Iowa State Athletic Director Moved to Tears By What Matt Campbell Meant to School

Penn State’s new coach transformed the Cyclones.

Jamie Pollard bid farewell to his signature hire Friday. / Olivia Sun, Des Moines Register via Imagn Content Services, LLC

When Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard lured coach Matt Campbell from Toledo before the 2016 season, he took somewhat of a gamble—Campbell had won prodigiously with the Rockets, but at 36 was still one of college football’s youngest head coaches.

The Ohio native proceeded to rewrite expectations for football at the long-suffering university, going 72–55 and cracking the AP Top 10 in three separate seasons. All but two of his teams went to bowl games, and half of the Cyclones’ six bowl wins are his.

When Campbell left for Penn State Friday, therefore, Pollard couldn’t look back in anger—instead, he teared up describing the coach’s impact on the program to reporters.

“He’s had an amazing run as our football coach,” Pollard said via Shannon Ehrhardt of KCCI-TV in Des Moines. “He had other times he could’ve left, and he chose not to. Matt Campbell owes Iowa State nothing.”

"Matt Campbell owes Iowa State nothing."

AD Jamie Pollard tears up talking Campbell's 10-year run...powerful stuff @KCCINews pic.twitter.com/fOc44U3LCq

— Shannon Ehrhardt (@SEhrhardtKCCI) December 6, 2025

Observers began linking Campbell to other jobs almost as soon as Iowa State began winning in 2017 (when it knocked off Top 5 Oklahoma and TCU squads). He notably was connected to the Lions job in 2021, a saga that ended with Detroit hiring Dan (no relation) Campbell.

From both a quantitative and sentimental perspective, the depth of new coach Jimmy Rogers’s task is clear.

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