Iowa State Cyclones' Matt Campbell Reportedly Agrees to Become Penn State HC

Matt Campbell has reportedly agreed to become the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell celebrates after an interception by defenders against Kansas during the fourth quarter in the senior day on Nov. 22, 2025, at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa | Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Iowa State Cyclones have seen the end of an era with Matt Campbell reportedly heading to the Penn State Nittany Lions to become the new head coach. 

It was a strong season for the Cyclones in 2025. The team continued to prove that they have turned the program around with a solid 8-4 campaign. Considering how the football program used to be, the success under Campbell in recent years was really creating a lot of hope that this team was going to be able to win a Big 12 title in the near future. 

Unfortunately, those dreams have been dealt a crippling blow with the head coach heading to Penn State. The Nittany Lions are a prestigious program, and they are certainly going to be able to provide Campbell with more resources than Iowa State could. 

Penn State is hiring Iowa State’s Matt Campbell as its next head coach, sources tell @On3sports. https://t.co/8rlONHuExf https://t.co/Q5EFLbnZdb pic.twitter.com/Tu4m6m4uP1

— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) December 6, 2025

The Cyclones were just able to finish up one of their best recruiting classes in the Campbell era, but now this is a football program that is going to be turned upside down at the wrong time. For Penn State, they are going to be getting a great head coach who was able to turn around a program that wasn’t known for their football. 

What’s Next for the Cyclones?

With Campbell leaving, it creates a ton of issues that the program is going to have to deal with in the coming weeks. Firstly, it’s safe to assume that a majority of the coaching staff is going to be leaving with him to Penn State. Most importantly for the Cyclones will be trying to find a new coach of their own. 

That is going to be a challenging task, with it being relatively late in the game in that area. However, they look toward some of their internal options or seek help externally. Also, with the coach leaving, the program is going to have to worry about key players and recruits going with him to the Nittany Lions. 

With newfound financial resources, Campbell is going to be able to get aggressive in the transfer portal, and taking players from his former team is undoubtedly going to be a possibility. 

Even though the team had immense success with Campbell, they will now have to try to find who is going to lead them into the next chapter. The former head coach proved that this school could have a successful football program, and the next coach will be tasked with filling some pretty big shoes. Penn State is very fortunate to be getting an excellent coach, and he will be missed at Iowa State.