There may not be a coach on the entire staff, aside from Matt Campbell, of course, that Penn State fans were more excited about than wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator Noah Pauley. Then, suddenly, on Thursday morning, he was gone, heading for the NFL.
On Thursday, Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports reported that the Green Bay Packers are hiring Pauley as their wide receivers coach, so rather than sticking with Campbell through the move from Iowa State to Penn State, the young up-and-coming coach is making the jump to the league, as many of his receivers have.
The #Packers are hiring Penn State’s Noah Pauley as wide receivers coach, sources tell @CBSSports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) February 5, 2026
Rising star who interviewed for the 49ers OC job last year. Has developed future top three round draft picks like Jayden Higgins, Jaylin Noel and current Packer Christian Watson. pic.twitter.com/tHdMLIwZD6
WR coach Noah Pauley leaving Penn State for the Green Bay Packers
At Iowa State, Pauley was responsible for the development of Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, two three-star recruits who became Day 2 picks of the Houston Texans in the 2025 NFL Draft. Prior to his time in Ames, Pauley coached wide receivers at North Dakota State and was integral in the growth of Christian Watson, who became a second-round selection of the Packers in the 2022 draft.
Despite dealing with injuries through the early part of his career, Watson is the clear WR1 in Green Bay and is expected to sign a long-term contract extension to stay in Green Bay this offseason. Now, he’s reunited with his former coach.
Pauley’s departure leaves huge void in Happy Valley
The end of the James Franklin era was marred by struggles at the wide receiver position. Former wide receiver coach Marques Hagans failed to develop the position at a high level, and most notably, the Nittany Lions didn’t have a single wide receiver make a catch in the College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Notre Dame at the Orange Bowl.
Those issues prompted an offseason overhaul heading into what became Franklin’s final year, adding three veteran wide receivers from the Transfer Portal, but even that didn’t fix the problem. Penn State fans hoped that the arrival of Pauley would finally be the solution.
Arriving with Pauley in Happy Valley were also his top two wide receivers from Iowa State, Chase Sowell and Brett Eskildsen. Both will still be on the roster after his departure, which should be an upgrade in itself, but developing the next Eskildsen, Watson, Higgins, or Noel just became much more difficult.
At Iowa State, Campbell’s staff had to turn three-stars into NFL players to compete for Big 12 titles. At Penn State, they’ll have access to a higher caliber of high school recruit. If Campbell can land that top-tier talent, it could offset any brain-drain from his staff with Pauley’s departure, but his first crack at recruiting a five-star talent went belly up when in-state five-star running back Kemon Spell chose Georgia over the Nittany Lions.