Twists of fate led Matt Campbell to Iowa State

AMES — The team bus arrived at Jack Trice Stadium two hours and 45 minutes early and Toledo football coach Matt Campbell decided to take a walk to calm his nerves.

The Rockets were in town to play Iowa State on Oct. 11, 2014, for the Cyclones homecoming game and since they were ahead of schedule, Campbell wanted to walk through the tailgating lots amongst the fans.

What he saw caught him a bit off guard.

'As I watched the team do the spirit walk coming in I was blown away; the support, the energy, the fans,' Campbell said. 'Then the game started and every seat was full. The energy, the spirit, the culture that sat around this program was incredible.'

Just before he hopped on the bus following that game, he dialed his wife, Erica, and told her what he thought of the game day atmosphere at Iowa State. It was a place he could see himself in, if the job ever became available, to further his football career and raise his family.

'I said, 'Erica, you're not going to believe this place. Incredible. Culture, fans, facilities, people,'' Campbell remembered. 'This is a really special place.''

Less than 14 months later, Campbell was named the head coach at Iowa State in a move that was the culmination — although unexpected — of that day last October. A few twists of fate had to happen for the 36-year-old to end up in Ames after guiding Toledo to a 35-15 record in the last four seasons.

Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard zeroed in on Campbell after firing Paul Rhoads on Nov. 22, but uncertainty about whether the two would be able to meet was substantial. Toledo was playing Western Michigan last Friday for a chance to go to the MAC championship and Campbell would not talk about other opportunities until after that.

The first twist of fate came when the 9-2 Rockets lost the opportunity to extend their conference season.

'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. 'I also felt more convicted he was the person because he was putting the young men in that locker room ahead of himself.'

Iowa State used Parker Executive Search to conduct the coaching search and met with Campbell in Detroit on Saturday morning for the interview. After spending several hours meeting, Campbell and his wife were ready to make the move to Ames with their three children — and a fourth on the way.

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. He announced ISU running backs coach Lou Ayeni will stay on staff and Football Scoop reported Illinois' tight ends and special teams coordinator Alex Golesh will be tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at Iowa State.

'I'd like to hurry, but also I'm not going to make a mistake,' Campbell said. 'I'm going to be diligent and I'm going to do a really good job in making sure we put the right people here. Our football players here deserve the right people and I'm going to make sure I do that the right way.'

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