After a tumultuous coaching search, Penn State has reportedly found a coach to replace James Franklin.
The Nittany Lions, according to multiple reports, are hiring Matt Campbell to be their next head coach. Campbell is 72-55 as the head coach at Iowa State over the last 10 years. Before that, he went 35-15 in five years at Toledo.
Could we see another Toledo head coach go to Iowa State? Here are five Group of Five coaches who could be candidates for the Cyclones:
Toledo Head Coach Jason Candle
Candle is a current G5 head coach who’s been successful and could be a good fit for Iowa State – if he doesn’t go to Penn State with Campbell.
Candle has spent the majority of his collegiate coaching career at Toledo. First, he started coaching in 2002 at his alma mater, Division III Mount Union, where he was an all-conference wide receiver and was a vital player for two national championship teams.
He then helped Mount Union win four more national titles as a coach. He coached wideouts there from 2002-06 and was the team’s offensive coordinator from 2007-08.
That led to him coaching slot receivers and tight ends at Toledo, where he has mentored several eventual NFL players, in 2009. He coached Toledo’s wide receivers from 2010-13 while also being the Rockets’ OC from 2012-13 under Campbell.
Candle was Toledo’s associate head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach from 2014-15 before being promoted to head coach.
Candle is 81-44 as the head coach at Toledo, which has won two MAC Championships with him at the helm.
San Diego State Head Coach Sean Lewis
Lewis may be a West Coast coach right now, but he’s now had success at multiple G5 schools, has experience in the Midwest, and his name has come up when it comes to Power Four openings this year.
Lewis went 3-9 in his first year at San Diego State and then turned around and went 9-3 this season. The Aztecs were tied for first in the Mountain West standings but aren’t playing in the conference title game because of tiebreakers settled by computer rankings.
Lewis was a co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Colorado in 2023. Before that, he was the youngest head coach in the FBS at Kent State. From 2018-22, he went 24-31 with a 19-17 mark against MAC teams. Not including his first season when he was 2-10, he was 22-21 overall with a 22-9 record against teams outside of the Power Four.
In 2019, Lewis led Kent State to a 7-5 record in the regular season before the Golden Flashes won the Frisco Bowl, their first ever bowl victory.
Lewis was also a co-offensive coordinator at Syracuse (2016-17) as well as at Bowling Green (2015). He coached wide receivers at Bowling Green in 2014 and at Eastern Illinois from 2012-13 after being a general assistant at Akron in 2011. He also coached tight ends at Nebraska-Omaha in 2010.
Western Michigan Head Coach Lance Taylor
I could see Taylor’s name start to come up with some head coaching searches in the near future. The work he’s done at Western Michigan shouldn’t be ignored.
After going 4-8 in his first year with the Broncos, Taylor led them to a 6-6 regular season record and a bowl game appearance. This year, WMU went 8-4 overall during the regular season and was on top of the MAC standings with a 7-1 league record, earning the Broncos a spot in the conference title game.
Taylor has spent a good amount of time at the pro level, but he also has coached at some premier collegiate programs as well.
He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Alabama, where he played, from 2007-08. He then coached wide receivers at App State before going to the NFL.
He was an intern for the New York Jets in 2010 before becoming an offensive quality control coach for them in 2011 and then was also the team’s assistant tight ends coach in 2012. He then went to the Carolina Panthers as an assistant wide receivers coach in 2013.
He coached running backs at Stanford, where he worked with Heisman finalists Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love, from 2014-16. He then returned to the Panthers as a wide receivers coach, mentoring standout players like DJ Moore, from 2017-18.
He returned to the collegiate level to become a running backs coach and run game coordinator for Notre Dame from 2019-21. He was Louisville’s offensive coordinator in 2022 before taking over at Western Michigan.
Western Kentucky Head Coach Tyson Helton
Helton is another established head coach who has experience in the region and therefore could be a name to watch. The Hilltoppers have made a bowl game every year since he arrived in 2019 and are often among the best teams in Conference USA.
Helton’s coaching background primarily involves offense. He began his coaching career at Hawaii as a graduate assistant in 2000 and worked with special teams the following three years.
He then coached tight ends and special teams at Memphis from 2004-06. The next five seasons, he coached quarterbacks at UAB and then focused on running backs there in 2012.
In 2013, he was a tight ends and special teams coach at Cincinnati. He coached at WKU for the first time from 2014-15 as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
He was also a QBs coach and a passing game coordinator at USC from 2016-17. He then became the offensive coordinator and a quarterbacks coach at Tennessee for one year before going back to WKU to be a head coach.
