Where Matt Campbell could go if Iowa State football failures continue

Matt Campbell watched his Iowa State football team crash and burn in 2022. If he can’t turn things back around in Ames, where might we see him next?

When knowing the history behind the Iowa State football program, it might be hard to imagine that it won nine games (the last of which was a major bowl) just a few years ago—but it did, and one of the gentlemen that got the most love for it was head coach Matt Campbell.

Campbell first led the Cyclones into battle in 2016 and has since given them five winning seasons, three of which saw eight wins or more. To give an idea of how monumental that stat is, Iowa State football had just one year with eight wins or more between 1978 and Campbell’s arrival.

With that success in mind, it’s hard to imagine Campbell going anywhere but up in his coaching career; if he can give such a sorry program that kind of stability, what could go wrong? I would say nothing, but only if said stability can remain intact—which it’s seemingly struggling to do.

Think about it: We just analyzed Campbell’s ISU résumé by looking at the clash between the program’s historical standards and his number of winning seasons, but that’s not the only way to break this matter down. In fact, we can apply much more context to it, and that makes things visibly less lovely.