The Iowa State wrestling team is in the dark about the status of coach Cael Sanderson, who is reportedly in talks with Penn State about its head coaching position.

Thursday night, WHO-TV 13 broke the story that Sanderson had interviewed twice for the position. Iowa State senior associate athletic director Steve Malchow told the Daily that the department is in a “holding pattern” awaiting word from Sanderson.

Calls to Sanderson were not immediately returned. Several wrestlers said they haven’t heard any news.

“I pretty much found out on the forums, and a bunch of guys on the team were talking about it,” said junior heavyweight David Zabriskie. “That’s pretty much all I know — as much as everybody on the forums.”

Zabriskie said on Friday morning that he hoped there would be a team meeting. He said he was woken up 1 a.m. Friday morning with “5 missed calls and a few text messages” asking him about his coach.

He said he has been telling everyone else, including his dad, “If I knew anything, I’d tell you.”

Zabriskie said he didn’t think Sanderson interviewing “was such a big deal, but then I haven’t heard anything in like a day.”

“I’m nervous,” he added. “But I haven’t heard anything either way.”

Junior 133-pounder Nick Fanthorpe declined comment but said he heard the news on the radio Friday morning.

Junior 149-pounder Mitch Mueller said it’s “hard for me to say anything about what’s going on” because he doesn’t know anything.

“I mean, it caught me off guard, like everyone else probably,” he said.

Mueller said that he’d “been through this once already,” referencing former head coach Bobby Douglas’ retirement during his true freshman season.

“I don’t want [Sanderson] to leave — at all,” Mueller said. “It’s hard to say what’s going to happen. You never know.”

Mueller said he doesn’t have any idea on why Sanderson would interview for the job.

“That’s one thing that I really want to know, I guess,” Mueller said. “I’m not the only one that wants to know that too.”

Penn State’s former head coach Troy Sunderland stepped down from his postion on Apr. 4. Pennsylvania is widely regarded as a high school wrestling hotbed, but the Nittany Lion program has yet to establish a stronghold over the state’s prep talent.