Well, that was one hell of a coaching search, wasn’t it? After 54 days, Penn State finally secured its new head football coach, singing former Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell to an eight-year deal.I think all of our thoughts about the hire are different before the Sitake Debacle and after the Sitake Debacle, but overall, how do you grade the hire? What do you like and what do you dislike?Jared: B+I’ll admit I wasn’t excited about the prospect of Campbell as a candidate at first. I was hoping for a flashier name in the hopes Penn State could poach a Cignetti, Elko or DeBoer. However, deep down I believed the hire would be someone who overachieved at a program with less resources than Penn State. With that ultimately being the case, it’s hard to find a better candidate than Campbell.Iowa State was historically a doormat before Campbell came to Ames. He regularly won at a program that was mostly recognized from the ticker getting blown out by the likes of Oklahoma State and Kansas State. He developed a roster that lacked blue-chip prospects and turned many into productive college players, and sent players to the NFL at a rate unfamiliar to the Cyclones program. He’s also a generally likeable person who grew up and spent all of his like in Big Ten country before heading to Iowa State. Considering the chaotic nature of this search, Penn State was fortunate to land a coach who has been highly-coveted by major college programs and NFL franchises for the past decade.Colin: AThe way this coaching search was handled by Penn State and Pat Kraft was rough, to say the least. Not having a coach in place on Signing Day after firing Franklin on October 12 was not a good look. But if we are just looking at Matt Campbell’s track record and his potential at Penn State, I give this hire an A.Campbell took one of the sport’s historic doormats and made them viable for a decade, including a pair of AP Top 15 finishes. In 2024, he led Iowa State to the program’s first ever 10+ win season and beat Miami in a bowl game with a roster that ranked No. 68 in the talent composite. He is an excellent coach, developer, and program builder. There are certainly questions about his ceiling as a recruiter, but Penn State will set him up to succeed. This is about as good an outcome for Penn State as we could have hoped for.Eli: A+My thoughts are in the context of how the search was conducted. Had he been the hire from the start, I’d probably give it an A, but given I thought Penn State was going to end up with Fucky McFuckFace as coach, ending up with one of the best hires of the cycle is a great consolation prize, ain’t?The job Campbell did at Iowa State cannot be understated. Iowa State has always competed with the Vanderbilt and Northwestern of the world as one of the most futile programs in history, yet the didn’t get the life boat of being in the Big Ten or SEC. As the former two got infusions of cash and gained the ability to attract a certain type of player (not to mention where those two are located), Campbell had no cash and no natural geographical advantage to work with. He still made Iowa State into the most successful it’s ever been.Oh, and he did the same thing at Toledo too before getting to Iowa State. This is not just “the best hire given the circumstances,” this is the best hire they could have made, from a realistic standpoint.Lando: A-I have a similar take to Eli in that I am considering the cluster that was the 54 days Penn State fans spent without a head coach.If you just look at the ranked wins, Campbell is only a marginal upgrade over the previous coach, but we all know it’s not that simple. The combination of Penn State’s existing resources, and the school’s apparent commitment to NIL and coaching salaries gives me a lot of encouragement that Penn State will be back in conference contention on a consistent basis, rather than fighting for 8-4 seasons like some of us thought would be the case.Back to Campbell though-he is a winner and a serious developer of talent, and his Midwest ties might help eventually make a dent in recruiting other talent-rich areas besides the Mid-Atlantic (I am not saying the school should abandon the DMV, of course). Penn State fans will need to be a little patient, but in the end, it will pay off.Bennett: A-Campbell’s a more experienced and battle-tested version of the James Franklin hire. He’s won at a perennial doormat. He always seemed on the verge of being a “next big hire”, but never made the jump. I think that is partly because he was holding out for a marquee job: Michigan, Ohio State, NFL etc.So, it’s a great hire in terms of I think Penn State got a guy who checks so many boxes of what you want: can do more with less, culture, develops players, etc. Now, pair that with big money and a big brand and Penn State should come out of this fine.And let’s hope they do – because everything else around this 2-month saga has been too much. For real, how do fan bases do this every few years? It was exhausting.Chris: AMatt Campbell in a pure vacuum is a B/B+ hire. I have nothing against the guy, and am well aware of his success at Iowa State. He’s always been a “do more with less” coach, and his wins at ISU speak highly of him as a coach. But I do believe there’s a reason Pat Kraft swung for the fences, and that’s because I do believe Penn State is a top 10 job. That Kraft struck out repeatedly is, in my opinion, an indictment of him as an AD. The myriad coach extensions around the country as soon as Penn State showed any interest in them, the incredibly public rejection by Sitake, and the abysmal national signing day situation made Penn State – a playoff semifinalist last year – a national laughingstock. That Kraft managed to land this thing safely is borderline miraculous.To me, Campbell is a B/B+ hire *in a vacuum.* Given that this hiring process does not happen in a vacuum, that Penn State got Campbell when it did is easily an A hire. My only reason for not giving it an A+ is that it should have happened before NSD and gotten Penn State a better recruiting class. But otherwise I don’t know that I could have asked for a better ending, particularly after the Sitake fallout.Tim: A-Taking the AD’s incompetence and falling ass-backwards into this hire off the table, I’m still giving this hire an A-. Matt Campbell is a proven program builder who won consistently at a school that is very difficult to do so. Having only two losing seasons in ten years at Iowa State is nothing to scoff at, and developing NFL-caliber talents such as Breece Hall and Brock Purdy is quite impressive. My only concern is how well he can recruit, but in this day and age where NIL money is king, having a $30 million war chest should help immensely.Patrick: B+I am generally a pretty optimistic person and don’t consider myself a chicken little whatsoever. But man when Penn State swung and missed on Kalani Sitake, I was greatly worried Pat Kraft absolutely botched this hire and we were staring down an uninspiring hire with the fan base up in arms. Somehow, someway, Penn State and Kraft were able to pivot to Matt Campbell, one of the most respected coaches in the country and someone who seemingly fits Penn State really well.I’ve always been a fan of Campbell. The funny thing is when I first made a Penn State Hot Board when James Franklin was flirting with USC during the 2018 season, the first name on my list was Campbell. Funny how things work out. I think he’s a really good coach that has a high floor but also someone who can absolutely win the Big Ten. But he’s not without his faults. His recruiting in Iowa State has been solid, but even knowing their disadvantages, not incredibly impressive. His teams have sort of been similar to Franklin teams in that they usually have had really good defenses while the offense runs hot-and-cold at times. Personally, I was hoping for a more offensive-focused coach, but I also understand that Penn State’s path of least resistance might be leaning into what has always been successful here: tough, gritty teams with strong defense and opportunistic offense. Campbell certainly brings that.