Inside Matt Campbell’s Penn State rebuild: what each hire reveals about the Nittany Lions' future
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Matt Campbell didn’t arrive in Happy Valley to make adjustments. He arrived to rebuild Penn State’s foundation from the ground up. While interim head coach Terry Smith prepares for the Pinstripe Bowl, Campbell has spent his first weeks doing exactly what made him one of the most respected program builders in college football: assembling a staff that prioritizes development over flash. His hires tell a clear story — this isn’t about quick fixes or big names. It’s about alignment, sustainability, and turning personnel decisions into a competitive weapon. Campbell’s approach has always been infrastructure first, and Penn State’s new staff reflects that philosophy completely.
This isn’t a coaching staff built for headlines. It’s built for longevity. Each hire serves a specific purpose in Campbell’s vision for how Penn State will operate moving forward, and taken together, they explain exactly where this program is headed. What matters now isn’t who has the biggest recruiting buzz or the splashiest résumé. What matters is whether Campbell’s deliberate, detail-oriented philosophy can unlock the championship ceiling that eluded James Franklin for more than a decade.
Derek Hoodjer, General Manager
This is the hire that defines Campbell’s entire vision. Hoodjer isn’t just a personnel director — he’s the architect behind Iowa State’s modern roster model, the connective tissue between recruiting, the transfer portal, NIL strategy, and internal player evaluation. In Ames, Hoodjer built a system that allowed the Cyclones to identify developmental talent early, retain it, and supplement strategically through the portal. That infrastructure turned Iowa State into a program that consistently competed with far more resources. Now he’s bringing that blueprint to a school with actual money behind it.
Penn State has always had resources Iowa State could never touch. What it lacked under Franklin was cohesion — a unified system that treated roster construction as an ongoing process instead of a February scramble. Hoodjer gives Campbell a true front office, one that connects every piece of the operation from high school recruiting to portal evaluations to NIL deployment. This is how Campbell plans to close the gap on Ohio State, Oregon, and the sport’s true elite. Infrastructure wins championships, and Penn State just hired the best infrastructure mind outside the SEC.
Skip Brabenec, Chief of Staff
Every Campbell program has a stabilizer behind the scenes, and Brabenec is that figure. He’s followed Campbell from Toledo to Iowa State to Happy Valley, managing everything from daily operations to long-range planning. At Penn State, Brabenec becomes the organizational glue — the person who ensures football decisions align with university expectations and that Campbell can operate without constant internal friction. This isn’t a glamorous role. It’s a critical one.
The hire matters more at Penn State than it would almost anywhere else. Big Ten bluebloods don’t fail because of talent. They fail when communication breaks down between the football building, the athletic department, and the administration. Penn State just spent twelve years watching those disconnects play out in real time under Franklin. Brabenec exists to prevent that from ever happening again. He’s the buffer that keeps Campbell focused on winning games instead of navigating bureaucracy.
Taylor Mouser, Offensive Coordinator / Tight Ends
Mouser is Campbell’s clearest offensive statement. Young, trusted, and molded inside Campbell’s system for more than a decade, Mouser built his reputation on efficiency, not flash. His offenses at Iowa State weren’t gimmick-driven — they were quarterback-friendly, brutally consistent in the red zone, and designed to execute under pressure. In 2024, that approach produced the most successful season in Cyclone history. Now he’s bringing that same philosophy to a Penn State roster that desperately needs clarity over creativity.
Mouser’s pro-style passing game, heavy tight end usage, and emphasis on sequencing fits exactly what Campbell values: control, adaptability, and sustainable growth over time. This isn’t an offense built to spike for one season. It’s an offense designed to mature, year after year, with quarterback development at its core. Penn State has cycled through offensive coordinators and schemes for a decade, always chasing the next trend. Mouser represents the opposite approach — stability, patience, and a system proven to work when given time to take root.
Ryan Clanton, Offensive Line
If Mouser shapes the offense, Clanton supplies its backbone.
Clanton’s offensive lines at Iowa State improved steadily, particularly in the run game, where the Cyclones jumped from 119 rushing yards per game to 160 in one season. He’s coached NFL linemen, played at Oregon under Chip Kelly, and understands how to build physical units that don’t collapse late in games.
Penn State’s offensive line has fluctuated for years. Clanton’s arrival signals an emphasis on development over patchwork fixes.
Deon Broomfield, Secondary
Broomfield is a technician. At Iowa State, he developed defensive backs who consistently outperformed their recruiting rankings, including Marcus Neal Jr., one of the most instinctive safeties in the Big 12. His units tackled well, communicated cleanly, and fit seamlessly into Jon Heacock’s structure. Broomfield doesn’t chase scheme trends or overcomplicate coverage. He coaches fundamentals, film study, and discipline — the boring stuff that wins games in November.
For Penn State, Broomfield provides continuity on a defense that has talent but desperately needs cohesion. The secondary has the athletes. What it lacked under Franklin’s staff was consistency in technique and communication breakdowns in critical moments. Broomfield isn’t here to reinvent coverage or install some revolutionary scheme. He’s here to sharpen what’s already there and make sure Penn State’s defensive backs play fast, physical, and assignment-sound. That’s exactly what Campbell’s defense demands.
Reid Kagy and Brandon Pietrzyk, Strength & Conditioning
This is where Campbell’s developmental ethos becomes physical. Kagy and Pietrzyk have worked together before, building programs focused on durability and late-season performance. Iowa State was rarely the biggest team on the field, but it was often the one still standing in November. Penn State has recruited size for years — Campbell wants to turn it into resilience, and these two hires are how he plans to do it.
Aaron Hillmann, Sports Performance Operations
Hillmann’s role is about margins — load management, recovery protocols, and preparation that keeps players on the field when it matters most. Campbell’s teams have historically avoided catastrophic injury attrition late in seasons, and Hillmann is a major reason why. This isn’t about bubble baths and massage guns. It’s about data-driven training loads and keeping star players healthy in November when everyone else is limping to the finish line.
Trent Slattenow, Director of Player Personnel
Slattenow bridges scouting and recruiting, and that connection matters more than most realize. He’s spent years embedded in Iowa State’s evaluation pipeline, helping identify fits rather than chasing stars. At Penn State, he’ll work directly with Hoodjer to align high school recruiting, portal targets, and internal development plans into one cohesive operation. This is how programs stop bleeding depth and start building rosters that can withstand attrition without panicking every spring.
Jack Griffith, Recruiting Assistant
Every rebuild needs grinders, and Griffith is one of them. Behind every recruiting win is someone organizing visits, managing relationships with high school coaches, and keeping the machine moving when nobody’s watching. Campbell values those roles as much as he values coordinators, and Griffith’s inclusion on this staff reflects that philosophy completely. Penn State’s recruiting operation under Franklin was often reactive and disjointed. Campbell is building something systematic, and that requires people who execute the details without needing credit.
The bigger picture
This staff isn’t about nostalgia for Ames. It’s about trust. Campbell didn’t bring everyone from Iowa State — he brought only the people who understand exactly how he builds programs, who know his system inside and out, and who can execute without constant supervision. That distinction matters. Penn State’s next chapter won’t be defined by one play call, one portal splash, or one recruiting class ranked in the top five. It will be defined by whether this infrastructure holds when the pressure rises and the losses pile up.
If it does, the wins will follow. Campbell has proven that at every stop. The question now is whether Penn State has the patience to let this approach take root. Campbell is betting his reputation that it will. Penn State is betting its future that he’s right.
This story was originally published by A to Z Sports on Dec 13, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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