The 2025 Penn State football season was a giant roller coaster on the field and off it. They had national championship expectations, but the season turned to disaster, and they fired James Franklin. After firing Franklin, the Nittany Lions had a long coaching search, but finally landed a home-run hire by managing to pry Matt Campbell away from Iowa State.
The Nittany Lions held Campbell's introductory press conference on Monday, and the biggest question on everyone's mind was what made Campbell decide to leave the Cyclones after 10 seasons in Ames. His response at his press conference was that he wanted to go somewhere where he could stand for something bigger than himself, and Penn State brought that. However, he said it was still tough to leave everyone in Ames after all that time.
He said, “If we were ever to leave Iowa State, I wanted to go somewhere, and I wanted to finish my career, and I wanted to stand for something bigger than Matt Campbell. It's not about me, but about the players and represents something bigger than myself. And I found that.”
Campbell also said that leaving Ames and telling his players that he was going was one of the hardest things he has ever had to do in his life.
He explained, “One of the hardest moments of my life was Friday night, to walk in and to leave so many of our great young men that believed in me, believed in our coaches, and then signed up to be a part of our great program.”
When Campbell was officially introduced as the next Penn State football head coach, he first released a press statement before his introductory press conference.
“I am incredibly honored to join Penn State University as its next head football coach,” Campbell said in a news release. “This is one of the blue bloods of college football, and this program’s history and tradition are unmatched. I look forward to building on that foundation by developing student-athletes on and off the field, competing for championships, and continuing the legacy of excellence that defines Penn State.”
The Nittany Lions went all-in on Matt Campbell, giving him an eight-year contract with a total of $70.5 million guaranteed. He has a chance to do great things in State College, but now is the time to prove it, especially on the field next season. The Nittany Lions swung out on a lot of candidates, like Kalani Sitake, but they got their guy.
