Iowa State Football: Locking up Matt Campbell proves Cyclones are here to stay
After one of the best seasons in the past two decades for Iowa State football, the program extending Matt Campbell six years means the Cyclones are here to stay.
Heading into the 2017 season, not much was expected from Iowa State football as the Cyclones went just 3-9 in the first season under former Toledo head coach Matt Campbell.
It wasn’t until an upset of Oklahoma in Norman that people started taking the Cyclones seriously. Notoriously known as a losing program, Iowa State seemed to need 3-4 years under Campbell to even get close to winning ways. All he needed was two.
The Cyclones finished the regular season 7-5 in 2017 and got as high as No. 14 in the AP Top 25 which was their highest rank since 2002 when they were No. 9 at one point before finishing 7-7.
On Monday night, the program made a major statement by extending the 37-year-old head coach, two days before his 38th birthday, for another six years. The contract will reportedly be worth $22.5 million and increases his annual salary by $1.4 million.
Excited to announce Matt Campbell has agreed to a new six-year
— Jamie Pollard (@IASTATEAD) November 27, 2017
contract worth $22.5M. Matt's annual salary will increase
from $2.1M to $3.5M. We will also increase the football staff's annual compensation by $1M. Go Cyclones! #raisethestandard
This seems crazy to say since Iowa State hasn’t won a conference championship in over 100 years and has one division title to its name back in 2004. Moreover, the Cyclones have only finished a season ranked in the AP Poll just two times in program history.
Why is this a major statement to the rest of the country? It shows that Campbell doesn’t look at Iowa State as just another stop on his tour. He believes that Ames is where he wants to be for the next six years, or so, staving off a number of programs looking to hire the second-year coach away from Iowa State.
Not many people believed he would have a long tenure in Ames, especially if he saw early success, but he is proving that he’s not a “take the money and run” type of coach, which will be huge for recruiting. This is a program on the rise and the rest of the Big 12 should be on notice.
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Iowa State football is soon going to be a staple of the AP Top 25, folks. Take it in.