Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541990
2 2 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M LaVell Edwards, Sitake chose to stay with the Cougars. Like so many of Penn State's other targets, he, too, got a nice pay bump. Sitake's change of heart forced PSU to pivot quickly. Its list of can- didates had been steadily dwin- dling, but because Campbell didn't have an agent and didn't want to entertain offers during the regular season, he had been on the periph- ery of Kraft's search. Just getting his contact information proved tricky. Kraft and Campbell finally did speak, though, and their late-night phone call changed everything. "I was banging my head against the wall thinking, why did it take so long for us to find each other?" Kraft said. "He was perfect. We con- nected on so many levels. I woke up my wife, Betsy, and I said, 'Oh my God, he's the guy.'" The next step was for Kraft and univer- sity president Neeli Bendapudi to meet with Campbell in Ames. That conversa- tion reaffirmed Kraft's first impression, and now Bendapudi was on board, too. "I knew immediately we had the right person," she said. By Dec. 5, the deal was mostly done. Two days later, Campbell and his family — wife Erica, daughters Katie and Izzy, and sons Rudy and Rocco — arrived in State College, a crowd of well-wishers on hand to greet them as they stepped onto the airport tarmac. Campbell said at his introduction that he didn't want to be the kind of coach who was continually uprooting his family in search of the next job. If the Campbells were going to leave Ames, it had to be for something that offered more than just a fatter paycheck. "I wanted to stand for something that's bigger than Matt Campbell," he said. "It's not about me. It's about the players, and it represents something bigger than myself. I found that, and I couldn't be more hum- bled and grateful for that opportunity." Weighty Decisions Penn State's pursuit of Campbell was more like speed dating than courtship, but it worked. He signed an eight-year contract with $70.5 million guaranteed, a $1 million annual retention bonus and a series of incentive clauses, including automatic one-year extensions for mak- ing the College Football Playoff and two- year extensions for winning the national championship. Because everything happened so fast, a lot of key decisions had not yet been made at the time of his news conference. He had not met individually with players and was still figuring out how to assemble his staff. Interim head coach Terry Smith, whom Campbell has known since Smith was at Gateway High in Monroeville, Pa., was be- ing retained. Also, Campbell was bringing assistant athletics director Derek Hoodjer from Iowa State to serve as general man- ager, along with director of player per- Personal Hometown: Massillon, Ohio Education: Mount Union, 2002 Family: Wife, Erica; Daughters Katie, Izzy; Sons Rudy, Rocco Coaching Career 2026-present: Penn State (head coach) 2016-25: Iowa State (head coach) 2012-15: Toledo (head coach) 2010-11: Toledo (offensive coordinator) 2009: Toledo (run game coordinator) 2007-08: Bowling Green (assistant coach) 2005-06: Mount Union (offensive coordinator) 2003-04: Bowling Green (graduate assistant) Playing Career 1999-2002: Mount Union Campbell rang the victory bell at Beaver Stadium during his first day on the job with the Nittany Lions. He's taking over the seventh-winningest program in FBS history with an all-time record of 949-418-41. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS THE CAMPBELL FILE