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What Penn State's Matt Campbell Said at Big Ten Media Days Campbell said he was looking for the 'perfect fit' in order to leave Iowa State and found it with the Nittany Lions.
Penn State Nittany Lions coach Matt Campbell speaks during a press conference at Beaver Stadium.
| IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect Penn State's Matt Campbell has yet to coach in the Big Ten but he's certainly familiar with it.
Growing up in Ohio, where he played high school and college football, Campbell has been a student of the conference for the past two decades."Growing up in the footprint of the Big Ten, playing high school and college football in the footprint of the Big Ten, coaching, honestly, in my entire coaching career in the footprint of the Big Ten and I think for me even the last two decades studying all the great teams and the great coaches in the Big Ten it's a great honor to be here," he said.
Campbell covered a lot of ground during his 15 minutes on the Big Ten stage, among the multiple appearances he made in Chicago.Here's what Campbell had to say about the Nittany Lions, who enter training camp in early August with aI really loved my time in Ames, Iowa, and I'm really proud of what we were able to accomplish at Iowa State in our 10 years.
Great players, great people, great community.If we were ever going to leave Iowa State, it was going to have to be a school and an institution that really fit how I believe and what I believe and how you build culture,I think for the last six months, we've been reminded why it was such a great fit for us at Penn State.
I think the history, what it means to play there, but how you do it, the integrity, the character and the class in its finest moments, what Penn State football has really stood for, really resonated with myself and certainly my background.It really had to be a perfect fit, and that's really why.past.
I will tell you we will honor the traditions of this great program, a program that's played over 139 years of football, has almost 950 wins in college football.
It's my opportunity and my honor to be able to represent that great football program.I think what we have found in our short time here in State College, number one, is an unbelievable community that's wrapped their arms around myself and our family, our coaches and our family, and represent one of the proudest and most distinguished football fan bases in the country.
It's a fan base that loves football, but most importantly, how you build your football program.You build your football program with character, integrity, class and excellence, and I've really appreciated our fan base's wisdom around those values.
At Big Ten Media Days, Matt Campbell congratulates Ki-Jana Carter, Penn States newest member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
Anthony is a fourth-year player in our Penn State program, a two-year starter, and Anthony was actually the first young man that decided to come back to Penn State when we got back to campus.Anthony is a young man whose work ethic and character has truly led us both on and off the football field.
Tony also is in the fourth year in his time at Penn State, is also a two-year starter.
Tony's work ethic really battling backlast year he.We lost him in the Oregon game a year ago, and Tony's ability to battle back, his work ethic to battle back through hard, his ability to be talented and excellent on and off the field continues to be a guiding light in our football program.
Rocco is a senior in college football.
He spent the last four years at Iowa State.Rocco is the winningest quarterback coming back in college football this year, and Rocco is one of the young men whose grit, whose character, whose toughness has led the way during his college football career and he's earned the right to be great every step of the way and in a short amount of time has been an unbelievable competitor and connector in our locker room.
...It's a small sample of a locker room of gentlemen just like them, a locker room of young men that stayed at Penn State and a locker room of young men that came to Penn State for a devoted cause.been in the Big Ten.
He's been a defensive coordinator over the last three years in this conference, the style of play, what it takes to play great defense.You saw his impact at both UCLA and USC and the improvement that those teams were able to make.
Number two, he's a former player, and he understands what it means to play at Penn State.
He understands what it means to lead at Penn State, and him and his family have a deep passion for the community and the success of the Penn State football program.I think those two values, let alone D'Anton has already proven to be a great teacher, he has put a great staff around him, and he has already come in and had a profound impact on the young men in our program, but I would say those two values were really huge for me in that process.
I think before even truly accepting the job, and I give a lot of credit to Pat and our university of making that possible to be able to keep Terry.I think for me, my background with Terry comes completely different.
When I was at the Universit yof Toledo, we were always trying to get a young man fromYou knew what he stood for.You knew what the young men that came out of his high school football program came from, and you fast forward almost 14 years later and the opportunity to watch him lead the football team at Penn State at the end of the year through a lot of adversity, and it wasn't easy, and Terry did a great job settling the ship and giving us a great foundation to move forward from.
My gratitude and honor to be able to work forward with Terry and lead forward with Terry means a great deal to myself and certainly means a great deal to our young men and our football program.Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network.
He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.