Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541990
J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 6 31 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M will be jarring at first. He has won big games and could help Penn State take that elusive next step, but is he ready for the big stage?" — ESPN writer Adam Rittenberg, explaining his grade of A- for Penn State's hire "Penn State, for all its follies in the search process, ended up landing a coach that a large number of ADs would want to pursue if they had an opening. [Camp- bell has] had many opportunities. The way I'd describe it is, Campbell is very Midwest-coded as a personality and was comfortable at Iowa State until one of these really good Big Ten jobs came his way." — Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports "I wrote back in October, days after Penn State fired James Franklin, that while Nebraska's Matt Rhule was the favorite for the job, and the coach I felt was most likely to get the job, my top candidate was Iowa State's Matt Camp- bell. Nearly two months later, Penn State finally agreed. Whether he was the first choice, or depending on how many re- ports you want to believe, the 432nd doesn't matter. What matters is Camp- bell is a great choice and should've been one of the first targets. "It's a great hire. I have no idea if it will work out. I like its chances, though. It's hard to deny the amount of success Campbell has had at Iowa State, a Power Four program that's long been consid- ered one of the toughest places to win consistently — yet Campbell did." — Tom Fornelli, CBSSports.com "I think there were probably some coaches who did not want the pressure of this job. You're not [replacing] some- body who was fired for going 5-7. You're coming in for somebody who was fired … essentially because they were going 10-2 and losing to Ohio State and Mich- igan and beating everybody else. That is the crux of the matter here." — Andy Staples, On3 "The Nittany Lions hired a selfless, determined head coach who won't va- cate Happy Valley just because a seem- ingly better offer is in his inbox, and that's the kind of coach they will want to rebuild their program around." — Sydney Ciano, Victory Bell Rings "Bumpiest plane landing ever, but a great hire!" — Ty Hildenbrandt, "The Solid Verbal College Football Show" "He's a three-time Big 12 Coach of the Year, he's 72-55 in 10 seasons, he's gone to two conference title games. Maybe the average Penn State fan would turn their nose up and say, 'That's the standard for Nittany Lion football.' Well, at Iowa State, that's a lot. So, you're going to bring in a coach who knows how to build a program, has done it at Toledo and now Iowa State. You're bringing in a guy who has turned down NFL jobs and SEC jobs to stay at Iowa State, and you're also going to get a coach who is going to have more NIL resources than he's ever worked with in his career. You would think that's going to translate into a pretty high-level roster in college football." — Pete Nakos, On3 "Campbell should be great here, now, because he offers the kind of coaching combination Penn State should have fo- cused on from the start: He's a proven, no-nonsense culture-builder and over- achieving winner. He knows the region — he grew up, played and coached in Ohio. And he oozes stability (he's won consis- tently at Big 12 afterthought Iowa State), loyalty (he turned down better college and NFL jobs to stay in Ames for a decade) and also untapped potential, which is key." — Frank Bodani, York Daily Record "When Penn State initially fired Frank- lin, Campbell should've been on the short list of potential candidates. But somehow, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athlet- ics Pat Kraft wanted [Kalani] Sitake over him. Luckily for Kraft, Campbell was still available when Sitake said no, and with how long this coaching search has taken, getting Campbell at the end of it is defi- nitely an A+ hire." — Lexie Linderman, The Daily Collegian "Pat Kraft somehow ended the week 1-0. Kudos to him." — Neil Rudel, The Altoona Mirror "Iowa State University needs to put a statue up of Matt Campbell at some point in time in the future, because he's done more for Iowa State football than anybody ever has. And although I'm disappointed that he's leaving, it's not my right to decide what is right for Matt Campbell and his family at this point in time. That's a very personal decision for him. … I'll always feel indebted to Matt Campbell for what he did for all of us." I O W A S T A T E A T H L E T I C S D I R E C T O R J A M I E P O L L A R D "Penn State is still Penn State, it was always going to attract an excellent coach. While success is never guaranteed, Matt Campbell certainly fits that description. Fans should be excited. [There was a] lot of wishful thinking out there that Penn State had botched this beyond repair." D A N W E T Z E L , E S P N