Penn State's now head coach Matt Campbell nearly shook the entire football landscape in 2021, but his cold feet prevailed.
It was the year 2021, and the Iowa State Cyclones were fresh off a pedestrian 7-6 year that finished with a loss in the Cheez-It Bowl. It was a disappointing season for the Cyclones, but the outlook was bright for Matt Campbell.
According to reports, Campbell had actually come to an agreement with the Detroit Lions to become their next head coach. Even after two fine seasons, he had his opportunity to go to the NFL ranks.
It was signed, sealed and delivered, until it wasn't.
Campbell got cold feet and backed out of the agreement. The Lions pivoted to their backup Campbell, Dan, that is, and the rest is history. Both sides probably feel like the best outcome happened, and for Matt Campbell, he got to stay in Ames, Iowa, a place that he never wanted to leave.
Even though Campbell has yet to coach one game in Happy Valley, it's still very hard to imagine him in the NFL ranks. He was meant to be a college football coach, and just watching him in the peripheral, he is everything that you want in a college football coach.
So far on his resume, he has turned around two programs. The first was the Toledo Rockets, whom he turned who in three full years, never had a year less than seven wins. Then he went to Iowa State, and that program became one that was consistently competing in the Big 12. They never could get over the hump, but that is hardly an indictment of the coach.
Now, as he takes over the Penn State program, he has the chance to take over his first blue-blood program. There is certainly a glass ceiling to some of the mid-tier programs that doesn't exist at the top level.
In his first five months at the helm of the program, he has changed the culture from the inside out. He has meshed his Iowa State transfers into the Penn State roster, he has the groundswell under him to become a recruiting monster, and now the last thing that he has to do on his list is win.
If he starts winning football games it will not be long until Penn State is legitimately in the conversation with the Ohio States of the world.
All of it is thanks to Campbell getting cold feet one day in 2021 and staying in college and one day becoming the coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions.
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