Inside the Collapse at Penn State - and What Matt Campbell Must Rebuild
Penn State’s 2025 season was supposed to be the payoff - the culmination of years of recruiting, development, and belief in a shared vision. Instead, it became a cautionary tale about what happens when culture erodes and leadership fractures. The Nittany Lions didn’t just fall short of expectations - they unraveled, and in the process, lost their head coach and their identity.
Safety King Mack, who returned to Penn State after a stint at Alabama, put it bluntly:
“Not having all 100 people locked in and focused on one thing at one time, it’s hard to be successful.”
That quote cuts to the heart of what went wrong. The issue wasn’t talent - Penn State had plenty of that.
The problem was unity. The locker room was splintered, trust was fading, and the culture that once held everything together had cracked.
What was supposed to be a championship run turned into a season defined by dysfunction.
A Tale of Two Cultures
Mack’s return to State College was fueled by hope. He’d seen what a championship culture looked like firsthand at Alabama, where accountability and alignment weren’t just buzzwords - they were the standard. Under Nick Saban and later Kalen DeBoer, the Crimson Tide operated with a clarity of purpose that left no room for complacency.
That contrast made what he found at Penn State all the more jarring.
“When people on your ship aren’t all on one mission,” Mack said, “the fact that [Matt Campbell] has seen that, he said it’s his job to fix that.”
It’s a job that starts with culture. Because talent can win you games, but culture is what wins you championships - and sustains success when adversity hits. The great programs don’t just bounce back from a tough loss; they never lose sight of who they are in the first place.
Cracks in the Foundation
For much of James Franklin’s tenure, Penn State had that identity. The program recruited at a high level, developed players, and sold a vision of competing for national titles. But somewhere along the way, that vision blurred.
The warning signs came early in the 2025 season. The Nittany Lions looked tight and hesitant, playing not to lose rather than playing with confidence.
When quarterback Drew Allar threw a game-ending interception against Oregon, the reaction on the sideline was telling - the energy drained instantly. That moment didn’t just cost them a game; it exposed something deeper.
The spiral continued in Pasadena, where a winless UCLA team stunned the seventh-ranked Nittany Lions in the Rose Bowl. It was a gut punch - and a wake-up call.
“I feel like today there was a lack of focus,” linebacker Amare Campbell said after the loss. “It’s tough.
We played our heart out. It was some of the worst ball we’ve played, and we still almost won.
It has to be better.”
Defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton didn’t sugarcoat it either:
“It’s embarrassing.
It’s bad. We all got to look in the mirror.
There’s not one person. It’s not one coach, not one player.
It’s literally everybody.”
That kind of accountability is rare - and revealing. Because when a team starts pointing fingers inward instead of outward, it usually means the problems go beyond X’s and O’s.
The Breaking Point
The season hit rock bottom with a one-point loss to Northwestern - a game that symbolized just how far the program had slipped. Afterward, Dennis-Sutton was asked what Franklin told the team. His answer wasn’t encouraging.
“Just that he loves us. He’ll do anything for us. And now it’s going to be a whole another level of problems.”
That “next level” never came - at least not in a good way. The problems only deepened. Trust within the program continued to erode, and eventually, athletic director Pat Kraft made the call to move on from Franklin.
When Terry Smith stepped in as interim head coach, his definition of success said a lot:
“Success is the team pulling a rope in the same direction.”
Simple. But in that moment, even that felt out of reach.
A Program in Disarray
When culture slips, it shows up in more than just the win-loss column. It shows up in behavior.
In lack of accountability. In moments that make you question whether the team is still aligned.
One of the clearest signs came when audio from a private meeting between Kraft and player leadership was leaked to the public. It was a breach of trust that spoke volumes about the internal fractures.
“That shows the lack of leadership and accountability [on the team],” Mack said. “Anything could have been said in that meeting that could have jeopardized anyone’s future or career. I feel like that’s part of the selfishness and the lack of leadership around the team that we have to fix.”
Enter Matt Campbell
Fixing this isn’t just about new schemes or better execution. It’s about rebuilding a foundation. And that’s the task in front of new head coach Matt Campbell.
“He’s very honest, he’s straightforward,” Mack said of Campbell. “He sees where we went wrong this year, and his job is to get it fixed as soon as possible… Coach Matt Campbell plans on changing the culture.”
Campbell isn’t one for slogans or window dressing. He’s made it clear - this rebuild starts with leadership.
“Culture and excellence are always built on leadership,” Campbell said at his introductory press conference. “We talk so much in our program that everything rises and falls with great leadership.”
That’s the challenge now. To take a fractured program and turn it into something unified again. To close the gap between what the players remember winning felt like - and what it takes to actually win again.
The Road Ahead
The Franklin era didn’t collapse overnight. It was a slow unraveling - one missed cue, one fractured relationship, one moment of lost focus at a time. And while the talent remains, the culture must be rebuilt from the ground up.
For Penn State to return to the national stage, it won’t be enough to just reload. They’ll need to realign - around standards, around leadership, around a shared mission.
Because dream seasons don’t happen by accident. They’re built on purpose, forged by unity, and led by those willing to hold everyone - including themselves - accountable every single day.
That’s the blueprint Campbell is now tasked with drawing. And if he gets it right, the 2025 collapse may one day be remembered not as the end of something - but as the beginning of something better.