Jeremy Pernell: Sizing Up Matt Campbell

Iowa State’s coach is an elite culture builder who may be open to overtures from resource-rich programs like Nebraska

© Nirmalendu Majumdar photo/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK

With Monday's development regarding coach Matt Rhule being fired by the Carolina Panthers, personally, I would elevate him to the top of Nebraska's board. But in keeping with the spirit of this series of Husker coaching candidates, I will highlight someone else who should also be in the discussion.

Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell has been on every shortlist you can find since the Nebraska job opened up - and for good reason. He checks all the boxes athletic director Trev Alberts has publicly laid out and is prioritizing during his search.

Late last month when Alberts was speaking inside Millard Social Hall, he said Nebraska needs to be the “premier” development program in the Midwest, if not all of college football. You can make a strong argument that Matt Campbell has been that coach in the Midwest for the past several years.

Previous installments in this series • Proven and Pricey: Rhule, Aranda and Fickell   • Intriguing Options: Leipold and Patterson • Parsing Nebraska Football’s Coaching Possibilities

Born in Canton and raised in Massillon, Ohio, Campbell began his playing career at Pittsburgh. He spent one year with the Panthers before deciding to transfer down to play at Division III powerhouse Mount Union, located in Alliance in northeast Ohio. As an All-American defensive lineman, he helped the Purple Raiders win three consecutive national championships (2000, 2001, 2002).

Campbell's transition to the sidelines started immediately after the end of his playing career. After graduating, he had a two-year stint as a graduate assistant working with the tight ends at Bowling Green.

He returned to his alma mater in 2005 and spent two seasons as Mount Union's offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, going a combined 29-1, and helping the team win two national championships. Under his tutelage, six players earned All-America honors.

Campbell returned to Bowling Green in 2007 and spent two seasons as their offensive line coach. Then, at just 29 years old, he was named run game coordinator (2009) before being promoted to offensive coordinator (2010-11) at Toledo.

After Tim Beckman left to take the Illinois job on Dec. 9, 2011, Campbell was named interim head coach. Three days later, the interim tag was removed and at 32, Campbell became the youngest FBS coach in the country as he grabbed the reins at Toledo.

Campbell compiled a 35-15 record (24-8 in MAC) in four-plus seasons as the head coach at Toledo and led the Rockets to three nine-win seasons. Campbell’s winning percentage (.700) is third-best in school history, trailing only Nick Saban (.818, 1990) and Bill Orwig (.762, 1946-47).

He won the west division twice and took the team to three bowl games, going 2-1. Campbell coached 43 All-MAC players, including 17 first-team selections. He was named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year in 2015, and had the Rockets ranked as high as No. 19 in the AP Top 25 during the 2015 season.

On Nov. 29, 2015, two days after Toledo finished its regular season, Campbell left to take the job at Iowa State. It was universally viewed as a huge win for the Cyclone program. That same offseason, Campbell had been courted by Missouri and was also considered a candidate for the Maryland and Virginia Tech openings. Campbell had also been a candidate for the Wisconsin job in 2014 after Gary Andersen left Madison for Oregon State.

Campbell took the Cyclones from laughingstocks to a very respectable Big 12 program. Although the hire didn't pay immediate dividends, Campbell's influence was evident. After going 3-9 in his first season, Iowa State would embark on an unprecedented run of success. Having virtually rebuilt the program from the ground up, Campbell has made winning a consistent expectation in Ames, something that was unthinkable before his arrival. Before Campbell, Iowa State had a total of eight winning seasons since 1980.

In his second season with the Cyclones, Campbell beat No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 4 TCU in the month of October, which catapulted Iowa State into the AP Top 15 for the first time in 15 years. The 2017 season saw the highest number of wins for the program since 2000. A second consecutive eight-win season in 2018 saw the Cyclones secure six conference wins for the first time in its history, which dates back to 1908 when the program first joined a conference. In 2020, Campbell guided the Cyclones to their first nine-win season in two decades after knocking off Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl during the pandemic-shortened season.

Campbell is a three-time Big 12 Coach of the Year (2017, 2018, 2020) and is the only coach in school history to post five straight winning seasons and five consecutive bowl berths. He owns more than a third of ISU’s all-time wins over ranked opponents. Campbell’s Cyclones have beaten 10 AP Top 25 teams since 2017, with four of those coming against teams ranked in the Top 10, and have played as a ranked team 25 times since 2017.

The fast rise at Iowa State has made Campbell a regular on coaching hot boards, and he's been pursued at various points by the NFL and other Power Five schools. In recent offseasons, his name has been linked to NFL jobs with the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns and New York Jets.

He was also a hot name for Ohio State when Urban Meyer retired and at Michigan when Jim Harbaugh was on the hot seat. Campbell has also been talked about as a candidate for recent openings at LSU, Texas, Notre Dame, TCU and Washington. In every instance, Campbell ultimately turned them down or wasn't interested.

Last offseason, however, he was rumored to be heavily involved in the vacant USC job and was finally willing to leave Ames. Had Lincoln Riley turned the Trojans down, it's believed Campbell would be in Los Angeles now. Many observers believe Campbell knows he has hit his ceiling at Iowa State and is now willing to listen to overtures, including from Nebraska.

Campbell is an elite culture builder and would be an outstanding candidate for the Cornhuskers. He won't turn 43 until late November, but he's already in his seventh year in Ames, making him the second-longest-tenured coach in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy. He's spent the entirety of his coaching career in the Midwest, so his entire operation is transportable. He already heavily recruits areas that Nebraska does/should in the 500-mile radius, and he has also had tremendous success in hotbeds like Texas and Florida.

Just as important, Campbell understands that it’s just as much about culture as it is recruits. Campbell's mantra of "recruit, retain and develop" must resonate with Trev Alberts. After Iowa State beat Texas in 2020, former star running back Breece Hall famously said "It's five-star culture vs. five-star players." The Cyclones are never going to out-recruit schools like Oklahoma and Texas. Yet Campbell has given those two teams fits.

Iowa State is 7-77-2 all-time versus Oklahoma. Campbell has two of those wins and has never lost by more than 10. Keep in mind the Sooners were 11-2 (2016), 12-2 (2017), 12-2 (2018), 12-2 (2019), 9-2 (2020) and 11-2 (2021) during that stretch and played in the College Football Playoffs in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Iowa State is also 5-14 all-time versus Texas. Campbell is 3-3 and has won the last three meetings.

Nebraska is never going to out-recruit Ohio State, or soon-to-be Big Ten squad USC. That doesn't mean the Huskers won't be able to beat those teams. The next coach needs to understand how to get the right players in his program and build the right culture. Campbell has done that at a place very similar to Lincoln.

To that point, just because Nebraska won't ever have a roster as talented top-to-bottom as Ohio State or USC, doesn't mean they can't build a formidable roster with their recruiting potential.

Many keen observers have always been interested to see how Campbell would do at a school with more resources. In Lincoln, Campbell can plant his culture at a program that can offer top-20 recruiting classes to fuel it. That combination could make Nebraska dangerous.

In the spring, Campbell received a three-year extension through 2028. He is making $4 million per year and his buyout is $4 million. There wouldn't be any financial hurdles in prying him from Iowa State and giving him the salary required to make it happen.

The one thing working against Campbell is that Iowa State is in the middle of a three-game slide. After starting the season 3-0 for the first time since 2012, the Cyclones have lost to then-No. 17 Baylor (31-24), No. 19 Kansas (14-11) and just this past weekend to No. 17 Kansas State (10-9). All close games that could have gone either way, but the optics of hiring a coach coming off a down year isn't ideal.

Iowa State goes on the road this Saturday to face a rejuvenated Texas team currently ranked No. 22. Campbell probably needs to finish 4-2 during the second half of the regular season. He might be a tough sell otherwise. If he can't stay above .500, Trev Alberts might be inclined to look elsewhere.

---

Get your Huskers tickets from SI Tickets here.

---