Why Penn State's Matt Campbell Brought up UConn's NCAA Win Over Duke

UConn's breathtaking win over Duke in the NCAA men's basketball tournament has been dissected, cross-referenced and welded into the history of college basketball. Even football coaches watched with surprise, and perhaps horror, as Braylon Mullins somehow launched the Huskies over Duke and into the Final Four.

Penn State coach Matt Campbell certainly saw the moment and used it as a teaching reference point for the Nittany Lions during spring drills.

"You guys got to watch the Duke basketball game against UConn. Like, that's the world we live in," Campbell said Tuesday after practice in State College. "Boy, we all want to be great coaches and we want it to all look perfect, but that's not the world we live in.

"Tough times are going to happen. Good things are going to happen. And it's the team that's mentally tough enough and physically tough enough to be able to just consistently keep showing up and being the best in the moment. Those are the ones that have the ability to win."

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Penn State has entered its second week of spring practice, when players are beginning to put on pads and get into contact periods. Campbell opened his first spring session seeking to install a "slow and right" mindset among players and coaches regarding technique and installs.

That holds particularly true on defense. where new coordinator D'Anton Lynn is installing a new defensive structure that requires constant communication. In fact, safeties coach Deon Broomfield said last week that Lynn is asking players and coaches for "obnoxious communication."

"I do think every year is still different in football, and especially with the turnover now in rosters from year to year and certainly sometimes coaching staffs, that I am a believer that you always start over at square one and rebuild your way through it," Campbell said before spring drills began. "I think, even as a head coach, you're always self-reflecting what went well, what didn't go well? How do we be better, and what does this team need?

"Every year, even in a spring practice setting, it's going to look a little different just based on where you're at. I don't think it's so foreign to me in terms of starting back over, but I do think aligning everybody, making sure we're slow and right right now. Where do drills go? Where does the offense go? Where does the defense go? All of those things are certainly unique and new. So slow
and right is really the process for us."

In discussing Penn State's progress through spring drills, Matt Campbell brought up Duke's loss to UConn and the coaching lessons from that game.

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However, Campbell also wants players to understand what "slow and right" specifically means.

"Don't get slow and right twisted with [intentional], meaningful, passionate reps," Campbell said Tuesday. "There are wins and losses on every rep that happens in the sport of football. And what I want to see is, how do we respond? How do you respond when it goes good? How do you respond when it doesn't go well? Because all those things are coming, right?"

That's the essence of the Duke-UConn reference; how those players responded to the win and, perhaps more importantly, the loss.

"It's been really competitive [at practice]," Campbell said. "We've had good, huge reps I would say over the last two days when we put the pads on that there are wins and losses. And watching how we respond to that, I'm not as concerned with the win and the loss as much as how we respond to the win and the loss. And I think to me, those are great measuring sticks for our staff and really for our players to see where they're at and where we continue to move ourselves forward."

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