When I've had conversations with friends that have feared Campbell leaving, my response to them is that I fear losing Jamie more than Matt.
Not that I don't appreciate Matt and how elite he has become. But as Jamie says, you can't control what you can't control.
His first football coach hire was what we all thought was what we needed. It obviously was not the right fit for ISU. The hire of CPR was perfect by most accounts. We needed one of our own to right the damage done by the leaving of the firmly entrenched one, the players felt abandoned. CPR didn't work out, I think because of many external factors, but mostly bad hires.
Jamie learned yet again that hiring a head coach was what we needed. Not somebody learning on the job.
Jamie has shown that he learns from his mistakes and usually doesn't make that same mistake twice. He's confident, some say cocky, but he's also humble enough to admit a mistake. He gets what it takes to be successful here. You can see how he has learned and built the AD the way it needed to be for ISU to be successful.
Just look at the state of the AD:
Football - The best it's been since the late 70's and trending up
Men's BB - Coach that loves ISU as much as I do and talent like we haven't seen 1-12
Wrestling - Big hire, trending up
Golf - Both programs are either ranked or just outside yearly with it's own state-of-the-art facility.
Cross Country - Unreal success
Track & Field - I'm not sure, but has historically been pretty good
All women's sports appear to be either trending up or very competitive. Not sure what the trend is with Volleyball, but CJL has definitely brought the program to places we hadn't been prior to her.
My summary, like him or not, Jamie has done things for this program and my school that not many, if any, have before him.
