Matt Campbell didn’t need long to explain why Michael Mauti has already made an imprint on his Penn State staff.
The first-year head coach pointed to Mauti’s presence, his background and the way he carries the weight of what Penn State football means. Mauti, a member of the 2012 Nittany Lions team, joined Campbell’s staff in late July as director of football engagement, becoming the latest former Penn State player to land on a staff that already includes nine ex-Nittany Lions.
“Mike has been awesome,” Campbell said Friday during Penn State’s media session inside Holuba Hall.
Campbell said he had first met Mauti earlier in the process and came away impressed by his energy and his connection to the program and university. The two also had a deeper conversation about Mauti’s 2012 team, which won eight games under Bill O’Brien while playing through severe NCAA sanctions tied to the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
“Obviously, he’s been working on campus. I got to meet him early on during our time here.
“Was honestly just struck by his passion for what Penn State as a university and Penn State as a football program is about. That was even before, man, we got down the rabbit hole of the 2012 team.”
That team’s story was part of the reason Campbell said Mauti’s impact has resonated so quickly with the program. Campbell noted that Penn State brought its players to watch “Saving the Roar” at the end of May before they headed home for the summer.
“I think you guys have heard, man, we took our football team to see ‘Saving the Roar’ right at the end of May before our guys left to go home,” Campbell continued.
“Paid a great tribute to how Mike really was, what he stood for, so many of those players on the 2012 team stood for.”
The documentary centers on how O’Brien, Mauti and other veteran players helped hold the team together during that stretch.
Campbell also said Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft helped make Mauti’s move more practical by shifting his role from the athletic department into the football facility, where he can be around the team every day.
“When we were talking how could we bring (Mauti) more in-house, (Penn State AD) Pat (Kraft) did a great job of allowing us to take his role from an athletic department focus and really bring him into the football facility for engagement, the ability to just continue to navigate ourselves forward,” Campbell said.
Mauti had previously served as associate director of development in Penn State’s athletic department.
For Campbell, the value is simple: more access, more perspective and more of a player who understands what the program expects.
“To have Mike with us every day means a great deal,” Campbell added.
“Even just to pick his brain as a football player, to have him around our players.
“Especially when our players watch that film, understood what him and Jordan Hill, what those guys stood for, I think it was a monumental growth moment for our football team to really understand what it means to play here and have those guys around us every day. It means a whole lot.”
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