Posted by: @d-b-cooper

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Kraft went from a supposedly great AD to this? Is Campbell an upgrade? 

I would say he’s a very good hire.

Is he an upgrade? That remains to be seen as it would be for whoever they hire(d). 

While it does appear this search hasn’t gone as planned for PSU/Kraft, I think you could make the case that Campbell would be near the top of their board, or most any programs board, from the beginning, or certainly deserved to be. 

Pat Kraft took a header off the turnip truck, but instead of landing in manure, landed in roses.

He lucked out.

Tbd

Posted by: @dbmhoosier

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https://twitter.com/On3sports/status/1996996836461052095?t=uGjVoJwR07Yr8ahKI3DfDw&s=19

If true, that’s a pretty good hire and certainly an upgrade from Franklin.

The argument for Matt Campbell is quite simple for Penn State optimists: "He had Iowa State competitive...just think about what he could with OUR resources and money!" Of course, it doesn't always work that way. My concerns with Campbell if I were being pessimistic about the hire: Campbell's offenses have never been described as particularly high-octane and that's something their fans allegedly were itching for when they got rid of Franklin, his defensive scheme has been, in my opinion, a bit outdated, I don't see any evidence that he elevates the program from where Franklin had it and if that's the case, then firing Franklin when they did and losing the entire 2026 recruiting class (minus two guys) ends up being ill-advised. 

Kraft got very lucky to end up with a very solid coach after a truly bungled search. Matt Campbell is really likable but I'll have no problem rooting against him now that he's a Nittany Lion!

If I were a Florida Gator fan, I would LOVE the hire of Buster Faulkner for offensive coordinator. They should be very excited about that. 

@tammany ....  "PSU did get Franklin’s buyout down to $9M with the offset.

But yea, this doesn’t seem to be going well. Which is nice."

Carl Spackler, you couldn't have said it better.  You'll like the pond.   

It almost feels like PSU was swayed by Josh Pate because he was very emphatic in a podcast shortly after the sitake news that they needed to hire Campbell and he has been pushing his name for multiple openings. Only time will tell if it was the right hire. MSU thought they hit a home run with Jonathan Smith. 

I dont know if Campbell is any upgrade. Franklin had a great record. Campbell record is decent.

But for the most ###### up coaching search in big program history... Kraft salvaging this much is huge.

Lucky man. Fell on his ass and a pretty lady walking by, instead of laughing her head off, helped him up and asked if he wanted to go out for drinks.

,

Iowa state already has Campbells replacement. 😳 that was fast! 

@d-b-cooper 

Yep, Washington State coach Rogers. He was there almost an entire year, so cant blame him for getting burned out.

Campbell must have done the right thing and let Iowa State know early as he could that he was leaving.

I think Campbell is a pretty good coach, but let's be honest...If I'm a PSU fan this is an underwhelming hire to say the least. His winning percentage at Iowa State was .567 and that gets him hired at PSU while Franklin was .698 and that was good enough to be shit canned? In his 10 years at Iowa State they have competed for a conference title twice in a progressively watered down Big 12 with one of those coming in the Covid year, playing in 2 conference championship games and lost both.

I get the disparity in both prestige and resources between Iowa State and Penn State may translate into a Franklin-esque winning percentage at PSU for Campbell but damn. I think the best case realistic scenario is they fired Franklin to hire another Franklin.

I think PSU prematurely evacuated Franklin because the powers-that-be thought they could get Cig. Rumor has it they did not.

Posted by: @all4you

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I think Campbell is a pretty good coach, but let's be honest...If I'm a PSU fan this is an underwhelming hire to say the least. His winning percentage at Iowa State was .567 and that gets him hired at PSU while Franklin was .698 and that was good enough to be shit canned? In his 10 years at Iowa State they have competed for a conference title twice in a progressively watered down Big 12 with one of those coming in the Covid year, playing in 2 conference championship games and lost both.

I get the disparity in both prestige and resources between Iowa State and Penn State may translate into a Franklin-esque winning percentage at PSU for Campbell but damn. I think the best case realistic scenario is they fired Franklin to hire another Franklin.

The argument for Campbell is he's having success while having minimal resources money wise.   Iowa State is broke.  They were doing renovations on their basketball arena but had to stop because they don't have the money.  That's not a good thing.

With PSU, he'll have financial backing.  If he has a higher starting point in terms of player, I think he'll do really well there.  He's a really good football coach.