University Park, Pennsylvania —
Shortly after arriving at Penn State, Matt Campbell instituted a team competition that served him well in his days at Iowa State.
Intended to build camaraderie, the concept was simple enough: Divide the team into small groups, each headed by one OG Penn State player and one of the 24 transfers Campbell brought with him from Ames.
Teams earned points by winning weekly head-to-head battles – tugging a sled across the field the fastest, surviving a heated game of dodgeball – and by simply doing the right thing. Show up to class on time. Do a little community service.
On the flip side, doing the wrong thing meant point deductions. Being late for anything – breakfast, lunch, dinner, a team meeting, a training session – or parking in an unassigned spot, for example. A video board inside the Greenberg Indoor Sports Complex kept a running tally of the standings and each Wednesday at 6 a.m., what would otherwise be a day off, the weekly losers were summoned for a chore. Some lugged crates of water. Others scrubbed the training room. A few even polished silverware.
