As Penn State football looks to shape its roster for the 2026 season, it moves one step closer to finalizing its coaching staff.

Former UCLA defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe is reportedly joining Matt Campbell’s staff as the team’s new defensive line coach and defensive run game coordinator, per 247Sports’ Brandon Huffman. He will replace Deion Barnes in the role after he left to take the same job at South Carolina following the Pinstripe Bowl.

Malloe, who played safety for Washington from 1992-95, began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater in 1997. He moved on to FCS Western Illinois as a special teams and defensive line coach in 2001, before jumping back to the FBS as UTEP’s defensive line coach in 2004. He got his first defensive coordinator job at Yale in 2009.

He eventually returned to his alma mater in 2016 to be the defensive line coach before being promoted to co-defensive coordinator in 2020. At Washington, he coached future Pro Bowl nose tackle Vita Vea, and the Huskies made the College Football Playoff in his first season there.

He joined UCLA as the special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach in 2022 under Chip Kelly and later moved back to the defensive line in 2023. The 51-year-old has a recent connection to new Penn State defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, as Lynn was UCLA’s defensive coordinator in 2023.

After Lynn left to take the same job at USC, Malloe was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2024 until he mutually parted ways with the program following the dismissal of DeShaun Foster in September 2025. Malloe coached several NFL draft picks in his time at UCLA, including 2024 first-round pick Laiatu Latu and 2025 second-rounders Carson Schwesinger and Oluwafemi Oladejo.