More Big Ten coaching dominos continued to fall late this past week when the Penn State Nittany Lions officially hired Matt Campbell away from Iowa State in an attempt to restore a tradition of excellence in State College this fall.
College football podcaster Josh Pate was growing concerned the Nittany Lions' search had reached a dead end. But after the school and Campbell reached an agreement Friday, all has started to settle down since.
"Coach Campbell is, without a doubt, the right leader at the right time for Penn State Football," Athletic Director Pat Kraft said in a statement. "He is a stellar coach with a proven track record of success and his values, character and approach to leading student-athletes to success on and off the field align perfectly with the traditions and values of Penn State."
Pate, too, appears on. Board.
“I’ll tell you why I think he’s a perfect fit here,” Pate said during "Josh Pate’s College Football Show." “He’s dead serious about that Toledo stuff. Matt Campbell came very close to just not leaving Toledo for Iowa State. That’s how dug in he was at Toledo. And then he got to Iowa State and thought to himself: ‘I’m not leaving here.’"
Taking a bigger job certainly comes with its risks, but given Campbell's track record, Pate says he expects nothing more than a quick program turnaround.
“A lot of guys talk like that and give it lip service. I don’t know how else to tell you, he’s just telling you the truth, other people are lying to you," Pate said. "He’s telling you the truth there. So it took a lot, it took a lot to peel him out of there. Penn State was able to do it. So the first thing I would take comfort in if I’m a Penn State fan, one of the first things I would take comfort in is knowing that guy’s not going anywhere.”
Program stability is difficult in today's ever-changing world of college football. But, Pate suggests Campbell is built for the moment.
“No one brought any football counterarguments to the table, because there really are none,” Pate said. “Here’s what a lot of people said. They didn’t trust their own instincts, they blindly trusted rumors or perceptions of other instincts when they said, ‘Well if he’s so great, if Matt Campbell’s so great, how come he hasn’t gotten job offers before?’ And I bit my tongue as long as I could, and then I couldn’t take it anymore and I told you on the show a couple weeks ago: They have. They’ve come his way.”
Campbell may have a lot of work to do, but at the least, he can begin to build the program in his image.
His first season should be very interesting.