Get to know Matt Campbell's Penn State football coaching staff

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Penn State football will feature its first overhauled coaching staff in a dozen years.

It took new head coach Matt Campbell about a month to put together his first on-field staff after replacing James Franklin.

Campbell’s staff, as expected, owns a heavy Iowa State influence, where he came from after serving as head coach for a decade.

Five of his dozen main assistants worked with him at ISU, including most of his offensive staff, including coordinator and tight ends coach Taylor Mouser.

Coaches with Penn State connections? The main holdovers are special teams coordinator Justin Lustig and Terry Smith, who led the Lions for half of the 2025 season as interim head coach. Smith will serve Campbell as associate head coach while continuing to tutor cornerbacks, as he did under Franklin.

Former Nittany LionsD’Anton Lynn is the new defensive coordinator and All-America linebacker Dan Connor returns as the assistant linebackers coach.

Meet the entire staff here:

Taylor Mouser, offensive coordinator/tight ends

Though one of the youngest Power 4 coordinators in the country, Mouser, 34, has worked with Campbell for nearly a decade.

He led the offense in their final two years at Iowa State and goes back to Campbell’s time leading Toledo.

Penn State should continue their strong tight end work under Mouser, who led that position group impressively with the Cyclones, as well.

Ryan Clanton, offensive line

Ryan Clanton spent the three previous seasons leading Campbell’s Iowa State offensive line.

Under his coaching, the ISU running game improved from averaging 108 rushing yards per game in 2023 to 174.5 yards last season.

Before Iowa State, Clanton led the Northern Iowa offensive line for five years. He played on Oregon’s offensive lines under head coach Chip Kelly, winning the 2012 Rose and 2013 Fiesta bowls.

Noah Pauley, wide receiver

Noah Pauley, 36, spent three years coaching receivers under Campbell at Iowa State, including the 2024 season in which he tutored two 1,100-yard wideouts. He was named the top receivers coach in the nation by FootballScoop.com and reportedly interviewed for the San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator job.

Pauley also led receivers at national championship-winning North Dakota State. There, he helped develop current Green Bay Packers receiver Christian Watson, the No. 34 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Pauley will be working with four of his former Iowa State wideouts in 2026, all who just transferred to Penn State.

Jake Waters, quarterbacks

Jake Waters, 33, joins the Lions following five years at Iowa State, including the last two as quarterbacks coach. He also worked for three years at UTEP (2018-20), coaching tight ends, fullbacks and wide receivers.

Waters will team with former Nittany Lion star Trace McSorley, who will stay on the staff as an assistant QB coach.

Former Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien targeted Waters as a junior college quarterback recruit before he decided on playing for Kansas State.

Savon Huggins, running backs

Former Penn State recruiting target Savon Huggins will be coaching its running backs.

Huggins, 32, will take over the spot vacated by longtime college and pro running backs coach Stan Drayton. Huggins will be in charge of a revamped unit in 2026, one that lost senior stars Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton to the NFL and three others to the transfer portal.

Huggins, the New Jersey high school legend who played at Rutgers, quickly worked his way up the coaching ranks. He’s gone from high schools to FBS Buffalo to Power 4 Boston College, where he spent the past two seasons tutoring running backs under head coach Bill O’Brien.

D’Anton Lynn, defensive coordinator

Former Penn State standout defensive back D’Anton Lynn has returned to State College to lead its defense.

Lynn, 36, is coming off impressive work leading defenses at UCLA and USC the past three seasons after a decade coaching in the NFL. His work at UCLA produced dramatic results: The Bruins elevated into a Top 10 defense in 2023, No. 1, nationally, against the run and third in sacks per game (3.42).

Lynn is the fifth PSU defensive coordinator since 2021.

Terry Smith, associate head coach/cornerbacks

The former PSU receiver excelled at behind-the-scenes work leading the cornerbacks until suddenly thrust into the interim head coach role in October. He certainly played it well, leading the Lions to a near-upset loss of undefeated Indiana, then four straight wins to end the season.

It was a major victory to retain the respected, well-liked Smith on staff. He figures to continue leading one of the nation’s better cornerback rooms in 2026 with a mix of standout returners (Daryus Dixson, Audavion Collins) and transfers.

Ikaika Malloe, defensive line

Former UCLA defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe will lead one of the Nittany Lions’ most successful position groups over the past decade — the defensive line.

Malloe, 51, who worked under Lynn at UCLA, will take over a transitional group that’s become known for putting high draft pick edge rushers in the NFL (from Yetur Gross-Matos and Chop Robinson to Abdul Carter and now Dani Dennis-Sutton).

Malloe was on the UCLA staff the past four years, coaching special teams, linebackers and the defensive line. Before that, he coached defensive linemen and linebackers at Washington, his alma mater.

He was a 2024 nominee for the Broyles Award, which recognizes college football’s top assistant coach.

Christian Smith, defensive line assistant

Christian Smith will help Malloe coach the defensive line, focusing on edge rushers. Smith comes to Penn State after three years leading the defensive line at Northwestern.

Smith was selected to the 2025 American Football Coaches Association 35 Under 35, a yearly honor roll to identify rising leaders in the coaching profession.

At Northwestern, Smith coached defensive lineman Aidan Hubbard, a two-time All-Big Ten honoree who finished fifth on the school’s all-time sacks list.

Tyson Veidt, linebackers

Tyson Veidt comes to Penn State after leading Cincinnati’s defense the past two seasons. Before that, he worked on Campbell’s Iowa State staff for eight seasons as associate head coach and linebackers’ coach.

Veidt also was Toledo’s linebackers’ coach and recruiting coordinator in 2014 and 2015.

He will work with assistant linebacker coach Dan Connor, the former All-American Nittany Lion who will continue on staff.

Deon Broomfield, defensive secondary/safeties

Deon Broomfield, who’s coached college defensive backs for the past decade, will lead Penn State’s defensive secondary, focusing on safeties.

He led Iowa State’s safeties the previous five years under Campbell. Three of his ISU safeties earned All-Big Ten honors in 2024, and he’ll be reunited this coming season with all-star transfer Marcus Neal Jr.

Broomfield also coached defensive backs at Indiana State, Western Illinois and Carthage College (Wisconsin).

Justin Lustig, special teams coordinator

Justin Lustig will lead the Nittany Lions’ special teams for the third season in 2026 after being retained by Campbell.

His 2025 units were typically strong in coverage and led the nation with five blocked punts/kicks. Once again, the Lions did not allow a special teams touchdown of any kind.

Lustig came to PSU after serving as special teams coach at Syracuse and even briefly leading Division II Edinboro as head coach.

Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at  fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Meet Matt Campbell’s new Penn State football coaching staff

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