Penn State football head coach Matt Campbell met with the media for the first time since his introductory press conference in December on Wednesday.

Campbell touched on his first two months at the helm in Happy Valley, filling out his staff, filling out the roster, and more. Here’s a quick rundown of what he had to say.

On Building The Team

Campbell said the last two months have been a complete whirlwind for him and his family. While it’s been a lot to process and handle, Campbell said it’s been a joy to watch the roster fill out and really create a football team. Penn State made over 55 additions to the squad from the transfer portal and commitments. Campbell said doing that takes a lot of consideration on a lot of different factors.

“I feel like we went with the mentality of not wavering from who we want this football team to be, what the value systems of character and young men that love the sport of football, young men that love Penn State, and I would say most importantly, young men also to know they understand the value of an education from this institution,” Campbell said. “Those core values were really critical for us to kind of build this football team forward.”

On Penn State’s Uniqueness

When he was introduced, Campbell spoke profusely on what it means to him to be the head coach at Penn State. It’s one of the biggest jobs in college football that comes with a lot of differences than his previous stops at Toledo and Iowa State.

Campbell said some of Penn State’s uniqueness lands in the landscape of college football as a whole. When Campbell became head coach at Toledo, he was already on staff. Iowa State taught him about coming to a new place and figuring it out on the go. He has to take a lot of that Iowa State mentality and apply it, but it’s a tad more difficult with things like the transfer portal and NIL and all of the fame that comes with the Penn State job.

Campbell said the key difference has been in player acquisition. He said coaches have some areas that they wish they didn’t have to deal with and other areas that they’re grateful to deal with. It all comes down to building a proper foundation and finding out what’s the best direction to move a team forward. He said Penn State has a great foundation and is actively building the best team possible.

On Penn State’s Culture And Tradition

Campbell continuously touted Penn State as one of the premier programs in college football with some of the deepest and richest traditions and overall culture in the sport. He said his love of football and coaching comes in player development, and that’s always been at the forefront at Penn State.

He is focused on aligning the team as one after a turbulent time in the program’s history. He said these are the times that a true football team is built.

Campbell is also focused on bringing in past players to the Lasch Building and keeping them in and around the program. He thinks that having those veteran and legendary presences will only instill confidence and belief in the current players.

“It’s what makes Penn State football really special. It’s what has made the greatest time and the greatest eras and the greatest moments in this history of Penn State football. It makes it an honor to represent every day,” Campbell said.

On Taylor Mouser

Campbell spoke extensively of Penn State’s new offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Taylor Mouser, who he brought over from Iowa State. He said Mouser is one of the best play-calling minds in college football coming up, and his fearlessness as a play caller makes him the right man for the job.

“When you put the coordinator title to any of these coaches, I think you’re expecting a gentlemen and somebody that’s got unbelievable leadership ability and the ability to align and unify a group, and Taylor’s done a great job of that,” Campbell said.

On Penn State’s Winter Sports Weekend

Campbell made brief appearances at Penn State wrestling’s bout against Nebraska on Friday and did the ceremonial puck drop at Penn State men’s hockey’s Beaver Stadium game against Michigan State on Saturday. Campbell told Pat Kraft after the hockey game that they were two of some of the greatest collegiate sporting events he’s ever been a part of.

He said the part of the weekend that especially gave him chills was seeing just how many people came out to Beaver Stadium on Saturday. Campbell took note of all of the competitive excellence on display throughout the athletic department over the weekend and looks forward to adding to that.

“I think all those things were great for our players, our staff, everybody to watch and witness. And I think those moments, the more we can do that as a team, the more we can do that as a staff, again it all goes back to ‘We only get 12 guaranteed Saturdays in college football,'” Campbell said. “And you have to use all your resources to understand what it means to be the best.”

He said the games helped emphasize that Penn State’s community is bigger than the team. Once the players understand that the team and the program is bigger than themselves, it makes it easier to be at their best. Engaging with the community helps achieve that.

On Rocco Becht

Campbell said the only way a team can have sustained success is if the quarterback and head coach are tied at the hip. From college to the NFL, every single championship-caliber team has a quarterback and coach duo that understand each other and lead the entire team.

Campbell laid out Penn State football’s traits as five things: integrity, character, class, excellence, and grit. And to Campbell, Rocco Becht embodies every one of those and made it an easy decision to finish out his college career in Happy Valley.

He said Becht is a true leader on and off the field and also sets an example through education. Becht graduated from Iowa State’s business school with a 3.6 GPA. He also played through injury last year and had to take shots every Tuesday and Wednesday just to practice in the back half of the season due to a torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder.

Campbell also said Becht is one of the best quarterbacks in college football when playing from behind. He has no doubt that Becht is the signal caller to lead the Nittany Lions out on Saturdays.

On The Defensive Coordinator Search & D’Anton Lynn

When Campbell was hired, Jim Knowles’ future with Penn State was brought into question. Folks knew Knowles’ defense takes a few years to be at its most effective. Would Campbell be willing to leave him the reigns?

Campbell originally wanted to bring Jon Heacock over from Iowa State for the same role, but Heacock ultimately elected to retire. Campbell needed to see what direction was best for the program, and the first name he thought of was D’Anton Lynn.

Campbell said Lynn embodied the defensive style he wants to implement in the team and that Lynn wanted to be a part of the program. Lynn played at Penn State from 2009 to 2012 and was recently the defensive coordinator at UCLA and USC.

“It took a while to get to where we got to, but Coach Lynn, for him to have to financially give up some things to come here with purpose and integrity, I don’t know if I could ever be more excited to be able to be with him,” Campbell said.

Campbell also said Terry Smith had a relationship with Lynn beforehand, which made it all the better fit. He called it a “no-brainer”.

On Transfer Portal

Campbell said figuring out which players were staying was the most difficult part of attacking the portal. That clearly proved to be a challenge with the mess left in the wake of James Franklin’s firing, but Campbell acknowledged Smith for all of the hard work he did in roster retention.

He also said a difficult part of building the team was not just signing guys to fill out the roster. He emphasized to the staff that he needs to build a team, not a list of names.

“We cannot be willing to just take talent without character. We have to lay a foundation of who Penn State football wants to be and where we want to go going forward,” Campbell said.

On Retaining Staff

Campbell said he met with each staff member the week he got to Happy Valley and had in-depth conversations with them about the team as a whole. He asked them about their vision and their perspective on Penn State’s 2025 season.

He said meeting with Dan Connor for two seconds immediately made him know that he wanted to retain him. He said Connor embodies Penn State football to the highest level, as does Trace McSorley, who Campbell thinks will be a very valuable asset to Becht.

On Blue-White Game

Campbell said he is a “huge believer” in spring practices and says they have immense value in building a team. He said it’s critically important to hold a Blue-White game, but he and Kraft are still deciding on its format.

“We will certainly do something, and that information will get out here hopefully early next week, in terms of what that will look like,” Campbell said. “But I think it’s really important for our kids to be in that stadium with our fans. I don’t want the first time that Rocco Becht throw[s] a pass is his first game in there with fans. I think it’s really important for this team to be able to get out there.”

He said the Blue-White game’s format will be based a lot on the players’ health with a lot of them returning from injury. Overall, though, Penn State will take the field at Beaver Stadium to close out spring ball one way or another.