Many expected Campbell to jump ship at some point, but did not expect Iowa State to be his top pick.
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Nobody will argue the idea Matt Campbell is taking on a tall order to make Iowa State a respected football program in the years to come. Second year defensive coordinator Jon Heacock was named the interim head coach as the team prepares for a bowl game and the school will conduct a national search to find the next head man.
“Matt’s coaching and playing achievements are extraordinary, but we were even more impressed by his character, leadership and commitment to his family”, Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard said in a release.
Campbell said he will meet with every Iowa State player one-on-one in the next two days as well as interview current ISU coaches to fill out his staff, but doesn’t have a timeline when his staff will be completed.
“I knew if we had to wait a week in this landscape, it probably wasn’t going to turn out the way I wanted it to turn out”, Pollard said.
Iowa State paid former coach Paul Rhoads, who was sacked last week, $2.2 million this year.
But the Bowling Green State University football coach is in a tough spot.
According to Wiltfong, Campbell took great pride in establishing bonds at Toledo.
UT students are disappointed that their talented head coach is moving on. We’ve come a long way for sure being ranked in the top 25 nearly the whole season, beating two power five schools is awesome.
A press conference to introduce Campbell was held Monday in Ames. He had already been in the program since 2009 working with the offensive line. Iowa State started slowly cutting into the lead as the last 12 minutes of the half saw six ties and seven lead changes.
Quarterback Skyler Howard was erratic for a large part of the day, completing only 12 of 26 passes, but he was more than effective on the ground, finishing the day with 13 carries for a team-high 73 yards and a touchdown.
The Vikings (2-4) were paced by forward Demonte Flannigan, who had 11 of his 20 points in the first half, and guard Rob Edwards, who had 14 points.
Schmidt has spent plenty of time with IL players since the offseason as injuries continued to mount. “I’m as loyal as you’re going to get”.
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Campbell and his wife (Erica) have three young children: Kaetlyn, Isabella and Rudy and are expecting their fourth child in February.
