Matt Campbell isn’t one for attention or accolades. He’s all about building a program that doesn’t seek individual acclaim. But after a 45-0 win over Marshall in his Penn State debut on Saturday, he’s going to get quite a lot of it.
Campbell didn’t have his name announced over the loudspeaker during his team’s introduction, but when the clock hit zero on the first shutout in a Penn State debut by a head coach since 1915, Nittany Lions fans were chanting his name just as loud.
There’s a lovefest in Happy Valley right now. It seems that most Penn State fans couldn’t be more thrilled about their new head coach, and it’s safe to say that Campbell has heard them and feels the same way.
“Just a sincere thank you to our fanbase, to our student body,” Campbell said, opening his first postgame press conference in the bowels of Beaver Stadium. “It was really special to be a part of this for the first time.. It was really special to coach here today. The environment was second to none.”
Matt Campbell doesn’t want the praise
The scoreboard doesn’t always reflect reality, but in this case it did. Penn State was nearly flawless in Week 1. Rocco Becht set a career-high with four touchdown passes on just 18 attempts, and his new No. 1 target, Koby Howard, surpassed his season receiving yardage total from 2025 with 161 yards and a touchdown on six grabs.
Defensively, Iowa State transfer Caleb Bacon was a force in his first game as a defensive end, true freshman Josiah Zayas looked like a heat-seeking missile out of the secondary, and the linebacker duo of Tony Rojas and Kooper Ebel were as advertised.
His offense, orchestrated by longtime Iowa State assistant Taylor Mouser, and his defense, led by former Nittany Lion cornerback D’Anton Lynn, both exceeded any reasonable expectations for the season opener. And it seems Campbell would prefer that you direct the praise to his staff, to his players, to the program as a collective because this program won’t be about any one person, even the one setting the tone and leading the way.
“It's been a long road. There's a lot of young families that picked up and moved across the country because of their belief in what we were doing together. That had nothing to do with me; that's we"
But if he keeps winning, it'll keep coming his way
Campbell is saying all the right things to ingratiate himself with the fanbase. His embrace of Joe Paterno’s legacy has been somewhat controversial and probably worth litigating, but appeals to a certain sect of Penn State supporters. Aside from that, though, his demeanor is a significant departure from his predecessor, which always helps after a long relationship ends.
Winning matters much more than showing up in a tracksuit, wearing a worn-in hat, or deflecting praise. But when he’s winning, it feels as though those traits will only amplify the warm and fuzzy feelings around State College right now.
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