 Campbell at 2017 Big 12 Media Days | |
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Iowa State |
| Conference | Big 12 |
| Record | 71–55 |
| Annual salary | $4 million (2021) |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | (1979-11-29)November 29, 1979 (age 45) Massillon, Ohio, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1998 | Pittsburgh |
| 1999–2002 | Mount Union |
| Position | Defensive lineman |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 2003–2004 | Bowling Green (GA) |
| 2005–2006 | Mount Union (OC/OL) |
| 2007 | Bowling Green (OL) |
| 2008 | Bowling Green (RGC/OL) |
| 2009 | Toledo (RGC/OL) |
| 2010–2011 | Toledo (OC/OL) |
| 2012–2015 | Toledo |
| 2016–present | Iowa State |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 106–70 |
| Bowls | 5–5 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 2MAC West Division (2014–2015) | |
| Awards | |
| MAC Coach of the Year (2015) 3×Big 12 Coach of the Year (2017, 2018, 2020) 2× AP Big 12 Coach of the Year (2017, 2020) | |
Matthew Allen Campbell (born November 29, 1979) is an Americancollege football coach. He is the head football coach atIowa State University, a position he has held since the 2016 season. Campbell was head football coach at theUniversity of Toledo from 2011 to 2015. Prior to that, Campbell had been an assistant at Toledo,Bowling Green, andMount Union. Campbell grew up in Ohio and briefly attended theUniversity of Pittsburgh before transferring to Mount Union, where he played defensive line.
Campbell was born inMassillon, Ohio. His father Rick coached football atJackson High School.[1] Matt played football at rivalPerry, which won three conference championships while he was on the team.[2] Campbell initially attended theUniversity of Pittsburgh on anathletic scholarship in 1998, but transferred to theUniversity of Mount Union after a year.[3] At Mount Union, Campbell played on thedefensive line between 1999 and 2002.[4] At Mount Union, Campbell played for head coachLarry Kehres, whose teams won threeDivision III championships during Campbell's career. Campbell himself was twice named to theCollege Football All-America Team and namedOhio Athletic Conference Defensive Lineman of the Year.[5]
After college, Campbell stayed within Ohio and took a job as a graduate assistant atBowling Green State University from 2003 to 2004.[6] While at Bowling GreenScott Pioli, then the director of player personnel for theNew England Patriots, offered Campbell an interview for a job at the team, but Campbell declined.[2] Campbell returned to Mount Union for 2005–2006 asoffensive coordinator; Mount Union won the Division III championship both years.[6] 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). TheUniversity of Toledo hired him as the run game coordinator for the 2009 season. This move reunited him with head coachTim Beckman, defensive coordinator at Bowling Green during Campbell's first stint there.[7]
Toledo promoted Campbell to offensive coordinator in 2010. Toledo made Campbell the permanent head coach at the end of 2011 when Beckman departed for theUniversity of Illinois. He was 32 years old and the youngest head coach in theFootball Bowl Subdivision.[8] Two weeks into the job,Toledo defeatedAir Force in theMilitary Bowl.[2] Reportedly Campbell passed on a chance to serve onUrban Meyer's staff atOhio State University.[9] Campbell coached four full seasons at Toledo: 2012–2015, amassing a record of 35–15.[4] The2015 team peaked atNo. 19 in theAP Poll, including a victory overArkansas.[9]
Iowa State University named Campbell its head coach on November 29, 2015, his 36th birthday, replacing the firedPaul Rhoads. Campbell signed a six-year, $22.5 million extension with the school on November 27, 2017.[10] Campbell was named theBig 12 Coach of the Year twice.[11] In hissecond year, Campbell led Iowa State to an 8–5 season that included wins againstNo. 3Oklahoma andNo. 4TCU. Iowa State won their bowl game that year against theMemphis Tigers in theLiberty Bowl. During histhird year atIowa 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 theNew York Jets NFL team, however, he declined the interview.[12]
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. However, they lost the Big 12 title game toOklahoma. They were selected for the2021 Fiesta Bowl, the first major-bowl appearance in school history, and defeatedNo. 25Oregon 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 theDetroit Lions for their head coaching position in 2021, but other reports said that the Lions never put an offer on the table.[13][14]
On September 28, 2024, Campbell passedDan McCarney to become the winningest coach in school history with a shutout victory overHouston. Additionally in 2024, the program got off to its best start since 1938 and reached 11 wins for the first time ever by winning the2024 Pop-Tarts Bowl againstNo. 15Miami (FL) in a 42–41 win.[15] This bowl game win marked the fourth time in the season that Iowa State got a winning score with less than two minutes remaining.
On August 1, 2025, Campbell finalized a contract extension through the 2032 season.[16][17] He followed this up with a season-opening win over 17th ranked Kansas State, who was the favorite to win the Big 12, in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland. This marked Campbell's 100th career victory as a head coach.[18]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toledo Rockets(Mid-American Conference)(2011–2015) | |||||||||
| 2011 | Toledo | 1–0 | 0–0 | WMilitary | |||||
| 2012 | Toledo | 9–4 | 6–2 | T–2nd(West) | LFamous Idaho Potato | ||||
| 2013 | Toledo | 7–5 | 5–3 | T–3rd(West) | |||||
| 2014 | Toledo | 9–4 | 7–1 | T–1st(West) | WGoDaddy | ||||
| 2015 | Toledo | 9–2 | 6–2 | T–1st(West) | Boca Raton* | ||||
| Toledo: | 35–15 | 24–8 | *Departed Toledo for Iowa State before bowl game | ||||||
| Iowa State Cyclones(Big 12 Conference)(2016–present) | |||||||||
| 2016 | Iowa State | 3–9 | 2–7 | 9th | |||||
| 2017 | Iowa State | 8–5 | 5–4 | T–4th | WLiberty | ||||
| 2018 | Iowa State | 8–5 | 6–3 | T–3rd | LAlamo | ||||
| 2019 | Iowa State | 7–6 | 5–4 | T–3rd | LCamping World | ||||
| 2020 | Iowa State | 9–3 | 8–1 | 1st | WFiesta† | 9 | 9 | ||
| 2021 | Iowa State | 7–6 | 5–4 | 4th | LCheez-It | ||||
| 2022 | Iowa State | 4–8 | 1–8 | 10th | |||||
| 2023 | Iowa State | 7–6 | 6–3 | T–4th | LLiberty | ||||
| 2024 | Iowa State | 11–3 | 7–2 | T–1st | WPop-Tarts | 15 | 15 | ||
| 2025 | Iowa State | 7–4 | 4–4 | ||||||
| Iowa State: | 71–55 | 49–40 | |||||||
| Total: | 106–70 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| |||||||||
In the summer of 2022, Campbell served as the head coach of theGilbert 6th grade softball team. The team rallied from a 4–2 third inning deficit to defeatRoland-Story in the championship game.[19] He has four children with his wife, Erica Campbell.