Matt Campbell is betting favorite to be next Florida State football coach

Could the next head coach of Florida State football be Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell? He’s the betting favorite but would he be the best choice?

The Florida State Seminoles should be one of the best jobs in college football. This is a traditional power with a proud history and a ton of in-state talent to recruit. In short, Florida State should be contending for a spot in the College Football Playoff every year in the ACC. However, the Seminoles have fallen short of that every year for the last five seasons.

So after a year and change, the university decided to move on from former head coach Willie Taggart. He couldn’t keep Florida State around .500 and was let go in favor of Odell Haggins in the interim. While Haggins has this program bowl eligible, he’s not the favorite to get the job, though he may very well be in the mix to get the interim tag removed.

Entering the Sunshine Showdown with the in-state rival Florida Gators, the betting favorite to get the Florida State football job is Iowa State Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell. He has made Iowa State one of the toughest outs in the Big 12 in the last few years. He edges out Haggins and Memphis Tigers head coach Mike Norvell as the betting favorites to be the next Florida State head coach.

Should Florida State be able to pry Campbell out of Ames and get him to Tallahassee, we can reasonably expect that he will have the Seminoles program back on track within two years. If you need proof, he’s made two lesser programs into winners already, now at Iowa State and with the MAC’s Toledo Rockets before that.

Iowa State should be one of the three worst teams in Big 12 football every year, yet Campbell has the Cyclones able to win eight or nine games annually as one of the four best teams in that Power 5 conference. He coaches with a Midwestern, blue-collar ethos that gets the most out of his players. His teams never get blown out and can beat any team the Cyclones come across.

Some people have thought that Campbell has what it takes to become an NFL head coach. However, he may only garner a bad NFL job at this point. He’d be better served either staying in Ames or taking the Florida State job than to take over a dysfunctional NFL franchise like the Washington Redskins.

Campbell can continue to win eight games or more annually at Iowa State, or he can take over Florida State and make this a 10-win program once again, as the Seminoles should be. Florida State may not be able to overtake the Clemson Tigers in the ACC Atlantic division just yet, but if Campbell can prove to be a great recruiter, then things might get more interesting in the ACC.

For now, Florida State is in a good position to get a quality head coach to replace the ineffective Taggart. Landing either Campbell or Norvell would be a win for the Seminoles program. With Norvell likely to take over the Arkansas Razorbacks in 2020, go get Campbell before somebody else does. He will make Florida State a winner once again very, very quickly.

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