After a long, winding search that heavily involved BYU’s Kalani Sitake, Penn State has closed in on finally hiring a head coach — and he’s from BYU’s conference, the Big 12.
On Friday, multiple outlets reported that Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell and Penn State were nearing a deal to make Campbell the leader of the school’s football program, and the program formally announced it Friday night.
All the way back on Oct. 12, Penn State fired James Franklin, and the thought was that by doing so in the middle of the season, the university would be able to find Franklin’s replacement before the offseason coaching carousel started spinning.
But Penn State kept striking out, including early this week after nearly reaching a deal with Sitake before he decided to sign a contract extension to stay at BYU.
While Penn State took a long time to find its man, it still got a coach in Campbell who is widely seen as one of the better coaches in all of college football.
The 46-year-old took an Iowa State program that has a history of being a doormat and turned it into a regular Big 12 contender during his 10 seasons in Ames — including winning the conference twice, in 2020 and 2024.
Prior to that, he went 35-15 in four seasons at Toledo, winning nine games three times.
Campbell’s name has also been frequently bandied about for potential jobs in the NFL, but for now he will reportedly stay in the college ranks, filling a position that has garnered plenty of attention over the past several weeks.
Iowa State moved quickly to replace Campbell, hiring Washington State head coach Jimmy Rogers, and thus adding another job to the offseason carousel.
Penn State, meanwhile, reportedly retained interim head coach Terry Smith.