Matthew Allen Campbell (born November 29, 1979) is an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

coach. He is the head football coach at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, a position he has held since the 2016 season. Campbell was head football coach at the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of T ...

from 2011 to 2015. Prior to that, Campbell had been an assistant at Toledo,

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

, and Mount Union. Campbell grew up in Ohio and briefly attended the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

before transferring to Mount Union, where he played defensive line.

Playing career

Campbell was born in

Massillon, Ohio Massillon is a city in Stark County, Ohio, Stark County in the U.S. state of Ohio, approximately west of Canton, Ohio, Canton, south of Akron, and south of Cleveland. The population was 32,146 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Mass ...

. His father Rick coached football at Jackson High School. Matt played football at rival

Perry Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. It is also mad ...

, which won three conference championships while he was on the team. Campbell initially attended the

on an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United Stat ...

in 1998, but transferred to the

University of Mount Union The University of Mount Union is a private university in Alliance, Ohio. Founded in 1846, the university was affiliated with the Methodist Church until the spring of 2019. In the fall of 2020, Mount Union had an enrollment of 1,958 undergraduat ...

after a year. At Mount Union, Campbell played on the

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...

between 1999 and 2002. At Mount Union, Campbell played for head coach

Larry Kehres Larry Kehres (born September 7, 1949) is a former American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the University of Mount Union—formerly known as Mount Union College—in Alliance, Ohio for 27 ...

, whose teams won three Division III championships during Campbell's career. Campbell himself was twice named to the

College Football All-America Team The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term ''All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Football ...

and named

Ohio Athletic Conference The Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) was formed in 1902 and is the third oldest athletic conference in the United States. Its current commissioner is Sarah Otey. Former commissioners include Mike Cleary, who was the first General Manager of a profe ...

Defensive Lineman of the Year.

Coaching career

After college, Campbell stayed within Ohio and took a job as a graduate assistant at

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

from 2003–2004. While at Bowling Green

Scott Pioli Scott Pioli (born March 31, 1965) is an American football executive who most recently worked as the Assistant General Manager for the Atlanta Falcons. He was an NFL analyst for NBC Sports' '' Football Night in America'', NBC Sports Network's Pro ...

, then the director of player personnel for the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, offered Campbell an interview for a job at the team, but Campbell declined. Campbell returned to Mount Union for 2005–2006 as

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

; Mount Union won the Division III championship both years. Campbell then went back to Bowling Green for two years, first as offensive line coach (2007) and then as offensive line coach/run game coordinator (2008). The

hired him as the run game coordinator for the 2009 season. This move reunited him with head coach

Tim Beckman Timothy David Beckman (born January 19, 1965) is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Toledo from 2009 to 2011 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 2012 to 2014, compi ...

, defensive coordinator at Bowling Green during Campbell's first stint there.

Toledo

Toledo promoted Campbell to offensive coordinator in 2010. Toledo made Campbell the permanent head coach at the end of 2011 when Beckman departed for the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

. He was 32 years old and the youngest head coach in the

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

. Two weeks into the job, Toledo defeated

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

in the

Military Bowl The Military Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that has been played annually each December in the Washington metropolitan area since 2008. The game was originally held a ...

. Reportedly Campbell passed on a chance to serve on

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fro ...

's staff at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. Campbell coached four full seasons at Toledo: 2012–2015, amassing a record of 35–15. The 2015 team peaked at 20 in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

, including a victory over

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Iowa State

named Campbell its head coach on November 29, 2015, his 36th birthday, replacing the fired

Paul Rhoads Paul Robert Rhoads (born February 2, 1967) is an American college football coach. He is currently an analyst at Ohio State Buckeyes football, Ohio State. A long-time Power Five conferences, major conference assistant coach and head coach, he is ...

. Campbell signed a six-year, $22.5 million extension with the school on November 27, 2017. Campbell was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year twice. In his

second year Second year (also known as S2 in Scotland) is the second year of schooling in secondary schools in Scotland and in the Republic of Ireland, and is roughly equivalent to Year 9 in England and Wales and Year 10 (Third Form) in Northern Ireland. M ...

, Campbell led Iowa State to an 8–5 season that included wins against #3

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

and #4 TCU. Iowa State won their bowl game that year against the

Memphis Tigers The Memphis Tigers are the athletic teams that represent the University of Memphis, located in Memphis, Tennessee. The teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the American Athletic C ...

in the

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic City ...

. During his

third year Third year, also known as S3, is the third year of schooling in Scottish secondary schools, and is roughly equivalent to Year 10 in England and Wales and Year 11 in Northern Ireland. Most pupils are 14 or 15 years old at the end of S3. Traditio ...

at Iowa State, he led the Cyclones to a second 8–5 season. This included a 6–3 record in Big 12 play, their most conference wins in history. In 2018, Campbell was reportedly requested for an interview for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

NFL team, however, he declined the interview. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Campbell led the Cyclones to their best season in decades. The Cyclones finished in first place in the Big 12, their first regular-season first-place finish of any sort in 119 years, it was also the first Togetherness Championship in the schools's history. However, they lost the Big 12 title game to

. They were selected for the 2021 Fiesta Bowl, the first major-bowl appearance in school history, and defeated Oregon 34-17. They finished ninth in both major polls, the highest final ranking in school history. On February 8, 2021, Iowa State announced a new contract extension for Campbell through the 2028 season. It was reported that Campbell was offered an eight-year, $68.5 million deal by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

for their head coaching position in 2021, but other reports said that the Lions never put an offer on the table.

Head coaching record

* Departed Toledo for Iowa State before bowl game

Personal life

In the summer of 2022, Campbell served as the Head Coach of the

Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South ...

6th grade softball team. The team rallied from a 4-2 third inning deficit to defeat Roland-Story in the championship game.

References

External links

Iowa State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Matt 1979 births Living people American football defensive linemen Bowling Green Falcons football coaches Mount Union Purple Raiders football coaches Mount Union Purple Raiders football players Pittsburgh Panthers football players Toledo Rockets football coaches Sportspeople from Massillon, Ohio Coaches of American football from Ohio Players of American football from Ohio