The Rhyme, Reason and Rhythm of Matt Campbell Football

Matt Campbell is doing Penn State football his way. Which is quite different than how his predecessor did it. Now, in some ways, what was old is new again. Not a surprise for many reasons, given that Cambell grew up as a fan of PSU football and has a bachelor’s degree in history.

The latest example: On Wednesday I asked Campbell if the team was flying or taking buses to its game at The Linc on Saturday (3 hours and 18 minutes, door-to-door, from Lasch Building).

“Travel by air, travel by bus? That’s a great question,” Campbell replied. “I actually talked to our DFO” — director of football operations Kelli Fogt, who was at Iowa State with Campbell — “about that. I don’t know. Somebody said that Coach Paterno liked the drive down, fly back. So, I’m looking for research on that because that’s not what we’re doing. But we’ll figure out if that’s the right call.”

Campbell may be the CEO of Penn State Football, but he is more about X’s and O’s than P&L’s, even though PSUFB is a massive money-making enterprise. According to numbers Penn State shared with the NCAA, in FY24-25 Nittany Lion football brought in $146 million, spent $89 million and cleared over $57 million.

Winning on the field, more than anything, will keep those numbers big and in the black. That is why Campbell delegates many of the non-football issues to his staff, and that includes the dollars and sense of paying which players and how much. GM Derek Hoodjer and assistant GM Will Reimann, a holdover from the James Franklin regime, run point on that.

And that is why Campbell eschewed the scoreboard introduction and the south-tunnel-onto-the-field front-running on Saturday.

Campbell is big on focus and minimizing — and not causing — distractions. Last Saturday’s game against Marshall, from start to take-a-knee finish, was proof positive. He knows how to run a show that is not a circus.

His external responsibilities, with the media and others, are completed the minute he walks out of the Wednesday State College Quarterback meeting. For his players, the hay is in the barn when it comes to physical preparation the minute they walk off the practice field on Thursday morning.

Routine, routine, routine.

We are learning there is little ebb and little flow to Campbell’s football life. He knows what he likes, what his success at Toledo and Iowa State has told him what his players need, and what he can leave to others when tending to the needs of those outside of Lasch Building. Not without his input or final answer. Or, in the offseason, with him happily in attendance. But, unlike Paterno or Franklin, I’m not sure he’s going to pick which player is on the cover of the Beaver Stadium Pictorial.

Here’s a glimpse into Matt Campbell 101, though we are just three weeks and one game into the 2026 Fall semester:

PRACTICE DAYS. Franklin had his players practice on Sundays. Campbell, more conventionally, has Monday as their off-day. (The NCAA mandates one such day a week during the season, though many players go to Lasch for treatment and film-breakdown “on their own.”) Here’s what Campbell told me on Wednesday, when I asked the coach how the week sets up for his players: 

“We really don’t waver in terms of our week,” Campbell said. “Our off-day is Monday. We’ll practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday… Friday is usually an off-day, no matter if we’re home or away. We’ll meet and maybe do a little bit of a light walk-through.”

PRACTICE TIME. We know by now that Campbell likes to have his team practice in the early morning, first thing. He did that at Iowa State during the season, and he did it at Penn State in the spring. Part of the reason he went to mornings this past spring was to get all the new Penn State players, coaches and staff adjusted to the early morning routine that was coming in the fall.

Do not be surprised if he goes to afternoons in spring 2027, a la his time in Ames. Part of the reason is because mornings blocked out for football keep his players from taking any morning classes on campus, a high-volume time for many students’ majors. One semester of that may be OK, but two semesters it’s much tougher to make true academic progress.

But, for now, Campbell said: “The one thing I like about the morning practice is that by the time you are done on Thursday physically, our priority is then filling your tank physically to be your best by game time. That’s one of the real bonuses of a Thursday practice early in the morning, then doing everything in our power from that point on –preparing ourselves mentally.”

In practical terms, with a noon kickoff at Lincoln Financial Field, the difference is 49 hours of rest and recovery vs. the 42 if the team practiced until dinnertime on Thursday. Night games, like a White Out or a trip to Washington or a late kick in the Big House, add six or eight more hours of rest.

PRACTICE AND THE MEDIA. Campbell’s practices were open a ton during spring practices and summer. Open zero now that it’s getting real. No distractions, no sharing, fewer leaks. No exceptions.

TRAVEL ROSTER. You earn a spot on the bus, and it may be Thursday, the day before he leaves, if you know you’re on it. From Campbell: “We’re not into dressing everybody. You got to earn the right to dress, and you got to earn the right to go. I think from our end of it, part of that earning it is the ability to get yourself on the travel squad, No. 1. No. 2, if you are, do you prove your right to play for our football team?

“I think that’s one of the real bonuses we have right now going on in our program. There is a lot of depth, and it doesn’t matter really who you are. You got to come to practice every day and earn the right to start. You got to earn the right to play in the game on Saturday.”

MEDIA AND FAN AVAILABILITIES. Franklin for many years did his first press conference of the week on Tuesdays, then abruptly shifted to Mondays late in his tenure. Practices were open a bit on Wednesdays, followed by a brief media scrum with CJF and some players and assistants. Franklin also did the State College Quarterback Club weekly luncheon in Beaver Stadium on Wednesdays, and on Thursday nights he did his coaches show live, with an audience.

Campbell has squeezed it all into a small window: Press conference on Tuesday, followed by an assistant coach and players. Wednesdays, he does about 10 minutes with the media in the Lasch team room immediately after practice, followed by players and coaches. He does his radio show, with fans, on Tuesday evening and the QB Club on Wednesday. He gets it all done in about 26 hours. Franklin’s window was from noon Monday to 7 p.m. Thursday.

It’s characteristically Campbell. Fast, friendly, efficient.