Matt Campbell’s Impact at Iowa State Validated by National Ranking

It’s no hot take to dub Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell as the best coach in program history. Heading into his 10th season, he’s already the program’s all-time wins leader, and he’s coming off a campaign that saw the Cyclones win 11 games for the first time and come as close as ever to winning a Big 12 Championship.

Plenty of folks in the college football world thought his hiring in 2016 was just another step on the ladder to his ascension in the coaching landscape. But he’s stayed, despite interest from more prestigious programs. He’s built Iowa State into a respected program that feeds more talent to the NFL than ever before, is competitive against the sport’s top programs, and is building more and more momentum as his tenure continues.

It’s for those reasons CBS Sports named him the No. 15 coach on a list ranking the top 25 hires of the past 25 seasons. The only coach ranked above him without a conference championship win was Mike Leach to Texas Tech. The only coach ranked above him who was hired as recently as 2016 was Kirby Smart to Georgia in the same year. Every coach ranked above him has a legitimate claim to Hall of Fame status. 

“If Campbell can eventually break through and win the program's first conference title since 1912, he'd easily slide into the top 10,” CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah wrote about Campbell in his entry. “And most scary: he's only 45.”

It certainly feels as though it’s only a matter of time before he gets over the conference championship hurdle. His teambuilding prowess benefits greatly from the recent evolutions to college football that have created more parity. With each season that he lifts a squad of mid-ranked recruits to within a breath of contendership, it’s another building block toward a bright future in Ames.

“That’s probably been the greatest joy of being at Iowa State: you can build a team, you can build culture, you can build unity,” Campbell said in an interview with Cyclone Fanatic earlier this June.

Campbell signed an eight-year contract extension with the program in December that is scheduled to keep him in Ames through 2032. He’s turned down coaching gigs with the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears. He’s turned down the Washington Huskies and several other college jobs. Few college football fans can see the date a contract extension ends and have any sort of hope that their coach would actually see it through. But Matt Campbell is one, and it’s a big reason why he’s held in such high regard across the college football landscape.