Campbell, Ayeni hope to carry vision from Toledo to Iowa State

AMES — Matt Campbell and Lou Ayeni were nearing Gary, Ind., in their drive to Chicago to see some of Toledo's most important recruits when the phone rang.

The two young men were both on the Rockets coaching staff and had helped build the program into a winner under coach Tim Beckman. In 2011, on the other end of that ringing phone, was UT athletics director Mike O'Brien.

He had an urgent question he wanted to ask Campbell — the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for the last couple years. Beckman was leaving for Illinois, and the Rockets needed a new leader.

'Matt, how would you like to be the youngest coach in Division I football and come back and lead our football program?' Campbell remembered O'Brien asking.

'He had it on speaker so I could hear it and Matt is like, 'Absolutely,'' Ayeni said. '(O'Brien) said, 'Well you guys have a press conference in three hours, you guys have to get back here.''

Ayeni acted as Campbell's ghost writer for the introductory press conference speech after a quick change of direction on that stretch of highway. The two talked about where they wanted to elevate the program. They spoke of a vision and a process.

'I think you better have a blueprint because it's really hard to fly by the seat of your pants and try to have success,' Campbell said. 'I think what you want to build your program to is to build your program to the point where you're doing everything in your power to play great football in the month of November so you have a chance to play for a championship.'

Toledo never won a MAC championship in Campbell's four seasons, but the Rockets went 35-15 during that span and earned three nine-win campaigns that was built upon the strength of a consistent ground attack.

When the 2015 regular season ended for Toledo and the ISU job was available, Campbell wanted to talk to Ayeni — the ISU running backs coach for the last two seasons — about what it would take to build a winner at Iowa State.

'Yeah we were bouncing a million things off each other,' Campbell said. 'Most importantly he's like my fashion stylist. He's a good-looking dresser so I think a little bit of all those things went into play. Lou's been a great friend. I love the way he coaches young people and love what he stands for.'

Ayeni sat at the back of the room on Nov. 30 as the 36-year-old Campbell was introduced as the new Cyclones coach and it took him right back to that memory of the car rolling down the road four years ago. It felt just like old times.

'When he was talking to me I could feel his energy,' Ayeni said. 'I knew he wanted to do something special here and I knew he wanted to be here. I said to myself the first thing is you want to be here, man. So let's do this.'

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