What to know about Matt Campbell’s first Penn State football coaching staff
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Campbell assembled a Penn State staff around longtime Iowa State aides.
- Defense features D’Anton Lynn as coordinator and multiple West Coast hires.
- Special teams and key position coaches include holdovers and Campbell loyalists.
Penn State brought in Matt Campbell to lead its football program in early December, and he’s spent the time since filling out his first coaching staff with the Nittany Lions.
There are several new additions to the staff, along with a couple holdovers from James Franklin’s final staff with the Nittany Lions. Here are the primary assistants on Campbell’s staff at Penn State to date.
Offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Taylor Mouser
Mouser has spent a decade — his entire coaching career — with Campbell, first as a graduate assistant at Iowa State then Toledo before moving up the ranks in off-field roles and as an offensive assistant. He became the Iowa State offensive coordinator in 2024 and led the unit for two seasons before following Campbell to Penn State.
Defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn
Lynn played for Penn State from 2008-2011 as a defensive back before moving on to the NFL, playing for two more years before taking a coaching internship position in 2014 with the New York Jets. He moved up through the ranks before becoming the defensive coordinator at UCLA in 2023. He was in that job for one year before USC hired him in the same role, which he held for two seasons
Special teams coordinator Justin Lustig
Lustig is one of the holdovers from the previous staff. He is a Pennsylvania native and will be entering his third season for the Nittany Lions after stints as the special teams coordinator at Louisiana Lafayette, Ball State, Syracuse and Vanderbilt, to go with one year as the head coach at Edinboro. He played college football at Bucknell, where he was a defensive back.
Quarterbacks coach Jake Waters
Waters joined Campbell in 2021 as a quality control coach, with a promotion to quarterbacks coach in 2024, which is the title he’s held the last two years. He does have a loose connection to the Nittany Lions, after he spurned them as a junior college quarterback to go to Kansas State.
Running backs coach Savon Huggins
Huggins has an extensive background in the northeast. He was a high school coach at Somerville High School in New Jersey from 2016-2018 and at St. Peter’s Prep in New Jersey in 2019, then spent a year at Buffalo as a wide receivers assistant before going to UMass for his first running backs coach job. He spent part of 2021 as a recruiting advisor at Boston College before becoming the program’s running backs coach in 2022, which he held until Penn State hired him.
Wide receivers coach Noah Pauley
Pauley was most recently at Iowa State, where he began coaching in 2023. He added the title of passing game coordinator in 2024 with the Cyclones. Prior to his time with Iowa State, Pauley spent 2019-2022 with North Dakota State, where he coached current Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson. Pauley began his coaching career at Minnesota-Duluth as a student assistant in 2011.
Offensive line coach Ryan Clanton
Clanton joined Campbell in 2023 as his offensive line coach after being at Northern Iowa as the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. He held both roles in 2022 and was just the OL coach from 2018-2021. Prior to that, he was the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Ventura College from 2014-2017. He began his career at Bakersfield Christian High School in 2013 as an offensive line/defensive line coach.
Defensive run game coordinator/defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe
Malloe has spent the majority of his career on the West Coast after playing in college at Washington. His first Power Four job was at Washington, where he was the defensive line coach from 2016-2019 before adding the co-defensive coordinator title in 2020. He then shifted from the defensive line to outside linebackers in 2021 before departing to become UCLA’s special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach in 2022. He then moved to the defensive line in 2023 before taking over as defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach in 2024.
Edge rushers coach Christian Smith
Smith began his career as a strength and conditioning intern at Ohio State in 2013 before joining Campbell at Toledo in 2014 as a graduate assistant. He stayed there for two years in the same role before heading to Iowa State with Campbell. He earned his first full-time position coach job in 2016 as South Dakota State’s defensive line coach where he stayed through 2022 before joining Northwestern as its defensive line coach. He was with the Wildcats in the same role through 2025 when Penn State hired him.
Linebackers coach Tyson Veidt
Veidt spent the last two seasons as Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator. But, prior to that, he spent plenty of time on Campbell’s staffs at Toledo and Iowa State. He was Campbell’s linebackers coach from 2014-2015 at Toledo and then was the assistant head coach and linebackers coach at Iowa State from 2016-2023 before taking the job with the Bearcats.
Associate head coach/cornerbacks coach Terry Smith
The Penn State alum, who played from 1987-1991, took over as the interim head coach after Franklin was fired Oct. 12. He’s been with the Nittany Lions since 2014 as the cornerbacks coach, with additional roles as assistant head coach and associate head coach during that time. He began his career as a high school coach, including an 11-year stint as Gateway High School’s head coach from 2002-2012. His only other college job was as Temple’s wide receivers coach in 2013.
Defensive pass game coordinator/safeties coach Deon Broomfield
Broomfield joined Iowa State in 2021 as Campbell’s safeties coach after being a defensive assistant with the Houston Texans in 2020. He made that leap to the NFL after three years at Indiana State as the cornerbacks coach, with one year stops at Carthage College and Western Illinois. He coached safeties at Carthage, and corners at WIU.
