Matt Campbell’s Iowa State coaching tenure consists of so many accomplishments that it could fill the Cyclones’ football encyclopedia from cover to cover. He’s easily the program’s best football figure, arguably the university’s greatest coach and perhaps as important as athletic director Jamie Pollard in elevating Iowa State from the Power 4 doldrums to solid footing.
With Campbell leaving for Penn State after 10 seasons in Ames, many Iowa State fans have reached the ugly crying phase of a breakup. Campbell’s preferred black jerseys likely will find a bonfire and families will ban the term “five-star culture” from holiday celebrations this month. Some are overreacting and that’s understandable; Iowa State supporters don’t need advice on how to process Campbell’s departure. Most figured this day would come, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.
Sure, it’s dulled a bit by the Cyclones hiring former Washington State coach Jimmy Rogers within hours of Campbell’s departure, but this is the flip side of the coaching carousel that as an industry we don’t explain very well.
Well, there’s a group of people who are mourning right now. Campbell wasn’t a native Iowan, but he became one of them. It’s not unlike what they experienced a decade ago when hometown icon Fred Hoiberg left to coach the Chicago Bulls. They’ll survive Campbell heading east, too. They’re resilient.
No fan base embodies the key phrase of its fight song — “Loyal Sons, Forever True” — like the Cyclones faithful. More than 10,000 fans traveled to Ireland for the season opener against Kansas State. Since 2011, at least 50,000 fans have filled Jack Trice Stadium in 91 consecutive countable games. But there was little reward for their devotion outside of a few upsets until Campbell arrived 10 years ago. Only once had Iowa State won nine games in a season (2000) and only once in 20 years as a Big 12 program had it posted a winning league record (5-3 in 2000).
Since Campbell’s second season, the Cyclones have won more Big 12 games (48) than any other program. They’ve finished with winning Big 12 seasons in eight of the last nine years and every team they have played home and away over that time frame, they’ve beaten in both locations. That includes Texas, Oklahoma and Iowa. Campbell has a 72-55 overall record after starting 1-8 in 2016. Of the Cyclones’ 10 eight-win seasons since the Big Six formed in 1928, Campbell has five.
When Iowa State hired Campbell on his 36th birthday almost exactly 10 years ago, nobody could have predicted these results. For some fans, there was a defeatist attitude that he’d either fail or experience marginal success and bolt. But if they felt that way, they didn’t show it, and Campbell sure didn’t feel it.
“You’re coming off some really tough years, where 3-9, 2-10 were kind of the norm,” Campbell told The Athletic this spring. “But I think there was an appreciation, even though we weren’t winning those games, we were getting better.
“Some of the things for me that have been enjoyable, from my perspective, is to give this fan base something to be, not just appreciative of, but something to be really proud of. I feel like every time we step on the field, we need to be.”
Campbell said one of his “most powerful moments” was the 2017 Liberty Bowl, when Iowa State fans sold out Memphis’ minor-league baseball stadium for a pregame pep rally. They stepped up financially when required to the We Will Collective and float more money toward Campbell when NFL teams and high-profile college programs came calling. Campbell reciprocated by forfeiting part of his salary during COVID-19 and has never shied from public events. He has also built a consistent winner.
Campbell gave the program its first top-10 finish and major bowl win (2020), claimed a school-record 11 wins last year and earned pair of Big 12 title appearances. He has won with three different groups of core players, beginning with David Montgomery, Joel Lanning and Allen Lazard in 2017, then Breece Hall and Brock Purdy in 2020-21, and now with Rocco Becht.
Iowa State fans are perhaps the most self-aware in the win-now environment that consumes college football. Sure, there are a few who chide Campbell for losses, but largely they understand their place in the greater sports landscape. With six Big Ten and one SEC team either inside or on its state border, Iowa State always will fight an uphill battle for revenue and attention.
Campbell evened out that deficit with his focus on development and, his favorite phrase, the process. He removed excuse making as the comfortable, but unbecoming, crutch that often consumed the program before his arrival. He sought players who fit what he wanted in a football culture, which in turn became players that fit what Iowa State fans wanted representing them. They were smart, tough and character-driven. They still are.
The Cyclones’ pain will subside in time. Rogers will establish his own culture and Iowa State fans will rally and support the program. One day, Campbell and Iowa State will have a moment where they can properly appreciate one another away from the chaos of the moment. That will be deeply meaningful for all involved, especially Campbell. This was an excruciating decision for him and his family.
Likewise, Iowa State fans don’t deserve the heartbreak of the moment, and they have become collateral damage in the business of college sports. But they can take pride in their fortitude. It takes a special person to cheer for Iowa State. Fans don’t hop on the bandwagon and coast to success in Ames; they build it themselves and drag it along if they must. And now they’ll do it all over again.