Penn State’s coaching staff is set for next season, featuring an almost entirely new group of coordinators and position coaches.
Entering his first season with the Nittany Lions, head coach Matt Campbell brought in several Iowa State assistants while making a few outside hires and retaining a couple key defensive coaches.
Grades for Penn State’s offensive hires can be found here. Below are grades for the 2026 defensive staff.
Defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn: B+
At 36 years old, Lynn is on the younger side, similar to new Nittany Lion offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser (34). That means there’s likely room for growth in the coming seasons, as he got into coaching in 2014 and has only been a defensive coordinator since 2023.
That was also his most impressive performance, guiding UCLA to the No. 1 defense in the Pac-12 in yards allowed and No. 2 in points allowed. That showing earned him a bigger offer from nearby rival USC, where he’s been for the last two seasons.
Lynn took over a Trojan defense that ranked among the worst in the power conferences and quickly showed signs of improvement, going from 432.8 yards and 34.4 points allowed to 377.1 and 24.1 in 2024. His unit followed that up by allowing 350.8 yards and 23 points per game in 2025, another marginal improvement.
However, the Trojans have recruited at an elite level on both sides of the ball and had lots of blue-chip players across the defense, and while the unit showed steady improvement under Lynn, it still ranked in the bottom half of the Big Ten last season despite having more talent than several higher-performing groups. While he undoubtedly had the defense trending in the right direction, it was never one of the better groups in the conference.
Defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe: A
Many of Campbell’s hires have skewed toward younger coaches, but that’s not the case for Malloe, who’s been coaching since 1997.
The former Washington safety and linebacker got his start as a graduate assistant for the Huskies, before quickly moving up the ranks at several different stops across the country. In 2016, Malloe returned to his alma mater as the defensive line coach, producing NFL draft picks in three straight years: Elijah Qualls in 2017, Vita Vea in 2018 and Greg Gaines in 2019.
Malloe then left to be the special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach at UCLA, before taking over the defensive line the following season in 2023, the same year Lynn was brought in as defensive coordinator. He turned edge rusher Laiatu Latu into a first-round selection before being promoted to defensive coordinator after Lynn left for USC.
When the Bruins started the 2025 season 0-3, Malloe mutually parted ways with UCLA, sending him to the open market before he was hired by Penn State.
While his brief stint as defensive coordinator was unsuccessful, Malloe proved to be an elite developer of talent as a defensive line coach, and he was also a strong recruiter, landing five blue-chip prospects in a three-year span at Washington: five-star defensive end Sav’ell Smalls and four-stars Faatui Tuitele, Jacob Bandes, Tuli Letuligasenoa and Taki Taimani.
It’s hard to nitpick Malloe’s resume, but much of his coaching experience and all of his recruited players were from the West Coast or Polynesia, regions that may be harder to recruit at Penn State.
However, Malloe has already hit the ground running, picking up transfer commitments from UCLA’s Siale Taupaki, Utah’s Dallas Vakalahi and Oklahoma State’s Armstrong Nnodim since taking the job.
Edge rushers coach Christian Smith: C-
Penn State hasn’t typically had a separate coach for edge rushers, but Campbell opted to bring in Smith from Northwestern, who spent the last three seasons as its defensive line coach.
Smith was a standout defensive end at Toledo from 2010-13, overlapping with Campbell’s time on staff and giving them a prior connection.
He got his first defensive line coaching role with South Dakota State from 2016-2022 before joining the Wildcats, though he only produced one NFL draft pick across that decade: fourth-rounder Adetomiwa Adebawore in 2023.
Smith is credited with developing two-time All-Big Ten honoree Aidan Hubbard and defensive end Anto Saka, who recently transferred to Texas A&M, but neither were game-breakers.
While the sample size is small and he hasn’t had the resources he’ll have at Penn State, Smith’s defensive line units haven’t been particularly impressive on the stat sheet (middle to bottom of the Big Ten in rushing yards allowed and sacks) and he hasn’t produced much in terms of NFL talent, making it hard to justify a higher grade.
Linebackers coach Tyson Veidt: B-
Veidt served as Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator the last two seasons, producing mediocre results in the role before mutually parting ways with the team.
Prior to that, Veidt was Iowa State’s linebackers coach from 2016-2023 and Toledo’s linebackers coach from 2014-15, giving him a long history with Campbell.
In that 10-year span, none of Veidt’s linebackers were drafted, though three signed as undrafted free agents, including 2014 first-team All-MAC selection Junior Sylvestre, 2017 FWAA All-American selection Joel Lanning and 2020 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Mike Rose.
Campbell clearly thought highly enough of Veidt to bring him from Toledo to Iowa State, even giving him an associate head coach tag, and he impressed enough to land a power conference defensive coordinator gig.
However, while several of his linebackers have been productive at the college level, none have seen the field at the NFL level, something that’s considered a standard at LBU.
Associate head coach/cornerbacks coach Terry Smith: A+
There’s no way around it — keeping Smith on staff was a must for Penn State, even after he was denied the full-time head coaching role following an impressive seven-game stint as the interim.
Campbell said during his introductory press conference it was his idea to retain Smith, revealing their prior connections dating back to Smith’s time as head coach at Gateway High School.
The former Nittany Lion wide receiver has been one of the top cornerbacks coaches in the country since stepping into the role in 2014, developing numerous college stars and NFL starters.
Some of Smith’s top disciples include 2018 fourth-round pick Troy Apke, 2019 fourth-round pick Amani Oruwariye, 2020 fourth-round pick John Reid, 2022 sixth-round pick Tariq Castro-Field, 2023 second-round pick Joey Porter Jr., 2024 sixth-round pick Daequan Hardy and 2024 seventh-round pick Kalen King.
Cornerbacks A.J. Harris and Elliot Washington II, who recently entered the transfer portal, are viewed as potential future draft picks, while returning Nittany Lions Audavion Collins, Daryus Dixson and Jahmir Joseph all have NFL potential.
Additionally, Smith has been considered one of Penn State’s top recruiters for years, regardless of position, and has strong ties within the state. His experience as a player and longtime coach in Happy Valley, along with a proven track record of developing NFL starters and reputation as an ace recruiter justify him becoming the highest-paid non-coordinator in college football this year.
Safeties coach Deon Broomfield: B
Broomfield is a former Iowa State safety who has coaching experience with multiple NFL and college teams. He served as Iowa State’s safeties coach for the last five seasons, producing one draft pick: 2023 seventh-round pick Anthony Johnson Jr.
In addition to Johnson, Broomfield is responsible for developing four All-Big 12 honorees, including Isheem Young in 2021, Jeremiah Cooper and Beau Freyler in 2023 and Malik Verdon in 2024, who was signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent.
While Broomfield hasn’t sent many players to the NFL like his predecessor, Anthony Poindexter, his safeties have consistently been productive at the college level and earned several all-conference accolades.
