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 1 M att Campbell has a vision of what Penn State football can and should be under his leadership. In the eight months since he was hired as the Nittany Lions' head coach, the investment has been made in building toward it — assembling a staff, navigating a chaotic two months of roster construction and unifying the resulting team. The Lions have established an identity for the program, one founded on toughness. They've leaned into discipline, the daily habits in foot- ball and life that produce success. And they've enforced the program-wide accountability necessary to ensure that the work gets done, individually and collectively. It has to. Yes, the effort is in service of Campbell's long-term aims for sustainable success at the highest levels for Penn State football. It's also in service of a more immediate reality that is quickly approaching. "This is now preparation for the journey," Campbell said. "How do you create the journey, the habits, the mentality that are going to allow you to weather the storm of college football? "The storm is where you are in it. And it's going to come. You're going to have injuries, tough days, all these things that are going to happen. We don't know when they're coming. We don't know when the adversity is coming, but it's coming." Making Strides Every team faces a continuous storm over the course of every season. The schedule guar- antees as much: a weekly slate of opponents determined to inflict damage. After all, their success depends on it, too. To withstand the barrage of the season itself, in whatever shape it takes, Campbell and the Nittany Lions have worked to build a fighting response. That has started with toughness, both men- tally and physically. They've showed up with consistency every day, from winter workouts into spring practices, summer conditioning and eventually this month's preseason camp. Playing to their full potential requires as much. The response is also built on discipline, an awareness that the forces that lead to defeat are often within a team's own control. Don't want to beat yourself? Exhibit the discipline necessary to avoid it. The last factor, critical to all of it, is for the process to be a shared one. Without a sense of purpose driving coaches, established starters, freshmen, walk-ons and everyone in between, the foundation collapses. "Are we there yet? No," Campbell said. "We can keep making great strides. I hope we have the great leadership and continue to do a great job of demanding it every day. "We've grown. We're going to have to not miss a day as we continue." Campbell's building project isn't happening in a vacuum — not at Penn State, not this sea- son, and certainly not in the aftermath of a 2025 campaign that started with national champion- ship expectations and nosedived in spectacular fashion. It's what brought Campbell to State College. At the coach's introductory press conference last December, Penn State athletics director Patrick Kraft hailed Campbell as hard-nosed, humble, relentless, a developer of young men and "built for championships." Kraft also leaned into the re- PROOF POSITIVE After an encouraging offseason, the time has come for Penn State to put its plans into action NAT E BAU E R | N AT E . B A U E R @ O N 3 . C O M