Penn State Lands Major Praise for Offseason Matt Campbell Move

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Heading into last season, the Penn State Nittany Lions were widely viewed as a top-tier National Championship contender. After making their way into the final four the year before, James Franklin was expected to put together another dominant season.

Unfortunately, the reality of the season did not match the expectations.

When all was said and done, Penn State finished the 2025 campaign with a 7-6 record. The Nittany Lions were nowhere near being a College Football Playoff team. That led to some serious changes.

Franklin was fired during the middle of the season. After the program became frustrated with the team's overall performance, a change was decided upon.

Quite a few names were linked as potential targets for Penn State to fill its head coaching vacancy. Big names like Lane Kiffin and Urban Meyer were talked about. However, the Nittany Lions ended up turning to former Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell.

Campbell had a very successful tenure as head coach of the Cyclones. He worked that job for 10 years, beginning back in 2016, and led Iowa State to a 72-55 overall record. He took the Cyclones to bowl games in seven of his 10 years.

With the 2026 college football season right around the corner, Penn State has landed more praise for its decision to hire Campbell as the new head coach.

Audrey Snyder of Inside the Lions believes that the Nittany Lions couldn't have found a better coach to lead the program into the future.

"I don't think Penn State could have hired a better fit for this job culturally," Snyder said. 

At the end of the day, no one will be able to judge the move until years down the road. Even though the hire seems to be a big win, Campbell will still need to prove that he can win football games at Penn State.

His track record speaks for itself. Campbell did an excellent job with Iowa State, but coaching the Nittany Lions is a much bigger stage. Can he finally lead Penn State back to being a championship contender?

Only time will tell, but there is a new sense of excitement in State College. Campbell has the program feeling better about the future and much more optimistic. 

Hopefully, the results of the hire end up living up to the hype of the praise the Nittany Lions have been receiving.

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