The Craziest 24 Hours in Toledo Football History -- Matt Campbell to Iowa State

MATT CAMPBELL ACCEPTS OFFER TO BECOME THE NEXT HEAD COACH AT... IOWA STATE? 

Now former Toledo head coach,
Matt Campbell.

By: Zach Harig -- November 29, 2015

What a 24 hours for the Toledo Football program. It wasn't a secret, Toledo head coach, Matt Campbell was going to be a highly sought after commodity for top-tier football programs around the country. Programs such as Missouri, South Carolina, Southern California, and Virginia Tech were among the many seeking replacements for a head football coach. No matter what job it was, Matt Campbell's name seemed to surface frequently. However, following a 35-30 loss to Western Michigan on Friday, Campbell seemed to put all of those rumors to rest with one simple response after being asked about the Missouri coaching vacancy:

"It's really easy: I haven't talked to anybody. I have zero interest in terms of anything other than this football team and being its head football coach. That's always been my stand on that. This is really important to me, and doing it the right way and getting it to where it needs to be is important to me."

Refreshing to say the least, right? According to a source that was inside the Toledo locker room following Friday's loss, Campbell addressed the team, stating the exact same thing as he did in the press conference. Campbell stood in front of the team, told them he was going to be back and how he didn't have interest in other jobs. Well, mid-day Saturday, the Missouri rumors once again flared up, stating that Campbell would be interviewed to replace former head coach, Gary Pinkel. From there, a school that nobody expected to be affiliated with Matt Campbell's name appeared. Iowa State. Yes, the mighty Cyclones of Iowa State, a Big 12 bottom-feeder for the past one hundred years. At first, Toledo fans were laughing at the thought of Campbell even considering Iowa State. After all, the Rockets defeated the lowly Cyclones, 30-23 in overtime back on September 19. Slowly but surely, those rumors began to take off. In fact, Sports Illustrated actually reported late Saturday evening that a deal was in place for Campbell to become the new head man at Iowa State and an announcement was imminent.

Following the news, Toledo Athletic Director Mike O'Brien, "fought like hell," to retain Campbell by offering him a contract extension which would have made him the highest paid coach in the Mid-American Conference, over P.J. Fleck of Western Michigan, who makes nearly $800,000 per year. In fact, Campbell's extension was rumored to be in the ballpark of a million-dollars a year. After apparently mulling the offers over for several hours, Campbell made his decision just after midnight on Sunday morning.

Quickly, the social media world was overwhelmed by news that broke at 12:27 AM by Toledo Blade writer, Nick Piotrowicz via Twitter -- Campbell was leaving for Iowa State. The tweet spread and was backed up by Iowa State journalists confirming the report before ESPN and Bleacher Report jumped in as well. Following the news, Toledo fans were left shaking their head. Sure, Campbell was a hot commodity, but Iowa State?

As illustrated, Campbell was a big candidate for schools such as Missouri as well, which would have been a much better job, especially in the SEC. However, there was no guarantee there would be an offer sent Campbell's way, as the Tigers began to weigh their options. For Iowa State and their Athletic Director, Jamie Pollard, they knew who they wanted and they had only one true candidate, it was Matt Campbell. Rather than wait and be passed over, Campbell jumped at the offer. Campbell and Iowa State reportedly met on Friday evening after Pollard flew into Detroit Metro Airport. And yes, for those wondering, Pollard is the same AD that gave former Cyclone head coach, Paul Rhoads, a ten-year contract extension following the 2011 season, which would lead to Rhoads ultimately leading the Cyclone to an 11-26 overall mark in three seasons following, leading to his firing. What's to lose for Campbell? Who will have extreme job security since Iowa State is used to being at the bottom of the Big 12. It's a patient work in progress out in Ames, Iowa, where by the way, Campbell will be at least tripling his salary.

The confusion, shock, and utter disbelief of Rocket Nation was evident on social media early Sunday morning following the news being confirmed. Some Toledo players, both past and present, took to Twitter to voice their opinions towards Campbell's departure.

Junior defensive end, John Stepec.

True freshman kicker, Jameson Vest.

Redshirt-freshman safety, Marcus Whitfield.

True freshman offensive lineman, Cameron Bell.

True freshman quarterback, Mitch Guadagni.

True freshman defensive lineman, Nate Childress.

Former Toledo center and current
Houston Texan, Greg Mancz.

"...Doing it the right way and getting it to where it needs to be is important to me," Campbell stated in his post-game press conference as far as how he wants to build the Toledo program. After those words were said, it appears a complete 180 has occurred since. In Campbell's defense, media can get in the way of plans to "do things the right way," but that has to be understood by coaches. It is likely that Campbell wanted to tell the team himself on Sunday or Monday during meetings, rather than having them find out via social media, but in the world of smart phones, situations like these get leaked more often than not. Therefore, players are crushed into a state of utter disbelief, uncertain of their own futures.

Toledo offensive coordinator and long-time friend of Matt
Campbell, Jason Candle, could be Toledo's next head coach.

So what now? Well, Iowa State is expected to introduce Campbell on Sunday or Monday afternoon, with conflicting reports. The Toledo coaching staff and players will remain in the dark until Campbell addresses them which will likely come Sunday afternoon or evening. As far as a coaching staff, reports are that offensive line coach, Tom Manning will be tagging along with Campbell to become a part of his staff in Ames. The real question is whether offensive coordinator, Jason Candle stays at Toledo to likely become the next head coach or does he become a part of the new staff as well? At running backs, it will be interesting. Former Toledo running backs coach, Lou Ayeni was on the Paul Rhoads staff that was let go at season's end, but rumors are Campbell will retain Ayeni for his staff at Iowa State. Ultimately, if that is the case, current Toledo running backs coach, Anthony Johnson will most likely stick around in the Glass City as well.

Although it's hard to believe, now that Campbell is gone, Toledo will immediately look to fill their coaching vacancy. The best case scenario is for the Rockets to look internally with either offensive coordinator, Jason Candle or defensive coordinator, Jon Heacock. Candle has repeatedly been named a top-ten assistant in all the entire FBS for both his recruiting efforts and play on the field and has been with the Rockets for five full seasons now. Heacock, in turn, has been around for decades and has been a coordinator in the Big Ten at Purdue as well. The Toledo defense has improved drastically under Heacock, who is the more experienced candidate, although only in his second season at Toledo this go around after returning from his graduate assistant days. However, you can't rule out both of those guys following Campbell to Ames and leaving Larimer Athletic Complex entirely empty.

Money talks, as evident with Matt Campbell eating his words
just one day later and leaving for Iowa State.

Truthfully, the Mid-American Conference will always be a coaching hot bed. Coaches don't have success like Campbell did, going 35-15 overall, just to stick around and continue playing in the MAC. Ever since the days of Nick Saban, Gary Pinkel, Urban Meyer, and even coaches prior to that, MAC coaches have been propelled to bigger jobs. Despite a major pay raise and contract extension offer from Toledo, Campbell accepted the deal to head to the Big 12. Iowa State will need to buyout Campbell's contract for a small fee of $200,000 and although the terms of the deal are not yet being released, the contract is reportedly nearly three to four-times the amount that Campbell was making per year, which was around $500,000.

Right or wrong, money speaks, that's just the world we live in. Maybe Campbell wasn't expecting to bounce out of Northwest Ohio this season, but with the money, connections, and bigger conference, anything can happen. One thing is for certain, the Toledo players are extremely hurt and in a tough place as of Sunday morning. The longer Toledo Athletic Director, Mike O'Brien prolongs a coaching search, the worse, especially when it comes to the 2016 recruiting class, which is one of the best Toledo has ever had. A lot of times when coaches leave, recruits like to decommit, so it'll be something to keep an eye on.

In Ames, Iowa, Campbell will have his work cut out for him. Since 1995, three Iowa State coaches have combined for a 90-141 overall record. Aside from this, the Cyclones have not had a winning season since 2009. Rocket fans that were awake when the news broke remain in a state of shock, while those that were asleep, are in for hell when they open their eyes in the morning.





'The Glass City Sports Report' will be live from 8-10 pm on Sunday, November 29th on 88.3 FM - WXUT in Toledo & will have all reaction from the Matt Campbell saga, including calls from Iowa State and Toledo journalists that broke the story. Tune in or stream the show live by clicking HERE.

Questions? Comments? Interact with Zach on Twitter: @ToledoZach