Penn State is on the verge of has finally hiring its next head coach, and now that Matt Campbell is looking like the guy, it’s time to talk about him some more.
Campbell is best known for his time at Iowa State, where he took over a program that won eight games— combined— in the previous three seasons and made it a consistent winner.
But Campbell lived for 36 years before becoming Iowa State’s head coach, and in that time, built a name for himself at America’s premier Division III program and the MAC.
If all goes well, Penn State fans will be getting to know Campbell quite well over many years, so here’s a head start on who Matt Campbell is.
SMALL SCHOOL ROOTS
Those who look at Campbell’s resume will notice that he’s played and coached almost exclusively at small schools. He played at Mt. Union from 1999-2002, where a two-time All-American defensive lineman and played on three national championship winning teams.
After starting his college career as a graduate assistant at Bowling Green (2003-04), Campbell returned to Mt. Union and legendary head coach Larry Kehres, where he was the offensive coordinator for the 2005 and ‘06 national champions.
Ironically enough, Campbell’s only experience at a Power 4 school before taking the Iowa State job was a year at Pitt in 1998.
When Campbell left Pitt— the Panthers went 2-9 in Campbell’s only season— the Massillon, Ohio, native returned closer to home, and saw the difference between DI and DIII football.
“It was a fascinating moment,” Campbell told ESPN in 2018. “Here’s where there are no scholarships, there is no money, there is no flash, but these guys love football.”
Campbell said his experience at Mt. Union “saved my life.”
“That’s how passionate I am about my Mount Union experience and coach Kehres,” he said. “My life probably goes a whole different way if not for finding that place.”
HOLY TOLEDO
After Campbell left Mt. Union’s coaching staff, he returned to Bowling Green, this time as a full-time staff member.
Campbell spent the 2007-08 staff seasons as Bowling Green’s offensive line coach, then moved onto the same position at Toledo.
By 2010, Campbell was Toledo’s offensive coordinator.
By 2012, he was the head coach.
In four seasons at Toledo, Campbell went 35-15 overall, 24-8 in the MAC and made it to consecutive conference title games in his last two seasons.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Part of Campbell’s success at Toledo was the level of honesty he had with his players.
“You need that in this business,” quarterback Phillip Ely told USA Today in 2015. “You can have players misinterpret things. A lot of coaches won’t tell you if they’re playing you or not; they’ll kind of leave you hanging. Here they’ll tell you what’s up. They’ll tell you how it is, how you’re doing and how you can get better. They say, ‘If you want to be our guy, this is where you’ve got to be, and here’s the film for it.’ They are honest, the whole staff is, and it’s mainly because of Matt Campbell.”
Pretty soon, Iowa State turned around mainly because of Matt Campbell, and that led to him having many opportunities to leave Ames.
RESISTING TEMPTATION
The New York Jets wanted Campbell to be their head coach, and he said no. The Detroit Lions interviewed him, and ended up with another guy named Campbell. In one hiring cycle alone, six NFL teams reached out to Campbell about their head coaching position, per the Des Moines Register.
But through it all, Campbell stayed at Iowa State, and he told ESPNU why in 2021.
“You’re either someone who’s trying to be somebody or you’re trying to do something,” Campbell said. “For me, I’ve always loved coaching and what I’m doing is trying to do something and make a difference. I think that’s one of the great joys that we’ve had over the last five years, now going into our sixth year at Iowa State is how do you do something that a lot of people said you could never have sustained success at a place like that. It’s been a great challenge to put a program together and really work hard to create sustained success and a culture where kids want to come in everyday and be the best versions of themselves.
“We worked really hard at that. That’s what I love about what I get to do. We have great kids in our program and it’s just a joy to go to work everyday.”
But 10 seasons is a long time to stay at any place, and Iowa State’s financial situation, plus a natural desire to move on, could lead Campbell to move on.
IOWA STATE BEFORE CAMPBELL
To fully understand the job Campbell has done at Iowa State— a winning record in the Big 12 over 10 seasons— one must know how bad things were in Ames before Campbell got there.
Iowa State won a combined eight games between 2013-15, and only had eight winning seasons in the previous 38 years.
Perhaps the best quote to sum up Campbell’s turnaround at Iowa State comes from the man himself.
“There was a lot of hard road and a lot of tough waters that we had to start back over, clean up and get aligned,” Campbell told ESPN in 2021. “The reality of it is, that hasn’t happened consistently here, ever.”
WHO WOULD CAMPBELL BRING WITH HIM?
Assuming this gets done, a big question is who Campbell brings with him to Penn State? A full article will be written about this later if this happens, but right now, two guys to think about are a player (QB Rocco Becht) and a coordinator (DC Jon Heacock).
Becht is a three-year starter with a year of eligibility left. Heacock has been with Campbell since the Toledo days, running Iowa State’s defense for all 10 of Campbell’s seasons and becoming one of the first to use three-safety sets (which Penn State fans know all about).
It remains to be seen who Campbell will bring with him, and if he’ll even bring himself. Follow Nittany Sports Now for more updates on what the next era of Penn State football will look like.
