One of Matt Campbell’s first responsibilities after taking over as head coach at Penn State was assembling a staff, which required a thorough examination of a long list of candidates.
While some decisions were easier, bringing along coordinators from Iowa State, others required him to search nationally for an answer. During a lengthy press conference Wednesday afternoon, Campbell detailed the process of putting together his crew.
One of Campbell’s quicker hires was bringing in offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Taylor Mouser, who had worked under him since their Toledo days in 2015, when the former defensive lineman first got into coaching. For Campbell, it was a simple verdict, based on Mouser’s two years as offensive coordinator with the Cyclones.
“I think Taylor has proven, over his two-year period, to be one of the up-and-coming bright minds in all of college football,” Campbell said. “I think he’s got a fearlessness as a play caller.”
In 2024, Iowa State achieved double-digit wins (11) for the first time in program history under the guidance of Mouser, whose offense produced a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in the same season in Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel.
“When you put the coordinator title to any of these coaches, I think you’re expecting a gentleman and somebody that’s got unbelievable leadership ability and the ability to align and unify a group, and Taylor’s done a great job of that,” Campbell said.
On the other side of the ball, Jon Heacock had been Campbell’s defensive coordinator since 2014 but opted to retire this offseason, requiring a new face to join the staff. For this, Campbell brought in a familiar name who had spent the last few seasons in Los Angeles — D’Anton Lynn, a former Nittany Lion cornerback.
“Honestly, the first name that came up was coach Lynn,” Campbell said. “And, from talking to some people that I have great respect for, even in-house, some of our own coaches that had come with me, just felt like that was the No. 1 target for the style of defense we wanted to play, somebody that understood Penn State football, that wanted to be here, that wanted to be a part of this program, that had a passion for Penn State, I felt like that was critical.”
Lynn’s name had popped up during previous defensive coordinator searches under James Franklin, but nothing ever materialized. After orchestrating a top-10 defense at UCLA in 2023 and two seasons of improvement at USC, Lynn returned to his alma mater, even “giving up some things” financially, according to Campbell.
For the rest of the staff, Campbell brought in quarterbacks coach Jake Waters, wide receivers coach Noah Pauley, offensive line coach Ryan Clanton and safeties coach Deon Broomfield from Iowa State. Pauley, however, reportedly accepted the same role with the Green Bay Packers on Thursday, leaving a vacancy on staff.
He also added running backs coach Savon Huggins from Boston College, defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe from UCLA and linebackers coach Tyson Veidt from Cincinnati, while retaining Terry Smith as associate head coach and cornerbacks coach.
“It’s been a joy to watch this thing come together,” Campbell said. “I would say the beginning part of it was trying to figure out, unify and align a football team.”
Penn State’s all-time leading tackler Dan Connor was retained on staff, though he took a step back from linebackers coach to working as an assistant with interior linebackers.
“This human gets it,” Campbell said. “He is Penn State football. What he stands for, what he talks about excellence looking like, what’s gone well, what are some of the areas that need to move forward. I think Dan was so articulate, where this program is, why he loves Penn State football, what it did for him, and honestly, how he envisions this program moving forward, and it was such a great match.”
While several coaches came from different backgrounds and regions of the country, one common thread persisted among them.
“Men that understand the value of growth and development that it takes to develop a football team, guys that have a great passion for teaching 18-to-22 year olds,” Campbell said. “And then I’d say the last piece of it is, understanding this is a transformational journey.”
