Accepting the head coaching position at Penn State was not easy for Matt Campbell. It most certainly wasn't easy for Iowa State to accept, but both sides have apparently moved on.
Matt Campbell says he sought permission from Iowa State before taking Penn State job originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Recently-hired Penn State Nittany Lions coach Matt Campbell admitted that leaving Iowa State was not easy.
But, accepting the Nittany Lions job is the next step in the evolution of his coaching career.
It all happened within "five days," according to Campbell's chat with Josh Pate.
“We left there on Thursday night with really no agreement, because I felt like it was my responsibility to Iowa State, my wife, our kids, to really sit down and say, ‘Is this the right situation, is this the right time for us?'” Campbell said. “By the time you got to Friday evening you knew this was the right time for me. It was a whirlwind. It went fast. But for me it was the right decision.”
Campbell said the call from AD Pat Kraft came by surprise, but one he heard Kraft's vision, he was extremely interested.
“We talked for a while on Wednesday night and really it was from that point on it was a whirlwind five days,” Campbell said. “The next day on Thursday got an opportunity to a Zoom call with president Neeli (Bendapudi), and she was incredible. By Thursday night Pat and his crew were able to come over and really start to talk about their vision for Penn State football, what they were looking for, was this or could this be a really good fit?”
It was a good fit, as Campbell was named the new coach Monday and has much work to do to try and turn the Penn State football program around.
Whether he will, though, remains to be seen
Category: General Sports
