Inside Penn State’s courtship of new coach Matt Campbell
Exclusive details on how the Nittany Lions (finally) got their guy.
As a toxic Tuesday in Happy Valley gave way to the sun coming up on Wednesday, Penn State athletic director Patrick Kraft received a phone call from an intermediary with a simple question:
What about Matt Campbell?
In 10 years at Iowa State, Campbell had established himself as one of the country’s elite coaches, going 72-55 and becoming the winningest coach in Cyclones history. His name had been publicly connected to big jobs throughout his tenure. He finished runner-up to Lincoln Riley at USC in 2021 and he has been involved with a number of NFL searches, from the Detroit Lions to the Chicago Bears.
Yet Campbell’s name had not been publicly mentioned during Penn State’s seven-plus week coaching search that, at one point or another, had involved some of the biggest names in college football and multiple former NFL head coaches.