***2025-26 CFB Coaching Carousel***

Get what you are saying, but Solich and Pelini were .700 coaches.
Nebraska is always going to be a hard job despite their history. Its a state where almost nobody lives. Surrounded by the same. Keep in mind that Pelini got fired because he went to war with the fanbase and boosters and not because he wasn't winning enough. I'm just saying that PSU will probably always bring in enough talent to go.500. Will that be enough to keep your job there? No. But PSU isn't going to turn into a 3-4 win program.
 
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Campbell is a significantly better coach than Riley. They'd be doing better with him than they have recently.
I don't know that Campbell's program culture works at USC. Frankly I don't know it works at any place that has high end talent everywhere. He leans heavily on upperclassmen to lead the program and that doesn't work when you have 4 and 5 star underclassmen who are just temporarily stopping before they leave for the NFL. It doesn't appear Campbell is interested in the NIL mess that comes with the bigger jobs either.
 
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I don't know that Campbell's program culture works at USC. Frankly I don't know it works at any place that has high end talent everywhere. He leans heavily on upperclassmen to lead the program and that doesn't work when you have 4 and 5 star underclassmen who are just temporarily stopping before they leave for the NFL. It doesn't appear Campbell is interested in the NIL mess that comes with the bigger jobs either.
Valid points. I do think some of his culture approach would have a better chance of fitting over at PSU than it would a place like a USC or a Texas. At some point for Campbell, it has to come down to his career goals. There's not many paths for ISU to be competing for national titles someday -- that's possible at a PSU or similar.

Ultimately, I'm sure that's what tends to keep him happy with ISU. He gets full CEO, full owner, full creative control. That's hard to find in most places, so long as his long term goals are tempered to our ceiling.
 
I don't know that Campbell's program culture works at USC. Frankly I don't know it works at any place that has high end talent everywhere. He leans heavily on upperclassmen to lead the program and that doesn't work when you have 4 and 5 star underclassmen who are just temporarily stopping before they leave for the NFL. It doesn't appear Campbell is interested in the NIL mess that comes with the bigger jobs either.
I think that type of philosophy does work at those places if you have the resume to do it. Thats not a knock on Campbell either. You better wear championship rings if you want those ego's and personalities to buy in.
 
You know who doesnt fit in where they're at?
Brian Kelly.
I was shocked when he left ND. So I shouldn't be shocked if he'd reach out to PS.
I don’t think anyone will want Kelly.

Hope he’s happy in Louisiana.
 
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You know who doesnt fit in where they're at?
Brian Kelly.
I was shocked when he left ND. So I shouldn't be shocked if he'd reach out to PS.
He is a really good coach with a personality problem. You might be on to something!
 
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I think that type of philosophy does work at those places if you have the resume to do it. Thats not a knock on Campbell either. You better wear championship rings if you want those ego's and personalities to buy in.
More importantly you can’t lose to G5 schools. I love Campbell as a coach and think he goes about things the right way but he has a bunch of very bad losses on the resume that high level programs like PSU wouldn’t consider
 
You see it in pro sports all the time. I dont think college football will end up being much different.
Sure but again it hasn’t happened yet in the NIL era which is the whole point. It’s super easy to say something will happen in the future, you have no burden of proof. But we are in the Wild West of NIL and it hasn’t happened yet that I am aware or or with any regularity
 
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Hours before Franklin got fired, Penn State had to defend itself from a controversy centering on its $300 million shoe deal.
 
I don't know that Campbell's program culture works at USC. Frankly I don't know it works at any place that has high end talent everywhere. He leans heavily on upperclassmen to lead the program and that doesn't work when you have 4 and 5 star underclassmen who are just temporarily stopping before they leave for the NFL. It doesn't appear Campbell is interested in the NIL mess that comes with the bigger jobs either.

This is a fascinating point, and maybe the key one. IMHO Rhule is much better in that regard, very player-focused, big on branding, willing to put himself out there as a 24/7 representative of the university. Campbell is old school in his demeanor and leadership style. He obviously cares for his players but seems to think it’s more important that he show it to them rather than that he tell everybody about it. And yes, he would have to adopt a more transactional mindset, you wouldn’t really be a developmental program. Of course they’re far from the only two guys being considered, that’s just where my mind went

Valid points. I do think some of his culture approach would have a better chance of fitting over at PSU than it would a place like a USC or a Texas. At some point for Campbell, it has to come down to his career goals. There's not many paths for ISU to be competing for national titles someday -- that's possible at a PSU or similar.

Ultimately, I'm sure that's what tends to keep him happy with ISU. He gets full CEO, full owner, full creative control. That's hard to find in most places, so long as his long term goals are tempered to our ceiling.

I agree that he could work at Penn State as opposed to a lot of other B1G or SEC schools. My mind does go back to CW saying explicitly before the season or right after it started that Campbell sees a conference championship as really the only unfinished business of this stage of his career. Could he drop that in an instant for the cash? Sure. But for a guy who’s so big on “culture,” “climbing the mountaintop,” who’s so driven, I think that’s notable
 
I'm not sure PSU ever gets in that situation unless they end up on probation. There is a ton of HS football talent in that state. I can't imagine a situation where they are worse than .500 consistently.
There definitely is a lot of talent, but interestingly Penn State only has 4 starters from PA (3 OL and 1 DE).

Paterno had a 5 year stretch starting in the late 90s where he was under .500 4 times. There was chatter he was cooked, but he rebounded. Of course those were different times and Paterno is arguably a singular figure in college football.

It’ll be interesting to see how the current configuration of the sport affects the stability of the top-tier programs over coaching changes.
 

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