Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546159
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 2 7 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Campbell's debut on the Penn State sideline is still a few weeks away. It's too early to tell whether he will be able to lead the program where Franklin couldn't, but he does have plenty of believers, includ- ing one of PSU's best-known graduates — Todd Blackledge. "I think Matt Campbell was the per- fect hire, the perfect fit for where we are right now as a program, as a university going forward, as a football team," said Blackledge, the quarterback of Penn State's 1982 national championship team and a veteran broadcaster who is getting set to begin his third season as a color analyst for NBC Sports. Blackledge knows Campbell better than most. They're both f ro m n o r t h ea s t - ern Ohio — Black- ledge from Canton, C a m p b e l l f r o m Massillon. "Obviously, I'm a l o t o l d e r t h a n him, but our [high] schools are in the same league, and so I'm familiar with him," Blackledge said. "I've known him for a long time, had great respect for him, thought he did a wonderful job at Iowa State." The relationship got a kickstart after Campbell arrived in Happy Valley. "He has been very, very intentional, not just with me, but with former players from many different decades," Blackledge said. "He was very strategic, very intentional early on in his tenure and then during spring to bring guys back in to integrate them with his cur- rent team and his staff. "I just can't say enough about what he's done to try to do that. I know I speak for myself and a lot of my teammates and people that I know who are former lettermen, they have greatly appreciated that outreach and having that opportu- nity to create some touchpoints with the current team, the current staff." Honoring The Past It would have been easy for the pro- gram's new leadership to put off or de- emphasize its outreach to the letter- men, given the time constraints it was operating under in its first few months on the job. Campbell had roughly six weeks to assemble a staff and formulate a plan for his first season. But as he ex- plained at a February news conference, he viewed the program's alumni as "the superpower of Penn State football." "Our greatest gift is those who came before us," Campbell said. "It's still one of the absolute joys that you have walk- ing in that facility every day, and you see the names that have played and coached and the tradition that has come before us. "I've tried to work really hard, and will continue to work really hard, at unifying and aligning our history, our former players, because I just think it's so critical. It's what makes Penn State football really special." As part of those efforts, Campbell and his staff welcomed lettermen from different eras of Penn State football to the Lasch Building earlier this year. The former players, a group that included such luminaries as national champion- ship-winning tailback D.J. Dozier and Pro Football Hall of Famer Dave Robin- son, spoke to their successors, helping connect the program's storied past to its present. Blackledge was gratified by Campbell's desire to engage with the community of PSU lettermen. "I think Matt appreciates in a very significant and genuine way the history of Penn State football," he said, "what it stands for, what it's meant." 'An Iconic Uniform' Campbell and his staff have had to adapt to a very different landscape than the one the lettermen knew from their time in college and that Joe Paterno spent his long career navigating. While players weren't paid during Paterno's tenure, it is no longer an illegal practice. Given Campbell's track record at Iowa State, it's reasonable to be optimistic about the on-field product, but there are big unresolved issues. The biggest of them all involves the Nittany Lions' NIL backing. They lost several big re- cruiting battles this summer, and while money wasn't the only factor, it did have an effect. Paterno was a prodigious fundraiser for the program and the university. Campbell is working to establish the relationships necessary to cultivate that k i n d o f s u p p o r t , and his efforts will have a direct bear- ing on the kind of players Penn State is able to sign in the years ahead. A n o t h e r pa ra l - lel between the two Penn State coaches is that Campbell has embraced Pa- terno's foundational mantra for the program — Success With Honor. It was an imperative during Franklin's tenure but was never pushed to the forefront. The program now has an explicit desire to do so. "The whole idea of having success with honor — I think he's really bought into that," Blackledge said. "And I think he wants to find ways that he can tap into that to help what he's doing, what his staff is doing going forward." Why is it important for the new Penn State players — many of whom are from Nebraska, Iowa and far-flung parts of the country with no association to the program — to understand that history? "It's an iconic brand. It's an iconic uniform. And I think he just really has wanted to make sure that his current players and staff understand and re- spect what came before," Blackledge said. "The legacy that they've inher- ited and the responsibility of carrying that mantle forward — I think he's very genuine about that." ■ "He has been very, very intentional, not just with me, but with former players from many different decades. He was very strategic, very intentional early on in his tenure and then during spring to bring guys back in to integrate them with his current team and his staff." T O D D B L A C K L E D G E O N C A M P B E L L