Matt Campbell & Job Openings.

MelroseHawkins

MelroseHawkins

Well-Known Member
I have this strong feeling that he will be leaving Iowa St after this season. I feel there are just too many high profile jobs/opportunities that have opened up and that are going to open up in the BIG and the SEC. I think this is the year to be able to move and kind of pick his spot. I feel he might like to coach in the BIG and he will have Penn St, Wisconsin & potentially Nebraska. Rhule is in the mix for Penn St. as he graduated from Penn St. and many feel this is his dream job. In addition, he'd prob like to get to the BIG as well.
 


Yeah I get that sense too. But I've had it a few other yrs with him too. I root for him to leave for the chaos of it all for ISU. I couldn't tell you if there's an obvious guy to take over for him there if he does leave. But ISU scrambling to replace him would sure be fun to watch cause as good as he's made them I don't think anyone would say it's a great job... It's still Ames Iowa in the Big 12. They seem to be struggling with $ as a school. So the finding another Campbell would be tough for them.

Am I scared of Campbell if he goes to Neb Wisky PSU or wherever else? God no he's not all that just look what's happened to ISU lately. How this coaching cycle plays out will be pretty interesting.
 


Matt Campbell needs to look no further than Luke Fickell to see what generally happens to lower tier guys who come into the B1G to coach.

Would he get a Big Ten job? Sure he would somewhere. I don't see him leaving his gravy train unless it's for the job of a lifetime., though. Wisconsin or nebraska ain't that, IMO.
 


Hawkfnntn said:
Yeah I get that sense too. But I've had it a few other yrs with him too. I root for him to leave for the chaos of it all for ISU. I couldn't tell you if there's an obvious guy to take over for him there if he does leave. But ISU scrambling to replace him would sure be fun to watch cause as good as he's made them I don't think anyone would say it's a great job... It's still Ames Iowa in the Big 12. They seem to be struggling with $ as a school. So the finding another Campbell would be tough for them.

Am I scared of Campbell if he goes to Neb Wisky PSU or wherever else? God no he's not all that just look what's happened to ISU lately. How this coaching cycle plays out will be pretty interesting.
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In addition, his QB Brecht is a senior. But what makes me lean more to it being after this season is there is going to be a huge arm's race to fill these coaching positions and the $$$$ will be huge these coaches get.
 


Fryowa said:
Matt Campbell needs to look no further than Luke Fickell to see what generally happens to lower tier guys who come into the B1G to coach.

Would he get a Big Ten job? Sure he would somewhere. I don't see him leaving his gravy train unless it's for the job of a lifetime., though. Wisconsin or nebraska ain't that, IMO.
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Going after $$$$ and what ends up being success are two separate measures. In general, schools are always taking risks when hiring new coaches so you really don't know how it's going to work out. See Bill Belichick.

I don't know what he has for children or age, but that may be the main reason he stays put if he has young or adolescent children in the schools system and like where they are.

Not sure Penn St. would hire, pretty sure he wouldn't leave for Nebby as that at the most is a collateral move at this point & he'd still be in the BIG 12 so no point in moving. I agree with you, IA State would be a better gig for him than at Nebby. For some reason, I could see him at Wisky if he has eyes on the BIG being from Ohio, and if they $$$$$$$ him.
 


Fryowa said:
Matt Campbell needs to look no further than Luke Fickell to see what generally happens to lower tier guys who come into the B1G to coach.

Would he get a Big Ten job? Sure he would somewhere. I don't see him leaving his gravy train unless it's for the job of a lifetime., though. Wisconsin or nebraska ain't that, IMO.
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Agreed. Iowa State was almost a cosmic/preordained thing for him -- he had an internal revelation he'd be coach there when his Toledo team came to play in Ames once.

It's known he covets the Notre Dame job, so if the ND coach gets hired as the new Penn St. coach, THEN things could get interesting in Ames. Other than that, he's got a pretty sweet gig in the weakest Power 4 conference in the nation, and even with a very average team he cracked the Top 10 this season!

In some ways his situation mirrors that of KF in the 'early years': seen as a coach always at the top of NFL and college coach openings.....but he never left. Then the bloom came off, the offers evaporated, and Ferentz stayed forever. If the perfect opening doesn't come for Campbell, is it possible he could be at Iowa St. for 25+ years like Kirk? Everyone says that will never happen again in college football, but I could imagine this being the unique exception.
 


Grady said:
Agreed. Iowa State was almost a cosmic/preordained thing for him -- he had an internal revelation he'd be coach there when his Toledo team came to play in Ames once.

It's known he covets the Notre Dame job, so if the ND coach gets hired as the new Penn St. coach, THEN things could get interesting in Ames. Other than that, he's got a pretty sweet gig in the weakest Power 4 conference in the nation, and even with a very average team he cracked the Top 10 this season!

In some ways his situation mirrors that of KF in the 'early years': seen as a coach always at the top of NFL and college coach openings.....but he never left. Then the bloom came off, the offers evaporated, and Ferentz stayed forever. If the perfect opening doesn't come for Campbell, is it possible he could be at Iowa St. for 25+ years like Kirk? Everyone says that will never happen again in college football, but I could imagine this being the unique exception.
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This is my line of thinking as well. My gut feeling is that it's not going to be the initial hire(s) that are mind blowing, but rather the the ripple effect across the county in who fills that second tier of openings after coaches leave for what they consider better opportunities and those programs with openings open their wallets.
 


Grady said:
Agreed. Iowa State was almost a cosmic/preordained thing for him -- he had an internal revelation he'd be coach there when his Toledo team came to play in Ames once.

It's known he covets the Notre Dame job, so if the ND coach gets hired as the new Penn St. coach, THEN things could get interesting in Ames. Other than that, he's got a pretty sweet gig in the weakest Power 4 conference in the nation, and even with a very average team he cracked the Top 10 this season!

In some ways his situation mirrors that of KF in the 'early years': seen as a coach always at the top of NFL and college coach openings.....but he never left. Then the bloom came off, the offers evaporated, and Ferentz stayed forever. If the perfect opening doesn't come for Campbell, is it possible he could be at Iowa St. for 25+ years like Kirk? Everyone says that will never happen again in college football, but I could imagine this being the unique exception.
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When did isu crack the top 10. When they lost to Cinci they were 14
 




One thing I'm sure of....
Last year was statistically amongst ISU's best ever
11 wins and finishing the season ranked 15.
Not their highest ranking.
They've finished the season ranked twice under Campbell. Which equals all the coaches before him dating back to 1980.

At best, 50-50 chance of finishing this season ranked. But, let's say they do. That's two years in a row being ranked. How many more seasons of having a final <25 ranking does he go before people see him as a quite hot commodity? I mean, Cignetti is the hottest commodity out there, based on a few decent (yet overhyped) years with Indiana and 2 very good ones, but still hasn't beaten OSU (as of this writing). Let's say the finish in the rankings this year, or even just outside of them. And come back next season and crack off another good year. Maybe even make the playoffs, which isn't that hard to do in Big 12. There's going to be a lot of money on the table for him at some point.

Can't argue he isn't a desirable coach. And he may also know that if ISU does falter in any way for a series of years....yah. his job is secure. But he may have missed striking while the iron is hot. Depends on what he values.

There's not a ton of coaches out there with more upside than him. But again, I don't know anything about actual football or program operations. All I know is what I see on Saturdays. I'm sure there's people out there who look real attractive. Which is why it won't surprise me if Iowa picks up a coach from...say...Toledo. Or Alcorn St. Or whatever seems very out of left field. It would absolutely surprise me to see PSU do something like that.

Which puts a healthy offer to a guy like Campbell in play. Sure, Rhatt Mule seems like a good fit. Other than he's not very good. I mean, yes. Nebraska is better. But it's Nebraska. They have a lot of things working for them and less working against them than most schools. I'd argue Mule hasn't shown that he's capable of building or leading an elite program.

Then again, there was nothing in Saban's career that would guarantee his results later at LSU and Alabama.
 






dagdaj said:
They finished 9th in 2020.
During those 'unprecedented times'
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rhoadsrockinfinal.gif
 


Given all the high profile openings this year, are we better off with 1 more year of softy Kirk? Or is the high profile coaching carousel here to stay in the NIL era?
 


Campbell has it pretty good at ISMoo. Low pressure, no NC expectations. I think he sticks around. I also think he's not as hot a coaching prospect as some think he is.
 


ISU has dropped two in a row against teams that aren't very good. They have two very likely losses coming up in the next two weeks against BYU and ASU. TCU is decent right after that. If they get beat by the Fightin' Sister Wives and Sun Devils to make it four in a row nobody's gonna come calling his name for a marquee job and he knows it. Better to just stay living in the Ames zip code.
 




Hawkboys said:
Given all the high profile openings this year, are we better off with 1 more year of softy Kirk? Or is the high profile coaching carousel here to stay in the NIL era?
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Hiring a head coach must be worse than buying a used car.
You just feel like you're going to be screwed no matter what you buy. Older model with fewer miles or a newer model with more miles. Just either way you feel like you're more likely to own a brick than a car within 6 months.

Which is why I see more ADs going with either promoting from within (Moore/Day) than trying to find the next hot thing, who may just be combining 'good' coaching with riding a lucky streak. I mean there was an era where Ferentz was a hot thing because (we know he is a 'good coach' and the stars aligned and he had a bit of luck). It was really only for the early part of his Iowa career. But once you're no longer the hot thing, it's hard to be put back on that shelf.

Just seems easier to pick someone who has no "BIG TIME" experience. I think it would be easier to go from Toledo to PSU these days than Toledo to ISU to PSU. Unless you did some amazing stuff at ISU.
Or Nebraska.

Personally, I haven't seen anything from Lester that would enthusiastically say "let's go with him!". This could change, too in a year or two. He deserves some time and space in the OC position. I would consider going with him, especially if Woods (or someone very much like him) was the OC. Basically giving him an interview in case Lester doesn't work out.

I dunno how many DCs get head coaching jobs. Would I consider it? I think so. If Parker felt and strongly said he could and wanted to. It would suck to see it not work and end....poorly. Because if Kirk's getting a statue, the Parker family needs at least a pavilion or and end zone or something (at bare minimum) to honor them.

Otherwise, I'm pretty fine with the guy from the Akron Zips or Northern Illinois (or whoever seems to have a knack for improving a program). Ideally someone with Iowa connections. Either played for or coached under Ferentz. Those connections seem to work fairly well for many schools.

At the end of the day.....it's a giant crapshoot.
 
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