Penn State has found its next head coach, ending an agonizing 50-plus days of searching after athletic director Pat Kraft fired longtime leader James Franklin.
Iowa State’s Matt Campbell is set to become the 17th full-time head coach of the Nittany Lions, according to multiple reports. His name surfaced midway through this week, and rumors of meetings between him and the Penn State administration swirled quickly.
Campbell had been in place in Ames, Iowa, since 2016.
Penn State’s search filtered through multiple high-profile candidates before landing on Campbell, including Texas A&M’s Mike Elko and BYU’s Kalani Sitake, who both signed big-dollar extensions to stay at their schools.
Terms of Campbell’s deal with Penn State have not yet been released, but ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that the deal will be for eight years. Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger also stated the contract will place Campbell among the top-10 coaching salaries in the country.
The deal will require approval from the Penn State Board of Trustees.
Campbell had signed an extension with Iowa State before the 2025 season that gave him $5 million yearly in base salary through 2032. However, the buyout for his leaving for Penn State is reportedly just $2 million.
Campbell, 46, has earned four conference coach of the year honors in his career: three times at Iowa State (2017, 2018, 2020) and once at his previous stop, Toledo (2015). He also became the winningest coach in Iowa State history in 2024.
A Massillon, Ohio, native, Campbell has a long-standing reputation as a coach who has achieved more with fewer resources. He’s gone 72-55 at Iowa State, a program that had just two seasons with at least nine wins in its history before he took over. He’s won at least eight games five times and won a program-record 11 games in 2024 with an appearance in the Big 12 Championship.
Campbell and the Cyclones went 8-4 this year and were ranked for seven weeks to start the campaign.
Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell reacts to a call during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Baylor, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022, in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)AP
Before Iowa State, Campbell coached at Toledo for five years, first as an offensive line coach and offensive coordinator before becoming the head coach. He went 35-15 in the lead role, making a bowl game in three of four years and winning nine games in each of those seasons.
Campbell started his college football playing career at Pitt but transferred to Division III Mount Union after one season. He then became a two-time All-American defensive lineman and helped his team win three straight national championships.
After his playing days, he spent one season as a graduate assistant at Bowling Green, won another national title as the offensive coordinator at Mount Union and then returned to Bowling Green as the offensive line coach.
Campbell’s offensive background may be appealing for Penn State fans who have sought consistency on that side of the ball for years. His teams had four top-50 finishes nationally in scoring, four in total yardage and five in plays of 20-plus yards at Iowa State.
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Former Penn State coach James Franklin through the years
Franklin was in the middle of his 12th season in Happy Valley when Kraft opted for a change in leadership. He had a team that reached the national semifinal in 2024, returned most of the talent from that run and ranked No. 2 in the preseason.
But a 3-3 start, with another loss to a top-10 team (Oregon) in the White Out, ended Franklin’s lengthy tenure in Happy Valley. He finished his time as Penn State’s head coach with a 4-21 record against AP top-10 opponents and a 1-10 mark against Ohio State, undoubtedly the biggest points of contention in a largely successful career.
Campbell, by contrast, has gone 4-7 against top-10 foes in less-prestigious conferences. He is 16-29 all-time in ranked matchups, 0-2 in a pair of Big 12 Championship appearances and 5-5 in bowl games.
Franklin, meanwhile, ended tied for the second-most wins in Penn State history with a 104-45 record, one Big Ten Championship (2016) and five New Year’s Six bowl games before the expansion of the College Football Playoff.
Penn State elevated cornerbacks coach Terry Smith, a former Lions captain and assistant coach for all 11-plus years under Franklin, to interim head coach after firing Franklin. Smith helped orchestrate a late turnaround to win three straight games and qualify for a bowl.
That led to an outpouring of support for his candidacy as the full-time head coach, from fans, alumni, donors and players. Smith additionally made clear he was interested in the job and even campaigned for himself after beating Nebraska on Senior Day. He was in the mix, but Penn State’s preference always seemed to point away from Smith.
Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith leads his team onto the field for the Rutgers game on Nov. 29, 2025.
Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.comJoe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com
While Campbell looks to fill out his staff in Happy Valley, retaining Smith could be near the top of his list of priorities. Smith has received reported interest from smaller programs as head coach, but his love of Penn State, chops as a positional assistant and important recruiting connections make him a key cog in the Nittany Lion program.
Campbell will also have his work cut out for him to field a team in Happy Valley in 2026.
Penn State signed just two prospects in the early window of the 2026 cycle. The Lions honored 34 seniors in their final home game, many of whom have now exhausted their eligibility. Finally, an undetermined but large number of transfers away from the program can be expected.
Perhaps Campbell will pull players from his current roster with him as well as from his 2026 signing class. Iowa State added 22 prospects in a group that ranked 50th in the 247Sports Composite.
Campbell will additionally need to capitalize heavily on the transfer portal, which opens Jan. 2 for all teams. Penn State was reluctant to sign huge transfer portal classes under Franklin, but there’s proof that it can lead to on-field success, and Kraft indicated his preference for a transfer-heavy approach after firing Franklin.
Plenty of criticism has come for Kraft’s leading of a coaching search with myriad twists in Happy Valley. Campbell, however, is a well-regarded candidate whom Penn State quickly pivoted toward with its back against the wall.
And now, 54 days after Penn State moved on from a coach who had become synonymous with the university, a new era begins.
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