Iowa State Cyclones Must Prioritize Keeping Star Player After Loss of Matt Campbell

The Iowa State Cyclones must keep a star player for the start of their new era.

Nov 1, 2025; Corvallis, Oregon, USA; Washington State Cougars head coach Jimmy Rogers during a time out in the 4th quarter against the Oregon State Beavers at Reser Stadium. | Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

With the dust starting to settle after the coaching changes for the Iowa State Cyclones over the weekend, the team must start figuring out their plan going forward. 

In what was a wild Friday night for the Cyclones, they saw their long-time head coach, Matt Campbell, leave for the Penn State Nittany Lions and then, within the hour, seemingly hired Washington State Cougars head coach Jimmy Rogers to replace him. 

So far, there has already been some movement for the program, with coaches understandably leaving to go with Campbell to Penn State. This was to be expected, and there will undoubtedly be more likely to leave as well. 

From a player standpoint, that is where things will be key. While Rogers should be able to build and bring in his own staff for coaching, getting players to come can be a bit more difficult. Iowa State is coming off a strong season in which they had a lot of talented players who could be coming back. However, they could also follow Campbell or explore other options as well. As Rogers gets to work, keeping one player will be key. 

Cyclones Must Retain Becht 

William Purnell-Imagn Images

If Iowa State were to lose their junior signal caller, it would be a significant blow to the program and the Rogers era right from the start. Even though Becht might not have had the best campaign in 2025, he has had a ton of success with the program, and there is plenty of reason to believe that he would bounce back in 2026. 

In 2025, he totaled 2,579 passing yards, 16 touchdown passes, nine interceptions, and eight rushing touchdowns. If Becht were to leave, the team would be hard-pressed to find a better replacement, and the other options on the team might not be ready. 

If Becht left, it would likely be either Connor Moberly or Alex Manske taking over as the signal caller. While the team could look to the transfer portal for a quarterback, that wouldn’t be an easy area to find an impact player like Becht. 

There will surely be a lot of meaningful conversations to have in the coming days and weeks with Becht for the new head coach. Keeping him should be a top priority for the program right now, and Rogers would likely want to have the senior signal caller to create some stability for the team in his first year.