Why Matt Campbell, Kyle Whittingham are struggling in Big 12-to-Big Ten transitions

Why Matt Campbell, Kyle Whittingham are struggling in Big 12-to-Big Ten transitions originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The college football coaching carousel this offseason featured two blue-blood jobs opening in Michigan and Penn State. To replace the fired Sherrone Moore, Michigan hired longtime Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham.

When Penn State moved on from James Franklin, it replaced him with longtime Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell. Through the midway point of the season, both schools look like they might have buyer's remorse.

Michigan is 3-2 on the season, with back-to-back conference losses to Iowa and Minnesota. Penn State is 3-3 having lost three straight Big Ten losses to Wisconsin, Northwestern and USC. Let's take a look back at how both were hired to both schools.

MORE:What 24-team expanded College Football Playoff would look like now and in 2025

Why did Penn State hire Matt Campbell?

Penn State was one of the first major head coaching jobs to open last cycle. The Nittany Lions fired longtime head coach James Franklin after PSU suffered three straight losses to Oregon, UCLA and Northwestern.

Although Penn State seemingly got a head start on the coaching search, the job remained open through the month of November. On Dec. 1, ESPN reported that BYU head coach Kelani Sitake had become the focus of Penn State's coaching search.

Sitake's team was preparing to take on Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship game at the time. Sitake had been at BYU since 2016, and had compiled four double-digit win seasons in 2020, 2021, 2024 and went 12-2 last season.

Amidst the rumors, Crumble Cookies CEO and prominent BYU booster Jason McCowan, as well as other school donors worked publicly and behind the scenes to keep Sitake in Provo.

Some people are not replaceable. Sounds like it is time for me to get off the sidelines and get to work.

— Jason McGowan (@jasonmcgowan) December 1, 2025

Sitake ended up signing a new contract extension to remain at BYU. Instead, PSU turned its attention to longtime Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell.

MORE:Against the spread picks for Indiana-Ohio State, BYU-Notre Dame and more

Matt Campbell record in Big 12

Campbell compiled a 50-40 record in the Big 12. He is one of a few coaches to reach 50 Big 12 wins, including Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, Kansas State's Bill Snyder, Oklahoma State Mike Gundy and Texas' Mack Brown.

He led the Cyclones to a Big 12 regular-season title in 2020 and 2021, and led Iowa State to its second conference championship game in 2024. Overall, he was 72-55 at Iowa State, and was a three-time Big 12 coach of the year.

MORE:Get ready, Week 7 on the college football calendar is one to savor

Why did Michigan hire Kyle Whittingham?

Similar to Penn State, Michigan's hire of Kyle Whittingham was

relatively late in the carousel. The Wolverines fired third-year head coach Sherrone Moore after a school investigation revealed he had an inappropriate relationship with a staffer.

The same day of his firing, he was later arrested by police after confronting the women he was in a relationship with. Moore was charged with home invasion in the third degree and stalking. He later was sentenced to 18 month probation.

Whittingham was hired a few weeks after Moore's firing. He had spent 22 seasons at Utah, where he became the winningest all-time head coach there with a 177-88 overall record.

It was announced that he would step down from Utah earlier in December. At 66 years old, there were rumors that Whittingham would retire from coaching before the Michigan job opened.

Kyle Whittingham record in Pac-12

Dating back to Utah's days in the Mountain West in 2008, the Utes finished 102-68 in conference play. He led the Utes to back-to-back Pac 12 titles in 2021 and 2022, and won several Pac-12 divisional titles.

MORE:College Football Playoff expansion, explained