New Penn State Football head coach Matt Campbell is Happy Valley bound, after a meandering 54-day coaching search. (Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-Imagn Images)
Penn State is finally closing in on hiring a new coach 54 days after firing James Franklin. Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft did exactly as he said he was going to do on October 13, in conducting a national search for the Nittany Lions‘ next leader. Finally, after swinging and missing once with BYU’s Kalani Sitake and watching a number of coaches sign extensions with their schools, Pat Kraft and PSU are in the stages of finalizing an agreement with Iowa State’s Matt Campbell to be the 17th coach of the Nittany Lions.
The Final Verdict: Complicated Grade for Penn State’s Matt Campbell Hire
54 Days Later: Why the Chaos Led to the Right Coach
The Hire: Grade A
Penn State took a lot longer than most other programs to secure a coach for the 2026 season; however, the extensive search and process led to a great hire.
Campbell has been highly sought after for many head coaching jobs between college and the NFL, including the Detroit Lions, over the past five coaching cycles. Campbell holds a 72-55 record at Iowa State and has led the Cyclones to their only top 10 final ranking and their only 11-win season in program history.
Being able to pull Campbell out of Ames, Iowa, is a big move for Pat Kraft and the Penn State athletic department.
The Process Grades: D (Timing & Optics)
Despite the praise that Kraft and the Penn State administration deserve for the final hire, the timing of a hire could have been a lot better.
Pat Kraft’s failed pursuit of Kalani Sitake pushed Penn State too late into the hiring process to have a coach in place for national signing day, which really hurt the Nittany Lions’ 2026 recruiting class.
Campbell and staff will now have to hit the transfer portal even harder in 2026 to make up the roster with a program already top heavy with senior and draft eligible juniors.
National Embarrassment: The Optics of Sitake, Crumbl Cookies, and the Search Missteps
Penn State’s reputation took quite a hit this week.
With the optics of the failed search of Kalani Sitake and other missteps in the hiring process.
Penn State was trolled multiple times in the media this week, first with Crumbl Cookies’ involvement in Sitake’s back out (including at Virginia Tech, where former head coach James Franklin had Crumbl Cookies at signing day), and also for having the 150th-ranked recruiting class on early signing day
Wednesday with only two commits.
Penn State will need to sell boosters on the end result of the search and hope that they do not focus too much on the process of getting here.
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Optimism For the Future Grade: B
After the tumultuous coaching search, Penn State should be pretty optimistic for the future. Campbell is widely regarded as a very good coach around the country and is known for doing more with less.
With better resources and a much bigger budget at Penn State, hopefully Campbell can do more with more as he builds the Penn State program back up.
Year one might be tougher with Penn State expected to lose a lot of players to the draft (and potentially transfer portal). Campbell will need to get to work retaining the roster for next season and deciding who he will bring with him from Iowa State.
Overall Matt Campbell Hire Grade: B
Overall, I give this hire a B.
If made before signing day, this grade would be a lot higher. Even to be able to get this good of a coach this late in the process is commendable for Pat Kraft and the Administration, but Campbell will have a bit of work to do to get Penn State back up to the standard over the next 2-3 years because of the way the hiring process was carried out.
3 Iowa State Players Matt Campbell Could Bring With Him to Penn State
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- Grading Penn State’s Matt Campbell Hire After the 54-Day Search - December 5, 2025
- “Terry Smith or Nobody Else”: The Player Revolt That Pat Kraft Must Face After Search Disaster - December 4, 2025
- 50 Days of Failure: How Pat Kraft’s Whiffs Could Set Penn State Football Back a Decade - December 3, 2025
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