Iowa State football suffered an embarrassing loss to Ohio University on Saturday and Matt Campbell did not take well to criticism. The 43-year-old head coach tried to fight a fan that threatened his job.
Campbell has been with the Cyclones since 2016 and turned a perennial Big 12 basement-dweller into a nationally relevant program with eight wins in year two. As he repeatedly stacked seven, eight and nine-win seasons from 2017-2021, there was a lot of excitement surrounding his potential.
A few SEC and Big Ten programs kicked the tires on Campbell. He reportedly turned down multiple NFL contracts to stay in Ames, including a huge amount of money from the Lions.
And then Iowa State won just four games in 2022. The outlook for 2023 is even worse.
Multiple starters on both sides of the ball are not with the team because of their involvement in a gambling scandal that broke across the entire state of Iowa, including starting quarterback Hunter Dekkers. Not ideal.
To make matters worse, food poisoning struck the locker room prior to the game against a really good Bobcats team. That certainly didnβt help the Cyclones.
With that being said Iowa State should not ever lose to a G5 program and it lost to a G5 programβ even though there was some controversy surrounding a field goal that appeared to go in but was called a miss. It may have screwed the home team out of a win.
Either way, Campbell suffered what might have been the worst loss of his career.
Following the game, as the losing team made its way back into the locker room, a Cyclones fan ran over and chirped Campbell about being on the hot seat. Campbell, who has been known to explode in a fit of rage from time to time, turned back toward the fan and started charging in his direction.
A group of assistant coaches had to hold him back.
It was not a great look for a full-grown man who just lost to Ohio. Let it go, Campbell.
On the flip side, at least he isnβt complacent! Fans should want a coach ready to fight over a coach who rolls over.