At least Andy Staples at the Athletic has a relatively balanced discussion.
Dear Andy Staples,
Matt Campbell is already in the news again to leave Iowa State. What did Iowa State do to deserve this perpetual hell?
— Glenn
This angst, of course, popped up because Nebraska suddenly has an opening. But don’t be surprised if the names of Iowa State coach Matt Campbell and Kansas coach Lance Leipold get tossed around when other jobs open later this season.
The best bet [to hold a coach] is to have a history of caring deeply about football and a willingness to provide the coach the resources (within reason) that they request. Iowa State has an advantage over Kansas on this front because the passion for football in the Iowa State community is real and palpable. To answer Glenn’s question, Iowa State didn’t “do” anything to deserve constant speculation about its coach leaving. The speculation arises because Iowa State doesn’t have a rich history of football success or a huge alumni base. So we assume that at some point Campbell will leave for a school that has more money and/or better access to national title contention.
For years, Mississippi State fans got mad at me when I suggested Dan Mullen might leave. Then, following the 2017 season, Mullen kicked the tires on the Tennessee job and took the Florida job. It wasn’t because of anything Mississippi State did or didn’t do; Mullen considered those two to be better jobs.
Maybe Campbell will prove us wrong. Campbell seems to truly enjoy coaching in Ames, and he seems like the type who understands that he’s got a good thing — which certainly raises the bar for any program trying to hire him away. Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell seems to have a similar temperament. He likes where he is. His family is happy. He’s successful. Those factors don’t matter to all coaches, but they definitely seem to matter to those two particular hot commodities.
Mel Tucker wound up taking that Michigan State job. He was at Colorado before. The Buffaloes have not shown the same level of commitment to football as Wake Forest or Iowa State, so when the Spartans responded to Tucker initially turning them down by offering to essentially double his salary and his assistant coach salary pool, he would have been crazy to say no.
That is the concern among athletic directors at schools in the eight conferences not named the Big Ten or the SEC. Will every Big Ten or SEC school be so flush with cash that it can just make an offer that no coach outside those leagues can refuse? Not necessarily. As noted above, these decisions won’t always come down to dollars. But an obscene amount of dollars could break a tie in some coaches’ minds.
