The Penn State football program has found its defensive line coach. Blue White Illustrated learned that Beautiful Big Bloeassistant for the UCLA Bruins for the past four seasons, was chosen to lead the Nittany Lions’ defensive line.
Brandon Huffman of 247Sports tweeted the news first.
Malloe spent the 2022 season as the Bruins’ outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator before taking over as defensive line manager in 2023. He arrived in Los Angeles after a six-year stint at his alma mater, Washington, from 2016 to 2021. During his playing career with the Huskies, Malloe was a decorated safety and outside linebacker.
Penn State picks DL hire
In moving to Penn State this offseason, Malloe will reunite with the Nittany Lions’ new defensive coordinator By Anton Lynnwho led UCLA’s defense in the 2023 season. Taking over a program that had stagnated in the years before his arrival, Lynn and Malloe helped engineer a turnaround that allowed the Bruins to reduce yards allowed. UCLA finished the season ranked 10th nationally, allowing just 301.5 yards per game.
At the forefront of this offense, the Bruins had the second-ranked rushing defense in the country, allowing just 80.8 yards per game on the ground, while allowing just 18.4 points per game.
At the heart of that effort, Malloe helped guide the defensive end’s development Laiato Latuwho was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts with the 15th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Latu led the nation in tackles for loss per game with 1.8 and averaged 1.08 sacks per game, finishing with 13.0 this season. He was named a winner of the Lombardi and Ted Hendricks Award, recognizing the nation’s top defensive end, and earned Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Lynn and Malloe reunite at Penn State
After Lynn left UCLA for Southern California following the 2023 season, Malloe was promoted to defensive coordinator. That tenure was cut short when UCLA fired head coach DeShaun Foster, with the Bruins parting ways with Malloe just two days later.
At the time of Malloe’s departure, three games into the Bruins’ 2025 season, UCLA ranked among the least effective defensive units in the country. The Bruins ranked 133rd nationally in third down defense, allowed 244.0 rushing yards per game and ranked 134th in team pass efficiency defense with a rating of 184.73.
Before that disbandment, however, Malloe had built strong bonds with his players, including UCLA senior defensive lineman Jay Toia.
“Our relationship has been great, especially thanks to Laiatu,” Toia said. “Laiatu played with him in Washington. Latu set an example for us that Coach Malloe is there to help us get better every day, which we did. I’m pretty sure our record last year as a defense was proof of that.”
Link: Use code PSU20 to get 20% off Rhoback’s Gameday Collection
Talk about it with our premium members on the Lions Den discussion forum here.
