Campbell ready to build on solid Iowa State football foundation

AMES (AP) — Iowa State has made Matt Campbell the youngest football coach at a Power Five conference school.

On Monday, Campbell began the arduous task of turning around a program whose challenges have vexed coaches much more experienced than he is.

Campbell, 36, took over for the popular Paul Rhoads, whose tenure came to an end with a 30-6 loss at West Virginia over the weekend. The Cyclones went 8-28 in Rhoads’ final three seasons, falling to the bottom of the Big 12 after reaching three bowl games in four years.

“I believe in myself. I believe in our process. I believe in the coaching staff that I’m going bring in here,” Campbell said in his introductory press conference. “Quite honestly, I believe in the players we have here now.”

Athletic director Jamie Pollard’s move to poach Campbell ahead of what should be an extremely competitive coaching market was met with praise both nationally and locally. Pollard said he worked furiously to interview Campbell before the Mid-American Conference title game, even though Campbell declined because he wanted to focus on his team.

The Rockets failed to reach the final after losing to Western Michigan on Friday, and Pollard closed the deal with Campbell the next day before compensation ever came up.

Campbell and the Cyclones have agreed to a six-year deal with a starting salary of $2 million.

“The national landscape for head coaches right now is unprecedented. This week and next week will be intense and very stressful for many directors of athletics. It’s going to be really fun to sit back and watch and enjoy that because we found our man,” Pollard said

One positive for Campbell is that despite winning just three games, Iowa State showed at times that it could compete with anyone.

The Cyclones were tied with No. 4 Iowa late in the fourth quarter before losing 31-17. They also held a second-half lead against Oklahoma State and would’ve beaten Campbell’s Rockets had they hit a relatively easy field goal at the end of regulation. Iowa State was also just 91 seconds away from winning at Kansas State.

Campbell was brought to Ames largely because the Cyclones couldn’t finish any of those games. He will inherit a roster that should be a lot more talented than it’s been in years past.

“The core belief of my philosophy goes like this, it’s really simple: Players, formations, plays,” Campbell said. “I’m not silly. It’s about players.”

Campbell knows he’s walking into a historically tough situation. After all, the Cyclones have never won a title in the Big 6, Big 8 or Big 12.

But right now, Campbell sees it as a dream job.

On Monday, he recalled a phone call he made to his wife, Erica, after visiting Iowa State in 2014 with Toledo, which lost to the Cyclones 37-30. Campbell said he was so blown away by the energy of the fans and the game-day atmosphere and that he allowed himself to imagine coaching at Iowa State.

That opportunity came just 14 months later.

“’You’re not going to believe this place. Incredible. Culture, the fans, the facilities, the people. This is a really special place,’” Campbell recalled telling his wife. “’It’s got great people. I could see us at a place like this someday.’”

Monday’s other college football coaching hires:

Justin Fuente says he had numerous opportunities to leave Memphis, but it wasn’t until Virginia Tech offered him the chance to replace the retiring Frank Beamer as coach that he couldn’t turn them down.

The 39-year-old Fuente was introduced as the Hokies’ next coach on Monday.

“We all know you don’t replace a legend in coaching. You hope to build on what he’s done,” Fuente said.

Fuente spent the past four seasons at Memphis, where he inherited a program that had gone 5-31 over three years. By his third season, the Tigers were 10-3, won a bowl game and finished No. 25 in the Top 25, the first end-of-season ranking in program history.

Fuente signed a 6-year contract that will start at $3.2 million his first season.

Southern California hired Clay Helton as its permanent coach on Monday, removing the interim tag after he guided the team to a division title since taking over for Steve Sarkisian.

Athletic director Pat Haden announced Helton had signed a multiyear deal.

“After weeks of searching the collegiate and pro ranks, interviewing candidates, and speaking with head coaches, athletic directors, NFL executives, and very knowledgeable football people, and after observing Clay in action the past seven weeks, it became abundantly clear that what we were searching for in a coach was right here in front of us,” Haden said in a statement.

The 43-year-old Helton has been an assistant with USC since 2010, working under both Lane Kiffin and Sarkisian.

He was offensive coordinator when Sarkisian was fired on Oct. 12. Sarkisian acknowledged he was struggling with alcohol after he went on an obscenity-laced rant at a booster function before the season and the coach and team continued to struggle for the first five games.

The Trojans have gone 5-2 since Helton took over and beat UCLA on Saturday to clinch the Pac-12 South and a spot in the conference championship game. The Trojans (8-4) will face Stanford on Saturday.

Haden said beating UCLA was not the reason Helton was hired. His promotion takes one of the best jobs in the country off the market during what has been an already active season for coaching changes.