ESPN Article

[1SEIACLONE]

The Athletic had a similar article after Campbell left, hell it might be the same article. Basically everyone in the know, wondered why PSU did not go after Campbell immediately but was fooling around with coaches that were most likely not going to take the job. The BYU coach is the one that was totally off the wall. Why would he leave BYU for Penn State when he is a Morman to begin with, and they have plenty of money to give him whatever he needs?

Schools like ISU are always going to be treated poorly by most that write at the national level, we are in a small rural state, not a lot of money, poor recruiting area and not in the B10 or SEC with money flowing in. So all the national writers wonder why anyone would stay at such a school when the chance to jump was dangled their direction. Not saying that ISU cannot win or get into the playoff, but we are like about 95% of the programs in the country, we have little to no chance of ever winning a national championship in football. To do so you would have to be like Indiana is currently going through where everything just fell in place for a couple of seasons, and they are not the favorite to win the championship this year.

 

[twincyties]

A few take aways…

1). Campbell was - at best - their 5th choice.

2) the “we had the wrong contact info” story we’ve heard is potentially bull ****

3). I’m not sure the “industry insider” that spoke poorly of Campbell was totally off base in his assessment. I think most here agree there will be aspects of the PSU job - namely the media and the donors - that Campbell will struggle with. If he does it well, he’s still going to absolutely hate it. I also don’t think it’s unfair - or even necessarily critical - to say he didn’t work the portal that well. Everyone knows that his MO has always been about development.

4). Kraft clearly using this as an opportunity to spin the story, build excitement, and do some rehabilitation of his reputation

 

[throwittoblythe]

2) the “we had the wrong contact info” story we’ve heard is potentially bull ****

I find it hilarious that the PSU PR team thinks anyone with two brain cells to rub together would buy this as a story.

"Gosh, we really wanted to hire the guy but dag nabbit if we just couldn't find his phone number!"

Power football coaching is a very small circle. Even if you've never had any connection with your target hire before, when you're talking about $80M or whatever he got, I'm sure you can quickly find a way to get in touch.

If your excuse is "we couldn't get in contact with him" you're either lying or incompetent.

 

[twincyties]

I find it hilarious that the PSU PR team thinks anyone with two brain cells to rub together would buy this as a story.

"Gosh, we really wanted to hire the guy but dag nabbit if we just couldn't find his phone number!"

Power football coaching is a very small circle. Even if you've never had any connection with your target hire before, when you're talking about $80M or whatever he got, I'm sure you can quickly find a way to get in touch.

If your excuse is "we couldn't get in contact with him" you're either lying or incompetent.

LOL. You’re totally right.

People willing to throw 70M guaranteed money at a coach usually have a way to get someone’s phone number in college football.

They should have gone with “Matt wouldn’t call us back until the season was over” which is much more believable.

 

[Marcelason78]

I find it hilarious that the PSU PR team thinks anyone with two brain cells to rub together would buy this as a story.

"Gosh, we really wanted to hire the guy but dag nabbit if we just couldn't find his phone number!"

Power football coaching is a very small circle. Even if you've never had any connection with your target hire before, when you're talking about $80M or whatever he got, I'm sure you can quickly find a way to get in touch.

If your excuse is "we couldn't get in contact with him" you're either lying or incompetent.

Campbell would have preferred his idiot boss just say—“We had to go up the rough side of the mountain to find Matt.”

 

[9104Griffith]

I had suspicions, based off of nothing but internal gut feelings, Campbell's 10 yr tenure, and maybe that 'infamous' Bells of ISU photo from Jacqueline Cordova that he may have been ready to move on.

Somewhere a few years back I read or skimmed a brief article that stated 7 years is the max any coach should rightfully stay at one school, I know this factored into my suspicions too.

​

Do you have a link to the photo you referenced?

 

[Cycsk]

I wonder if the author of the ESPN article knew what he was writing when he wrote, "the more entrenched he became about staying?"

 

[Cycsk]

Also, it was news to me that Hoodjer and Skip were with Campbell on Thursday night for the negotiations. We heard that Campbell was in radio silence with staff and players, but I don't think we had heard that Hoodjer and Skip were too. Or maybe Hoodjer and Skip have world-class poker faces!

 

[shadow]

I wonder if the author of the ESPN article knew what he was writing when he wrote, "the more entrenched he became about staying?"

Not a chance. This was PSU PR piece.

I totally believe that CMC blocks out the noise during the season. Very consistent with how he left Toledo where he wouldn't talk to Pollard until after the season.

The 4 schools that he might leave for was similar to prior posters' ones.

The big news to me was that his staff also met w/ the PSU people on Thursday. Seems to contradict prior reporting that the ISU staff was in the dark though the Friday reporting indicates that they were in the dark so there is some nuance there.

It sounds like some of the ISU coaching staff was just waiting to get out of Ames. Not all of them but some of them.

 

[Cydewayz]

Also, it was news to me that Hoodjer and Skip were with Campbell on Thursday night for the negotiations. We heard that Campbell was in radio silence with staff and players, but I don't think we had heard that Hoodjer and Skip were too. Or maybe Hoodjer and Skip have world-class poker faces!

I would assume Campbell really trusts those two with all the day to day things and recruiting, so maybe their insights were needed.

Or, maybe they were like "heck yes.....i know my pay will double or triple!"

 

[twincyties]

Not a chance. This was PSU PR piece.

I totally believe that CMC blocks out the noise during the season. Very consistent with how he left Toledo where he wouldn't talk to Pollard until after the season.

The 4 schools that he might leave for was similar to prior posters' ones.

The big news to me was that his staff also met w/ the PSU people on Thursday. Seems to contradict prior reporting that the ISU staff was in the dark though the Friday reporting indicates that they were in the dark so there is some nuance there.

It sounds like some of the ISU coaching staff was just waiting to get out of Ames. Not all of them but some of them.

Agree there are additional inconsistencies here.

Frist, I find it hard to believe he tells a GM and a chief of staff but not his coordinators, for example. Maybe this is standard operating procedure, but seems strange. At minimum it throws cold water on this “no one outside of Matt knew anything at all”.

Second, it sounds like people were not just willing to leave but hoping to leave. Again, fine. But also throws cold water on the story that all the staff would have stuck around with Mouser.

 

[herbicide]

Do you have a link to the photo you referenced?

 

[Tailg8er]

I didn’t read it that way, it reads like we’ve heard or suspected.

Agree. Kind of disappointed I took the time to read that whole diatribe, don't feel like I learned anything.

 

[throwittoblythe]

I don't have an account so I can't look. How many of the comments on that are "He gone."?

 

[jdoggivjc]

I had suspicions, based off of nothing but internal gut feelings, Campbell's 10 yr tenure, and maybe that 'infamous' Bells of ISU photo from Jacqueline Cordova that he may have been ready to move on.

Somewhere a few years back I read or skimmed a brief article that stated 7 years is the max any coach should rightfully stay at one school, I know this factored into my suspicions too.

​

Penn St firing James Franklin was the first time I felt nervous about losing Campbell to another school, and it only grew worse the longer it took for them to hire a coach. And had Campbell said no to that... well, Michigan was forced to fire their coach, and the tight ship that Campbell runs might have been really appealing to them, considering the chaos that wake of the Harbaugh and Moore regimes left (despite him not being a "Michigan man").

This was the year the stars aligned and we were probably going to lose Campbell in one way or another - because it was probably the last chance he was ever going to get at a premier job in an environment (Midwest) he's comfortable with. OSU and ND were never going to come calling, and this would probably be the only time Penn St or Michigan would come calling.

Not to mention I can't get the rumors out of my head that, especially in the NIL era, the relationship between Pollard and Campbell had eroded to a point where it had become irreparable, even if Campbell still loved the university.

 

[herbicide]

Penn St firing James Franklin was the first time I felt nervous about losing Campbell to another school, and it only grew worse the longer it took for them to hire a coach. And had Campbell said no to that... well, Michigan was forced to fire their coach, and the tight ship that Campbell runs might have been really appealing to them, considering the chaos that wake of the Harbaugh and Moore regimes left (despite him not being a "Michigan man").

This was the year the stars aligned and we were probably going to lose Campbell in one way or another - because it was probably the last chance he was ever going to get at a premier job in an environment (Midwest) he's comfortable with. OSU and ND were never going to come calling, and this would probably be the only time Penn St or Michigan would come calling.

Not to mention I can't get the rumors out of my head that, especially in the NIL era, the relationship between Pollard and Campbell had eroded to a point where it had become irreparable, even if Campbell still loved the university.

Me too. Although the uneasiness for me settled in after the BYU loss (that photo) Don't forget Notre Dame is very likely to be open as well.

I know some say if we'd survived this year, he'd likely stay forever. I think the opposite, with the current state of the sport I would not be surprised to see coaching tenures become rather short at the blue bloods (PSU, Michigan, ND, etc). For most schools its now playoff or bust, but for those schools its title or bust, and there is obviously only one available title per year.

 

[LAClone]

Quotes from staffers makes it sounds as if Campbell and co. were waiting for any big job to come along and he would take it. This would directly contradict what has been reported by CW that the staff was shocked he took the Penn State offer.

CW/CF “reporting” is at this point just pro-Campbell/Becht propoganda.

 

[TrailCy]

ESPN released an article this morning:

Inside the Penn State college football coaching search

The Nittany Lions got their guy in Matt Campbell, but they took a circuitous route.

www.espn.com

I really hope some of this stuff didn’t actually happen or was taken out of context. If it wasn’t it sure seems like Campbell was just waiting for the right out the whole time.

I have it on good authority he had one foot out the door after the Colorado loss

 

[SCNCY]

Penn St firing James Franklin was the first time I felt nervous about losing Campbell to another school, and it only grew worse the longer it took for them to hire a coach. And had Campbell said no to that... well, Michigan was forced to fire their coach, and the tight ship that Campbell runs might have been really appealing to them, considering the chaos that wake of the Harbaugh and Moore regimes left (despite him not being a "Michigan man").

This was the year the stars aligned and we were probably going to lose Campbell in one way or another - because it was probably the last chance he was ever going to get at a premier job in an environment (Midwest) he's comfortable with. OSU and ND were never going to come calling, and this would probably be the only time Penn St or Michigan would come calling.

Not to mention I can't get the rumors out of my head that, especially in the NIL era, the relationship between Pollard and Campbell had eroded to a point where it had become irreparable, even if Campbell still loved the university.

Agreed. Once Campbell began winning at ISU, we always though he'd leave for either Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, or Notre Dame. Notre Dame didn't seem interested when they hired their current coach, as it was probably too soon for them. So this is the first time where one of those four offered him and he took it. I think fans had gotten comfortable that he was turning down all these other NFL and big CFP programs he was connected to that we led ourselves to believe he'd stay here forever. Problem is that the right programs didn't offer him until now.

I wouldn't say that OSU and ND wouldn't come calling. I think when the ND job last opened up, it may have been too soon for a program like theirs to offer Campbell considering he'd only been at a Power school for a couple years. If the job became available now, I'd think they'd consider him more. I actually believe that at this point, the only job Campbell would leave for would be Notre Dame. Now that he's at a 1B blue blood program, if he's successful there, I can see him being a prime target for Notre Dame.

 

[WartburgClone]

I have it on good authority he had one foot out the door after the Colorado loss

Those last two drives in the 4th quarter make a lot more sense.