Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1542734
1 2 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M P enn State has hired Joe Resendez to be its new director of football sports medicine under head coach Matt Campbell. Resendez replaces Andy Mutnan, who had been the Nittany Li- ons' head football athletic trainer since 2018. Resendez rejoins Campbell after spending the 2025 season at Iowa State. Prior to his one-year tenure with the Cyclones, he served for three years as head athletic trainer for the XFL/UFL. He previously was the assistant ath- letic trainer for the NBA's Los Ange- les Clippers from 2010-18 and was the head athletic trainer for the Sacramento Kings from 2018-22. A native of Brownsville, Texas, Re- sendez has a master's degree from Loui- siana Tech and a postgraduate certifi- cate in sports performance analytics from Michigan. "Joe Resendez coming in was a huge win for us," Campbell said at Big 12 Me- dia Days last July. "Joe's got a profes- sional background. He came from being the head athletic trainer with the Sacra- mento Kings, came from the XFL. "As our world continues to grow more in the professional ranks, you'd better have an elite athletic training room that has the ability to diagnose, understand and then help your foot- ball team be its best in some of its most critical moments. We're really fortu- nate. I thought it was a huge hire for us this offseason." Iowa State defensive tackle Domo- nique Orange concurred with Camp- bell's assessment, telling Cyclone Re- port last summer that Resendez had impressed with his thoroughness. "From top to bottom, he's been the guy [for whom] everything matters," Orange said. "Even ankle strength, little stuff that you don't even think of, his atten- tion to detail is on it. It's been helpful for all of us. We've been as healthy as an ox ever since he came here." — Greg Pickel NITTANY LIONS LOSE KEY RECRUITING STAFFER Kenny Sanders, one of Penn State's longest-tenured recruiting assistants, has left the program to pursue oppor- tunities elsewhere. Sanders had joined James Franklin's staff in 2014 when the Nittany Lions had only four people dedicated strictly to recruiting. He spent five seasons with the program before leaving to take a promotion under Mario Cristobal at Oregon, earning the title of director of recruiting. Despite helping secure a top-10 class, Sanders' time on the West Coast was brief. He returned to Penn State in Feb- ruary 2021, and just over a year later he became the team's director of player personnel. A graduate of the McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Md., Sanders played a key role in Penn State's successful re- cruitment of fellow McDonogh alums PJ Mustipher and Dani Dennis-Sutton, among many others. In addition, he had strong ties to the Philadelphia area. With so many new assistant coaches arriving from outside the region, Matt Campbell had hoped to retain Sanders, but the experienced recruiting staffer opted in early January to move on. It's unclear how big Penn State's re- cruiting staff will be moving forward, but Campbell did bring two key per- sonnel members with him in general manager Derek Hoodjer and director of player personnel Trent Slattenow. He also hired recruiting assistant Jack Griffith away from Cincinnati. — Ryan Snyder Joe Resendez To Serve As Director Of Football Sports Medicine PSU 'ON SCHEDULE' ENTERING YEAR 2 OF STADIUM RENOVATION With no College Football Playoff game at Beaver Stadium this year, Penn State was able to do uninterrupted work on the facility's massive overhaul in December. Vinnie James, PSU's deputy athletics director for internal operations, said on Dec. 27 that the university is continuing to make progress on what he described as "the largest renovation in college football history." "We remain on schedule, targeting a completion date of fall 2027," James said. The west side of the stadium will eventually house the Lubert Family Welcome Center, Mar- zano Club Seats and Schuyler Club Seats, with the latter two areas featuring lounges. It is all part of a plan to add more premium seating at the venue while modernizing it, as well. James said the new areas will be taking shape by the time the Nittany Lions open the 2026 season. "You'll actually begin to see the structure of the new west side," he said. "You'll see that struc- ture come to form. It still won't be completed, everything that's behind it, but that structure will start to really be showing itself, and we can see the volume and the magnitude of what that west side will ultimately be. And then a lot of the work that's going on is infrastructure work behind it." Although the project will be further along, temporary seating will return in 2026. Last year, with the temporary bleachers in place, Beaver Stadium was still able to hold 106,304 fans even though much of the west grandstand had been demolished. — Greg Pickel Beaver Stadium will feature additional club seating areas when the project is complete in 2027. RENDERING COURTESY PENN STATE ATHLETICS