Matt Campbell didn’t just bring much of his roster over from Ames when he became the head coach of Penn State this offseason; he brought much of his coaching staff along for the ride, too. That included offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser, who began his coaching career as a GA under Campbell at Toledo and worked his way up to the play-calling role over his 10 years at Iowa State, taking over as OC in 2024.
For those Penn State fans who didn’t watch much Cyclones football over the past few years or who didn’t dig back into Rocco Becht’s film after the Nittany Lions landed the former Iowa State QB, Mouser has provided some insights into what his offense will look like when Penn State takes the field at Beaver Stadium this fall.
His explanation is exactly what Penn State fans should want to hear.
Penn State OC Taylor Mouser wants to run the right plays for his players, not what he likes the most. pic.twitter.com/Xm0cN1qkOZ
— Blue White Illustrated (@PennStateOn3) July 9, 2026
Andy Kotelnicki and Drew Allar were never a good match
Headlined by five-star quarterback Drew Allar, Penn State’s 2022 recruiting class was one of the most talented in program history. However, despite reaching the College Football Playoff semifinal in 2024, it never felt as though James Franklin and his staff got the most out of that group. That’s almost indisputable when it comes to Allar.
One of the main reasons for that, as Penn State assistant and interim head coach after Franklin was fired last season, Terry Smith explained after Drew Allar was selected in the third round of the latest NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, was that Andy Kotelnicki’s offense wasn’t tailored to his quarterback’s skill set.
The end of Franklin’s tenure proved that it doesn’t matter how much talent you can bring into the program if you aren’t setting those players up to succeed. Through his two years in Happy Valley, Kotelnicki was intent on pounding a square peg into a round hole, forcing Allar, a prototypical pocket-passer at 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, to play in an option-based offense that, in its purest form, relied on QB mobility to put the defense in conflict.
Kotelnicki did produce a more efficient offense than his predecessor, Mike Yurcich, did in Allar’s sophomore season. However, the package of plays designed for Beau Pribula, Allar’s far more mobile backup, and tight end Tyler Warren, a former high school quarterback who operated in the wildcat for much of the 2024 season, highlighted the disconnect between Kotelnicki’s dreams and Allar’s reality.
Taylor Mouser should be a good play-caller for any style of QB
There’s no way Mouser and Rocco Becht have that same issue in 2026. They’ve spent multiple years together at Iowa State and know each other well. Mouser is prepared to play to Becht’s strengths, and Becht knows what he needs to do to make Mouser’s scheme sing.
But it’s not just about this season. It’s about a wholesale philosophy of play-calling that allows an offense to morph around its talent. Whether it’s Alex Manske, Kase Evans, Peyton Falzone, or a transfer who follows Becht in 2027, Mouser will put him in good spots. His system isn’t rigid. It’s pro-style with some advanced reads, so it does ask something of its quarterback, but he’s as creative and effective calling the short-yardage QB run-game for Becht, a surprisingly effective runner, as he is the dropback passing game.
Offensive coordinators aren’t forever, but looking at Matt Campbell’s track record and judging from his decision to hire D’Anton Lynn, who runs a vastly different defense from the one Jon Heacock orchestrated in Ames for the last 10 years, this mindset is something he prioritizes. So, even if Mouser eventually moves on, malleable play-callers like him give a head coach freedom.
In a revenue-sharing and NIL world, where the value proposition of roster moves is considered more than ever, freedom is more important than ever. It allows Campbell to recruit a dual-threat QB like four-star 2028 commit James Armstrong a year after landing three-star Will Wood, who is very much cut from the Brock Purdy-Rocco Becht cloth.
If you’re not siloed into taking one particular type of player, and that goes for every position, you can more easily find bargains, or zig when the rest of the sport zags. Think Bill Belichick toggling between a 3-4 and 4-3 defense throughout his time in New England based on free agency and the trade market.
The easiest way to win is to outspend everybody. But even when you’re sitting on Texas oil money, you still might get shut out in the College Football Playoff (looking at you, Texas Tech) or miss it entirely (Texas and Texas A&M). The other clear path is to maximize the money you do spend, and versatile play-callers allow you to do that by finding bargains other programs wouldn’t consider and putting the players you do land in the best position to succeed.
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