackers on Matt Campbell’s staff. Dan Connor, who served as the linebackers coach in 2025, was retained and will be the assistant linebackers coach.
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The hires nearly fill out Campbell’s on-field staff, with the running backs coach spot still vacant after Stan Drayton departed for South Carolina along with Barnes.
Malloe, 51, will reunite with Lynn after the pair coached together at UCLA in 2023. Before spending four years at UCLA, Malloe had stops at Washington (two stints), Western Illinois, UTEP, Yale, Portland State, and Utah State. He has served as a defensive line coach for the majority of his coaching career and played at Washington as a safety and linebacker.
Malloe has coached first-rounders like Vita Vea and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka at Washington and Laiatu Latu at UCLA.
Veidt will reunite with Campbell after spending the last two seasons at Cincinnati. Before that, Veidt worked under Campbell at Toledo and Iowa State. He spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons at Toledo as the linebackers coach and followed Campbell to Iowa State for eight seasons as the assistant head coach and linebackers coach.
According to CBS Sports, Penn State is working to hire Northwestern defensive line coach Christian Smith to work alongside Malloe on the defensive line, though his hiring has yet to be announced.