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What They're Saying About Penn State's Hiring of Matt Campbell

The Iowa State coach is called a "blessing in disguise" for Penn State, which spent eight weeks on its coaching search.
Mark Wogenrich|
Iowa State Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell reacts after a touchdown against Arkansas State.
Iowa State Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell reacts after a touchdown against Arkansas State. | Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Penn State concluded an eight-week coaching search Friday by agreeing to an eight-year deal with Matt Campbell and changing the national narrative about its coaching search. Penn State's search had been described delicately as "mismanaged" and more directly as a "disaster" before Campbell agreed to leave Iowa State after 10 seasons for Penn State.

Now, Penn State is winning praise for being savvy, patient, lucky or perhaps all three. Here's what they're saying about the Nittany Lions' hiring of Campbell.

Finally finding Campbell

College football analyst Josh Pate was among those last week to call the search a disaster, one that he thought should have begun with Campbell eight weeks ago. He posted the above photo of him and Campbell after the hire was complete. That was a theme across the national media: Why did this take so long?

Why did it take so long? Matt Fortuna, who covers college football at his The Inside Zone substack wrote a fascinating breakdown of the process, which began haphazardly in October and re-heated Wednesday after previous top candidate Kalani Sitake signed an extension with BYU. The story requires a subscription but is worth it.

Sports Illustrated's Bryan Fischer graded Penn State's hire as an "A."

"It may have been a meandering search in retrospect to land a guy Penn State should have targeted in the first place," Fischer wrote. "But the Nittany Lions wind up with a great coach who can not only make the program a CFP regular, but one who can pull a few more of those Top 10 upsets that his predecessor could not."

A 'major effort,' according to Kirk Herbstreit

ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit almost sounded relieved for Penn State, even before Campbell's hiring was announced. Herbstreit also said that Campbell could thrive with the "ridiculous talent" he will have at Penn State.

“It’s a good hire," Herbstreit said on the Pat McAfee Show on Friday before the hire became official. "Nothing against Iowa State, but I'd love to see Matt Campbell in State College. ... If they closed the deal on that, that would be as good of a hire, in this very volatile coaching carousel, that would be as good of a hire that I think has been made.”

Campbell called a 'blessing in disguise' for Penn State

Kevin Carter of CBS Sports put it bluntly in assessing Penn State's hire.

"Matt Campbell has turned down better jobs than the one that he got," Carter said. "And I want to stay away from bashing Penn State and really celebrating their deion because their blunder infiding a coahc mightr e a blessing in disguise."

This refrain was repeated across social media. College football analyst, and former Penn State football player, Adam Breneman considers Campbell a better fit for Penn State than Sitake would have been.

Campbell wrestled with leaving Iowa State for Penn State

Campbell spent 10 seasons at iowa State despite being offered jobs before, both in college football and the NFL. Iowa State Athletic Director Jamie Pollard told reporters in Ames on Friday night that Campbell was 'wrestling" with the decision, in part because he could move closer to his hometown of Massillon, Ohio.

"This was entirely a personal decision that he was wrestling with about, is this the time go to home?" Pollard said. "... This was a personal decision for him on a family level."

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.

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