Arkansas 2019 Coaching Search: Making the case for, against Matt Campbell

With the Arkansas coaching search underway, the HawgBeat crew has you covered at every step. You can find a full list of candidates at the HawgBeat Hot Board, but today we continue our case for/case against series breaking down all the candidates being brought up lately.

We took a look at Sam Pittman who had a letter written on his behalf from some Razorback players, as well as former Arkansas/Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino who has a petition with more than 11,500 signatures. Today, we focus on Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell who some sources believe to be around the top of the list for Hunter Yurachek.

“Order… Order in the court. We’ll now hear the case of Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell…”

- A winning past

At Toledo, Campbell posted three nine-win seasons in four years with an overall record of 35-13, including an upset win over No. 18 Arkansas in Little Rock. This helped him land the Iowa State job where he’s had a winning season in three out of four years. As a head coach, Campbell is 59-36. Iowa State's been turned from what was once one of the Big 12’s worst programs into a consistent winner–that's Arkansas's current goal.

- Building a program

Before 2016, the Cyclones had a rough stretch, going 14-35 over a four-year period. After a 3-9 season Year 1, Campbell posted back-to-back seasons where he took his team to a bowl game. As for the 2019 season, the Cyclones are 5-4 and just narrowly lost to No. 5 Oklahoma by one point last weekend. His spread offense and multiple defense have both shown progress through the seasons at Iowa State. They've gone from scoring 27 points a game to 36 points a game, which is top-20 in the nation. The defense is also top-50 in the nation, giving up just 25 points per game.

- Developing Players

Campbell has not had a top 40 recruiting class in his time at Iowa State. Through 2016-2019, his classes finished at 53rd, 44th, 54th, and 48th nationally and haven't been higher than sixth in the Big 12. He has done well with these lower-ranked recruiting classes considering he’s posted winning records each year except his first. He's been able to redshirt a lot of his players in their first year and develop them nicely. The majority of his depth chart is made up of veterans and that's how it should be.

Iowa State has four wide receivers ranked in the Big 12's top 20 in yards per game, including former Razorback La'Michael Pettway. His sophomore quarterback Brock Purdy is first in the conference in yards per game.

Former Cyclone David Montgomery was a 2-star coming out of high school in the 2016 class and was a third-round NFL draft pick by the Bears in 2019. Recruited in the class before Campbell arrived, fourth-round pick wide receiver Hakeem Boyd was a 2-star prospect as well before being developed at Iowa State.