Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541990
JANUARY 2026/VOL. 41, NO. 5 MANAGING EDITOR Matt Herb CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Stu Coman Cathy Jones Chris Riffer WEBSITE PUBLISHER Sean Fitz WEBSITE EDITOR Nate Bauer STAFF WRITER Greg Pickel RECRUITING REPORTER Ryan Snyder FOOTBALL ANALYST Thomas Frank Carr CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jim Carlson PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Manuel, Mark Selders, Frank Hyatt COVER PHOTO Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics DESIGN Jeanette Blankenship Chris Miller, Shelby Cragg F F F PUBLISHER Mark Panus BUSINESS ANALYST Sarah Boone CIRCULATION COORDINATOR Beverly Taylor ADVERTISING SALES Maria Taustine (502) 552-4390 CUSTOMER SERVICE Lauren Gordon, Shelby Cragg, Cathy Jones (800) 421-7751 BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED (USPS 742-550) is published monthly, except June, by Coman Publishing Co., a division of On3 Media, Inc., located at 922 Broad St., Suite D, Durham, NC 27705. A one-year (11 issues) subscription is $75.00. First-class, digital and foreign rates available on request. Periodicals postage paid at Durham, NC 27701 and additional mailing offices. Printed by The Papers, Milford, Ind. POSTMASTER: Please send address correc- tions/changes to BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED, PO Box 2331, Durham NC 27702-2331. For advertising or subscription information call 1-919-688-0218 or write BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED, PO Box 2331, Durham NC 27702-2331. Site Lines C O M M E N T S F R O M T H E L I O N S D E N A T B L U E W H I T E I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M ON THE APPOINTMENT OF MATT CAMPBELL AS PENN STATE'S NEW HEAD FOOTBALL COACH … You cannot complain about this pick. He is an outstanding football coach and a great fit. Now, can we not complain about the coach for two years and let him build his program? — giants Not my first choice, but definitely a good hire. Very excited for what he'll do. — CrazyUn- cleTony The guy has a lot of positives, he checks a lot of boxes. And I will support him. I just feel like high school recruiting is super important. — RunTheBall I think there were definitely some major gaffes throughout, but to be able to come away with Campbell … definitely a win. Congratulations to Pat Kraft and the program. — PSUVA92 A great developer who maximizes potential is music to my ears. A letterman that I know said the same about Terry Smith. Campbell sounds like a great fit for Penn State, but not necessar- ily Pat Kraft. I'm OK with that. As far as recruiting, a quick glance at Iowa State's roster shows a very high percentage of high school players from Iowa. I think with the right mix of returning coaches, he'll be able to do quite well in the Mid-Atlantic. — NavyBlue I hear a lot about him being a do-more-with-less coach. I love that, and think he'll be a good fit. Does anyone remember, though, hearing the same about Andy Kotelnicki when he came here? — Alex2024 I'm hoping that Campbell will lose the "do more with less" mentality. This roster needs to be upgraded, and in a big way, to be competitive in this conference at the level that is required. Unless we're being lied to, he doesn't have less anymore. If we want to be more from a roster standpoint, we need to have the guts to start acting, recruiting and spending like it. — grap54 I guess my thoughts are: 1.) He'll be a good fit from a Success With Honor standpoint, for those who care about such things. 2.) I wonder if his recruiting chops will be less of a concern now that payment is all out in the open. As we briefly discussed around James Franklin's firing, his recent classes had been slipping in the environment of "Yeah, your personality is magnetic. But how big will my check be?" I'll be curious to see what his batting average ends up being in a great 2027 cycle in the region. — drumsareout I have yet to hear anyone say this is a reach or that he cannot handle it at PSU. It's early, and people are pretty much saying this is a really good hire, but only time will tell either way. If you're very young and don't know why ... go look at Iowa State's record going back five decades, and then look at the population of the areas surrounding that program. — LaJollaCreek I've loved him since he was at Toledo and think he's just a tough, Midwestern kind of guy. Admittedly, I thought he'd be a hotter name five years back, but he also signed extensions, if I remember correctly. There's some concern from me based on him not being plucked. I thought both Michigan and Ohio State would have interest. He's the opposite of Franklin in my opinion. If we win, recruiting will take care of itself — simi- lar to Bill O'Brien in that regard, but without the NFL chops. I don't really care, as it was time to move on from Franklin. He wasn't winning the whole thing. — KB32812 Ultimately, this was best case after all this chaos. We all need to get behind him and give him the best chance to succeed. I was always a Bob Chesney guy and think he will be an in- credible coach, but I'm happy with where we landed. Let's go get 40 portal players and roll. — WeArePSU_82 Pat Kraft truly lucked into this with assistance from others. Campbell should have been inside the top three from the beginning. I'm just glad he's here, but what a mess. — Case_Psu 4 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 6