AMES, Iowa – Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell has been selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame, announced by CoSIDA today.
Campbell joins three other inductees (Dr. Jen Babik, Gail Koziara Boudreaux, Marty Liquori) in the 2022 Hall of Fame class that will be enshrined into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame at CoSIDA’s annual convention in Las Vegas on June 28.
“I am absolutely thrilled and humbled to be inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame,” Campbell said. “This prestigious Hall of Fame has a list of incredible student-athletes who have achieved in academics, athletics and in their professional lives, and to be mentioned among these incredible people is amazing. This award is special to me because I know the importance of academics. It’s something we stress to our current student-athletes daily. I am incredibly honored to receive this award and I want to thank the voting committee for selecting me in this process.”
The three-time Big 12 Coach of the Year and 2018 Mount Union Athletics Hall of Fame inductee has claimed numerous awards in his career, but today’s announcement will rank as one of his greatest achievements. Created in 1988, the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame recognizes Academic All-Americas who have achieved lifetime success in their professional careers and are committed to philanthropic causes in the communities where they reside.
A total of 162 Academic All-Americas have been inducted into the Hall of Fame since its inception. Included members are athletic super stars Rebecca Lobo, Steve Young, John Stockton, Danny Ainge, Bernie Kosar, Bill Walton, John Wooden, Bill Bradley and Drew Brees.
Campbell joins former Cyclone All-American and Big 12 Coach of the Year Fred Hoiberg as athletes with Iowa State ties to make the prestigious Hall of Fame.
Campbell is among many outstanding football players to compete at Mount Union, a Division III power in Ohio. In his three years at Mt. Union (2000-02), Campbell only lost one football game and won three national titles (2000-02).
A two-time All-American at defensive end, Campbell recorded 207 tackles, 49 TFL and 22 sacks in his incredible career. He was also named the league’s defensive player of the year twice and was a CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-American in 2001. Campbell earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Mount Union in 2002.
Campbell immediately got into coaching after his collegiate career ended, and he’s been just as successful. After assistant stops at his alma mater, Bowling Green and Toledo, Campbell received his first head coaching job at Toledo in 2012.
He led the Rockets to three bowl games and was named the MAC Coach of the Year in 2015, leading his squad to a 9-2 regular-season record.
After the 2015 season, Iowa State Athletics Director Jamie Pollard was looking for a new football coach and Campbell was at the top of the list. Campbell listened to Pollard’s vision and accepted the head job at Iowa State on Nov. 29, 2015, immediately changing the fortunes of the Cyclone football program.
Campbell, who owns the best winning percentage in school history (55.3 pct.), initiated his rebuilding plan and laid the foundation for one of the most fruitful periods in Cyclone football history.
National rankings and bowl berths have become the norm thanks to Campbell’s leadership. Campbell has led the Cyclones to five-straight bowl games, a school record, yearly appearances in the national rankings and five consecutive winning seasons.
In 2020, Campbell led the Cyclones to a first-place finish in the final Big 12 regular-season standings, a spot in the Big 12 Championship game and a New Year’s Six bowl game, all program firsts.
The 2020 Cyclone squad is one of the best in school history. With a 34-17 win over Oregon in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, the Cyclones claimed their first-ever victory in New Year’s Six bowl. ISU broke the school record for conference wins (8) and tied the school mark for overall victories (9).
Campbell’s recent five-year run at ISU has caught the nation’s attention with its drastic improvement, placing Iowa State football into the national rankings and the college football spotlight. Iowa State has appeared in the AP Top 25 poll in each of the last five seasons.
Campbell, who has fostered a player-driven atmosphere with his contagious personality, owns 37.0 percent of Iowa State’s all-time victories over ranked teams, defeating 10 opponents ranked in the nation’s top-25 since 2017, knocking off at least one ranked opponent in each of the last five seasons.
Campbell is the first and only coach in Iowa State history to defeat every team in the league at least once at home and on the road during his Cyclone tenure and produced five of Iowa State’s six winning seasons in Big 12 Conference history (1996-present).
Since 2017, Iowa State has recorded 29 Big 12 wins, the second-best total in the league during that span.
