Analyzing Iowa State staffers who could join Matt Campbell at Penn State, including a Harrisburg native

After a search that took more than 50 days, Penn State has finally landed on Iowa State’s Matt Campbell as the 17th full-time head coach in program history.

Campbell, a three-time Big 12 Coach of the Year honoree and the winningest coach in Cyclone history, will have a lengthy to-do list as he gets settled in Happy Valley.

Chiefly among them? He’ll need to fill out his coaching staff for the 2026 Nittany Lions.

There are candidates to be retained from the 2025 staff under James Franklin, and many of the former staffers may choose to follow Franklin to his new post at Virginia Tech.

Most notably, reports have already surfaced that Campbell will retain former interim head coach Terry Smith with a four-year deal. Check one major priority off his to-do list.

But Campbell has been at Iowa State since 2016. He was firmly entrenched in Ames — just like many of his staff members.

Here, we’ll dive into some of the top names to monitor from his pool of Iowa State assistants.

Defensive coordinator Jon Heacock

No coach on Campbell’s 2025 staff at Iowa State has a stronger case to follow him to Happy Valley than the Cyclones’ longtime defensive play caller.

And it sounds like that’s likely to happen, according to On3’s Pete Nakos.

Heacock has been with Campbell for the entirety of the latter’s Iowa State tenure and was with Campbell at Toledo for two years.

With 40-plus years as a college coach, Heacock has quite a resume. He mostly coached defensive backs before stints as the DC at various stops. The 65-year-old was also the head coach at Youngstown State for nine seasons and has Big Ten experience at Purdue, Indiana and Michigan.

Heacock’s scheme relies heavily on corners and safeties in a base 3-3-5 look. The results also speak for themselves at ISU, where he’s helped Campbell turn a school with few resources into a consistent winner.

After a rough first season in 2016, Iowa State finished no worse than 50th in scoring defense, including five top-30 finishes. His units have also finished 55th or better in total yardage allowed each year since 2017 with a pair of top-10 finishes.

For an argument against Heacock, the Iowa State defenses have not been particularly efficient at turning the ball over or sacking the quarterback. The Cyclones have finished no better than 111th in sacks per game since 2022.

Offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser

Mouser is in a similar boat to Heacock, having worked under Campbell as a graduate assistant in 2015 before following to Ames.

However, he hasn’t been in place as the offensive playcaller for long. 2025 was just his second season in the position. Mouser has also worked in scouting, quality control and as the tight ends coach.

Campbell’s trust in Mouser is additionally clear from his role as the assistant head coach in 2023.

Iowa State’s offense has ranked in the middle of the pack nationally over the last two years. The Cyclones were 41st in scoring, 39th in yardage and 18th in plays of 20-plus yards in 2024. In 2025, they took a slight step back to 60th in scoring, 63rd in yardage and 63rd in explosive plays.

Mouser’s best work may have come with junior tight end Benjamin Brahmer, who earned Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors in Mauser’s final year as the position coach. Brahmer had another nice season in 2025 with 37 catches for 446 yards and six touchdowns.

Defensive line coach Eli Rasheed

Campbell may be interested in keeping Penn State defensive line coach Deion Barnes in town, considering Barnes’ status as a Lions letterman and a strong recruiter in Philadelphia.

But Rasheed’s ties with Campbell date back to Toledo.

Rasheed started with the Rockets in 2009, the same year Campbell began as the offensive line coach there. Campbell kept Rasheed around throughout his tenure as head coach and then promptly brought him to Ames in 2016.

A former Indiana defensive lineman, Rasheed has helped Heacock’s successful units over the years. The sack numbers, though poor in the past four years, were much better from 2017-2021. Iowa State finished between 39th and 65th in each of those years, and in that time, the Cyclones were top-25 in rushing defense four times.

Rasheed helped develop All-American and first-round NFL Draft pick Will McDonald IV and first-team All-Big 12 honoree Enyi Uwazurike in 2021, as the team tied a program record with 33 sacks.

Among the other noteworthy Rasheed pupils was JaQuan Jones, who earned first-team All-American status in 2020.

Wide receivers coach Noah Pauley

It’s no secret Penn State has lacked production from wide receivers over the past few years. Since joining Iowa State in 2023, that’s been far from the case.

Two of Pauley’s mentees — Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel — turned into second- and third-round picks, respectively, of the Houston Texans in this year’s NFL Draft. They became the first Cyclones duo to record 1,000 receiving yards each in a single season.

Pauley coached wideouts at North Dakota State before ISU, where he helped produce current Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson.

Offensive line coach Ryan Clanton

Clanton only joined Iowa State in 2023, but his impact has been massive. He added the title of run game coordinator to his position in 2024 thanks to stark offensive improvement.

The Cyclones’ rushing attack has improved from 103rd to 70th and finally to 51st nationally over the past three seasons. Iowa State also saw tackle Jalen Travis drafted in the fourth round this year, the first offensive lineman picked from the school since 2013.

Clanton was at Northern Iowa before joining the Cyclones, where he had Trevor Penning drafted in the first round in 2022 and Spencer Brown in the third round in 2021.

Clanton worked his way up from the junior college ranks as a player. He later won a national title with Oregon and served as a Ducks captain.

Linebackers coach Colby Kratch

Kratch has served on Campbell’s staffs since they were together at Toledo in 2013 and 2014, which followed his playing career under Campbell with the Rockets.

Formerly a graduate assistant and an assistant director of player personnel, Kratch split his time in Ames with brief stints at Michigan State and North Texas.

He has a long-standing knowledge of Heacock’s defense and could make sense in a transition to “Linebacker U”.

However, former Penn State star Dan Connor has been well-regarded for the work he’s done over the past two seasons as a position coach, thus complicating the future of the job.

Hank Poteat was a Harrisburg star before his successful coaching career.Harrisburg Patriot-News

Cornerbacks coach Hank Poteat

Penn State retaining Smith makes this a bit complicated. Smith previously served as cornerbacks coach and turned a historically poor Penn State position group into a strength.

But Poteat has an interesting tie as a former Harrisburg High School and Pitt star who was born in Philadelphia.

He has coached Cyclones cornerbacks since 2023. In that time, Iowa State split a pair of mediocre passing defense performances with a No. 1 finish nationally in 2024. His group has also helped Iowa State to 10th-, 22nd- and 44th-place finishes in interceptions.

Chief of Staff Greg Brabenec

This one may go unnoticed by the average fan, but Brabenec has been a key cog on Campbell’s staff since 2014.

After serving as a graduate assistant in 2012 and 2013, Brabenec became the Rockets’ director of operations, a role he reprised at Iowa State. He held that title before a change to assistant athletic director/chief of staff in 2021.

According to his Cyclones bio, Brabenec “serves as the direct line of communication to the athletics administration and is in charge of all staff processes, including schedule, budget, team travel and daily schedules. He is also the main contact for all activities inside the Bergstrom Football Complex.”

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