Penn State's Matt Campbell is No. 8 in USA Today's Big Ten head coaches rankings: Newsstand

Penn State news, notes, and updates for July 8 include new Big Ten head coach rankings, headlines of the day, and more. Matt Campbell is No. 8 on national college football writer Paul Myerberg’s list. He is behind not only Indiana’s Curt Cignetti and Ohio State’s Ryan Day, who lead the rankings at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, but also two men he’ll match wits with this far: No. 5 Kyle Wittingham of Michigan and No. 6 Lincoln Riley at USC.

“After a decade at Iowa State, Campbell takes on a much tougher level of competition and distinctly higher expectations as James Franklin’s successor with the Nittany Lions,” Myerberg writes. “The track record is very strong: ISU went 72-55 under Campbell and had some of the best seasons in program history, including a school-record 11 wins in 2024.”

You can read the full rankings here.

Campbell is starting his first season in the conference, of course, after spending years in the Big 12. He feels like the move is going well so far, now that he is less than a month away from opening his first camp at Penn State.

“When we went to Iowa State, you felt like it was going to take a year or two to try to kind of get your guys in and kind of get the program rebuilt,” Campbell recently told the Big Ten Network. “I think the uniqueness of the world we live in today, I felt like we were able to do a really great job of putting our own team together, keeping the right Penn State players, and then being able to do a great job of aligning ourselves in the transfer portal with guys that we felt like fit the Penn State mold.”

The rest of today’s newsstand is below.

Penn State headlines of the day

Sting Factor: What happened between Penn State and RB Aiden Gibson?: Snyder, BWI

Penn State lands $5 million gift toward Beaver Stadium renovation project: Bauer, BWI

Penn State makes arrival of walk-on additions, latest Class of 2026 signee, official: See weights and numbers here: Pickel, BWI

Five 2027 wide receivers Penn State could flip before signing day: Snyder, BWI

Sting Factor: Khalil Taylor picks Nebraska over Penn State: Fitz, BWI

Matt Campbell explains why Penn State’s transition has moved faster than expected: Bauer, BWI

Quote of the day

“He’s the winningest quarterback coming back in college football this year. I think the piece that’s made Rocco so great is he’s earned the respect of his teammates every step of the way, from how he became the starter at Iowa State to how he led last year through some really tough moments.

“He is the guy that you want fighting in your locker room and leading in your locker room. And I’ve always believed when the quarterback and the head football coach are aligned at the same value system, you always give your team a chance to be successful.”

PSU coach Matt Campbell on QB Rocco Becht.