He actually left. For years, every time a big-name job opened up in the NFL or at a blue-blood college program, the same rumor mill started churning. Matt Campbell to the Lions. Matt Campbell to Michigan. Matt Campbell to Notre Dame. He always stayed. He’d tweet about "the process" or talk about the loyalty he owed to Ames, and Cyclone fans would breathe a collective sigh of relief.
But in December 2025, the cycle finally broke.
Matt Campbell is no longer the head coach at Iowa State. After a decade of turning one of the hardest places to win into a consistent Big 12 threat, he headed east to take the Penn State job. It’s a weird feeling. For a whole generation of students at Iowa State, Campbell was the program. He didn’t just coach games; he changed the entire DNA of a school that used to be happy just making a bowl game once every four years.
The 11-Win Peak and the 2024 Magic
If you want to understand why Penn State backed up the truck for him, you have to look at the 2024 season. It was historic. Literally. Iowa State had been playing football for 133 seasons and had never won 10 games in a single year. Campbell didn't just hit 10; he got them to 11.
That 2024 run was vintage Campbell. They weren't loaded with five-star recruits. Honestly, they rarely cracked the top 50 in recruiting rankings. But they had guys like Rocco Becht and a defense that played like their lives depended on every third-down stop. They made the Big 12 Championship, and even though they lost a heartbreaker to Arizona State, they bounced back to beat Miami in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
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Yes, the Pop-Tarts Bowl. It sounds silly, but that 42-41 win over a more "talented" Miami roster was the perfect summary of the Campbell era. Do more with less. Out-culture the opponent.
What Most People Get Wrong About His Loyalty
There’s this narrative that Campbell stayed at Iowa State because he was "scared" of the big stage or didn't want the pressure. That’s total nonsense. You don’t turn down a reported $68.5 million from the Detroit Lions because you’re scared. You do it because you’re building something specific.
Campbell was obsessed with the idea of a "five-star culture" versus "five-star players." He took three-star kids from Ohio and Florida and turned them into NFL starters like Breece Hall, David Montgomery, and some guy named Brock Purdy. You’ve probably heard of him.
He even took a pay cut in 2025. Think about that. In the era of NIL and coaching salaries exploding past $10 million, Campbell signed an extension through 2032 that paid him $5 million—a "discount" in the coaching world—just so the school could use the extra million for assistant coaches and player revenue sharing. He was all in. Until he wasn't.
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The 2025 Season: A Long Goodbye?
His final year in Ames, the 2025 season, was a bit of a rollercoaster. It started with a bang—beating Kansas State in Ireland. They were ranked as high as No. 12 in the AP Poll by mid-September. Then, the wheels sort of wobbled. They lost four straight in the middle of the season, including a frustrating 24-19 loss to Arizona State.
But true to form, Campbell didn’t let the locker room quit. They rallied to win their last three games, finishing 8-4.
The ending was abrupt, though. On December 5, 2025, the news broke: Campbell was gone. The most successful coach in Iowa State history—a man with 72 wins and a 55.7% winning percentage—was leaving. The team actually opted out of their 2025 bowl game shortly after. They cited a lack of healthy players, but everyone knew the air had been sucked out of the building.
The Legacy He Left Behind
It’s easy to look at the stats.
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- Three-time Big 12 Coach of the Year.
- Winningest coach in school history.
- First New Year's Six bowl win (Fiesta Bowl over Oregon).
But the real impact is the "Standard." Before Campbell, Iowa State was a graveyard for coaching careers. He proved that you can actually win there. He proved that Ames could be a destination, not just a stepping stone—at least for a decade.
If you’re a Cyclone fan wondering what happens next, or a Penn State fan wondering what you’re getting, here is the reality of the Matt Campbell experience:
- Development is King: He will take a linebacker nobody wanted and make him an All-American.
- Trench Warfare: His teams live and die by the offensive and defensive lines.
- The Emotional Toll: He coaches with his heart on his sleeve. It’s exhausting, but players run through walls for it.
The move to Penn State makes sense for him now. He’s 46, he’s accomplished everything possible at a school with Iowa State's resources, and he wants to see if "The Process" works when you actually have four-star athletes at every position.
For Iowa State, the hunt for the next "diamond in the rough" coach begins. They aren't looking for a savior anymore; Campbell already saved the program. They’re just looking for someone to keep the house he built from falling down.
If you want to track how the program transitions, keep an eye on the transfer portal entries this spring. Many of Campbell’s loyalists have already followed him to State College, but the core of that "five-star culture" still resides in the Stark Performance Center. The next coach won't just be competing against the Big 12; they'll be competing against the ghost of the man who finally made Iowa State football matter.