Reports: Penn State to hire Iowa State’s Matt Campbell to be next head coach
Campbell and Penn State are working toward finalizing a deal for him to become the next head coach. The 46-year-old has been at the helm at Iowa State for the last 10 seasons.
After many twists and turns in its coaching search over the last two months, Penn State is working on a deal to finalize its next football coach.
According to multiple reports on Friday, Matt Campbell, who has been the head coach at Iowa State for the last 10 seasons, will become the Nittany Lions’ 17th football coach. Campbell led the Cyclones to an 8-4 record this season and has a 72-55 overall record with Iowa State.
With 19 wins over the last two seasons at Iowa State, Campbell, a Massillon, Ohio, native, led the program to its best two-year stretch in history, including the Cyclones’ first-ever double-digit win season in 2024. Campbell, 46, has reached bowl eligibility in eight of his 10 seasons with the Cyclones.
Although he hasn’t won the Big 12 in his tenure, he’s made two championship game appearances (2020, 2024), and has consistently maximized his rosters despite Iowa State being ranked outside the top 40 of national recruiting rankings every year he’s been in Ames, Iowa. Iowa State is currently ranked 50th in the 2026 recruiting class, according to 247Sports.
Before he took over Iowa State in 2016, Campbell had a successful four-year run as Toledo’s head coach, compiling a 35-15 record and leading his team to back-to-back Mid American Conference championship game berths. Overall, he spent seven seasons with Toledo, first as a run game coordinator and offensive line coach, then as the offensive coordinator in 2011 before taking the head coach position in 2012.
Campbell has a 17-28 record against teams ranked in Associated Press top 25 poll, including four wins against AP top-10 opponents in his coaching career that has spanned Bowling Green, Mount Union, Toledo, and Iowa State across the last 23 years.
He has long been a name mentioned in the college football coaching carousel and was interviewed in January for the Chicago Bears’ vacant head coach opening.
The hire comes after the program fired James Franklin on Oct. 12, 54 days ago. The coaching search nearly came to a close earlier this week when Brigham Young Kalani Sitake emerged as a top candidate for Penn State on Tuesday. According to multiple outlets, Sitake was close to taking the Nittany Lions’ job before he ultimately decided to stay in Provo, Utah, and earned a contract extension in the process.
Penn State chose Campbell over promoting Terry Smith, who went 3-3 as the interim coach and helped the Nittany Lions reach bowl eligibility for the fifth straight season. Smith has reportedly drawn interest from Memphis and Connecticut to fill their vacant head coach openings.
» READ MORE: Penn State’s recruiting class takes a hit as its search for a head coach continues
Campbell has some ties to the area. He was teammates with Eagles coach Nick Sirianni at Division III school Mount Union from 1999-2002. Sirianni was a wide receiver, while Campbell was a defensive lineman. Campbell later joined the Mount Union coaching staff in 2005 as offensive coordinator, a year after Sirianni coached defensive backs for the program. Both also coached and played with current Toledo head coach Jason Candle.
Campbell will have his work cut out for him at Penn State. The program only signed two players on national early signing day and will be replacing several starters on both sides of the ball.