Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1542734
6 6 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 W hen Penn State athletics director Patrick Kraft stood at the dais in the Beaver Stadium media room in mid-December and said that "we found the right person to lead the most storied program in all of sport," and that "Penn State football today emerges tougher, clearer, and more driven than ever before," he was ex- pressing his full confidence in his pick to be the 17th leader of the Nittany Li- ons, Matt Campbell, and perhaps most important, everything — and everyone — Campbell would be bringing with him to State College. The rest of that news conference covered a variety of topics, from the expectations surrounding Campbell's new program, to why the longtime Iowa State head coach felt this was the right time to leave Ames, to his phi- losophy on the transfer portal and high school recruiting. A subject that came up only in pass- ing — mostly in relation to the reten- tion of interim head coach Terry Smith — was Campbell's plan for the coach- ing staff. "If you're going to build a cham- pionship team, you had better have a championship staff," he noted, adding that he had every intention of bringing some of his colleagues from Iowa State to PSU and would reveal the hires "at the right time." That time has since arrived. Camp- bell, as expected, has brought a number of former Cyclones with him to Penn State. Of the 51 people listed on the new Penn State football staff, 27 — or just over 50 percent — are making the move from Ames to State College. Only one of them — offensive play-caller Taylor Mouser — is a coordinator. And only five of Campbell's 12 primary on- field assistant coaches were with him at his former school. That means the bulk of the newcomers are serving in other key off-field roles. James Franklin was very successful at Penn State but could not deliver a title. Campbell's mandate is to lead the Nittany Lions to places that Franklin wasn't able to reach. If his first team in State College is going to compete for a title, it will be because a long list of support staff members are laying the groundwork. Even though they've only been on the job for a matter of weeks, some of their work is mostly done. New gen- eral manager Derek Hoodjer, assistant general manager Jack Griffith, and the recruiting staff have rebuilt the roster via the transfer portal and a push for high school recruits that didn't even begin until after the December signing period had ended. There may be a few more additions before the season starts in September, but the heavy lifting has already been done. That is not the case for those who oversee the strength and nutrition programs, as well as the medical staff. Their responsibilities in laying the foundation for a success- ful first season at Penn State are only just beginning to take shape. Strength and conditioning coach Reid Kagy, Director of Sports Performance Operations Aaron Hillmann, Director of Speed and Performance Science Ben Moortgat and Director of Football Sports Medicine Joe Resendez — all of whom are Iowa State transplants — are joined by new Director of Foot- ball Nutrition Brad Solomon, who hails from Texas. Together, those staffers are set to spear- head PSU's player-building ef- forts. The work they and their subordinates do through winter workouts and leading up to spring practice will go a long way toward shaping this team. If they don't build champion- ship habits now, then the Nittany Lions are unlikely to compete for a College Football Playoff berth, let alone the sport's top trophy, months down the road. It is their job to take the portal assets that the recruiting team secured and turn them into Big Ten- and national championship-caliber players. They are the group that most Penn State fans — and media members, for that mat- ter — know the least about. While there was some retention of 2025 PSU staff members in the coaching, recruiting and administrative ranks, there are no holdovers in this area. The strength staff — which now in- cludes the nutrition and medical teams — is often said to be the backbone of a program and also includes the people the players are both closest with and spend the most time with due to how NCAA rules work when it comes to practice time. Thus, this group is now in the spotlight with the spring semes- ter underway and winter workouts get- ting started. ■ O P I N I O N GREG PICKEL GREG.PICKEL@ON3.COM Support Staffers Will Have Big Role In Lions' Success THE LAST WORD Reid Kagy is overseeing the PSU football team's strength and con- ditioning program after serving under Matt Campbell in a similar capacity at Iowa State. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS