Inside the Penn State college football coaching search - ESPN

EQUAL PARTS HAPPY and relieved, Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft sat at the interview table inside the media room at Beaver Stadium with new coach Matt Campbell to his right.

After 58 days, Penn State had completed its coaching search with a selection who was both exciting and sensible, someone who seemingly could have been sitting with Kraft a lot sooner.

Campbell, only 46 years old, had become Iowa State's all-time coaching wins leader and elevated the ISU program to historic consistency. Plus, he needed no introduction to Penn State and its tradition, having spent much of his childhood following Nittany Lions football while visiting his grandparents in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania.

Campbell's hiring drew instant praise. But everyone wondered the same thing: What took so long?

«We didn't really have a timeline, I mean that,» Kraft said. «We were focused on finding the right person, and at all costs.»

He paused.

«There probably will be a Netflix documentary at some point.»

Penn State's was the first top-tier coaching job to open during a cycle that included 15 Power 4 hirings, but, until the Sherrone Moore scandal broke at Michigan, it was the very last to be filled. The search lasted so long that James Franklin, the coach Penn State abruptly fired after 12-plus seasons and 104 wins, found his next job at Virginia Tech three full weeks before Campbell was introduced in State College.

The 58-day saga included tens of millions in contract extension money for potential external candidates, a recruiting class that in large part followed Franklin to Blacksburg, the leaking of a secret audio recording of Kraft airing grievances, and the CEO of Crumbl cookies taking an interest.

ESPN spoke with sources in and around the