Does anyone remember Matt Campbell?
Here he is trying to get after some little dude after the Cyclones lost to Ohio
September 17th, 2023 at 3:58 AM ^
Who knew Brock Purdy made Campbell what he is.
September 17th, 2023 at 5:42 AM ^
Apparently, Matt Campbell didn't. It must be a gut punch to realize the coaching reputation you've garnered is only a byproduct of someone else's talent.
September 17th, 2023 at 11:14 AM ^
Is this his phone call face?
September 17th, 2023 at 9:06 PM ^
Dude. Logged in to upvote.
September 17th, 2023 at 10:12 AM ^
Hmmmm, that reminds me of another B10 coach in the state of MI . .
September 17th, 2023 at 3:08 PM ^
KW squared
September 17th, 2023 at 3:32 PM ^
The CAMPBELL system:
Come out completely flat
Allow opponent to take the lead
Make no adjustments to playcalling
Play good enough defense to keep game in reach
Badly manage the clock
Excite the fans by getting the ball down one score.
Literally the stupidest fucking thing happens.
Lose the game
September 17th, 2023 at 4:53 PM ^
Losing your mind isnt what it used to be.
September 17th, 2023 at 4:01 AM ^
This is why you use your stock to your advantage when you are the hot thing.
At the very least, you swindle some moron AD into paying you millions that you get even if fired.
He had a chance to capitalize on the 2020 season (which overall turned out to be a complete fraud of output results).
Instead he chose to be afraid of any big time job.
It's clear this guy just isn't cut out for a big time program.
Now he's been shown to be a fraud because the results speak for themselves.
I can't even imagine the mess we'd be in if we had hired this asshole after the 2020 season.
September 17th, 2023 at 5:20 AM ^
See: East Lansing and KWIII
September 17th, 2023 at 6:34 AM ^
Very good example, but now you have to add the Tucker Corollary:
Once you have successfully secured a lucrative guaranteed contract, you must avoid fucking it up in the worst way possible. Like…just speaking hypothetically here…maybe DON’T sexually harass a sexual harassment prevention speaker…
September 17th, 2023 at 11:22 AM ^
Wait a sec. If he stayed where you think he should be, doesn't that NOT make him a fraud, since he would have been a fraud if he went somewhere else, say Michigan, and tanked the program?
Or is he doomed to be a fraud no matter what he does?
September 17th, 2023 at 11:59 AM ^
Fraud = a coach who isn't as good as his (most recent) record suggests.
September 17th, 2023 at 1:45 PM ^
This whole thing, especially the OP, is extremely stupid. Part of being a coach, like with any profession, is learning and improving. No one is spit out of the womb and elite coach, and that doesn’t make any coach who has ups and downs a “fraud.”
It’s especially difficult to gauge the quality of a coach because their success and failure is so tied to recruits, reputation, program resources, and just happenstance. Just like with players, “fit” is often just as important as talent.
September 17th, 2023 at 4:02 PM ^
I still can’t believe how many fans on this site thought we should offer him 10 million plus to come here and coach. One good season does not mean your a great coach. Thank god the powers to be never really considered hiring him
September 17th, 2023 at 8:02 PM ^
Saying he has one good season is really underselling his tenure at Iowa State. The team's run from 2017-2021 is probably the greatest five year run in program history. Yes, 8-5, 8-5, 7-6, 9-3, 7-6 is stellar results at Iowa State. We are talking about a program that has won 8 or more games in a season only 10 times in 125 years.
- Campbell owns three of those seasons
- Only one other 8+ win season has happened since the 1970s
- Two of those 8+ win seasons came before 1910
- Campbell owns five of the program's top 12 all-time seasons by wins
- Iowa State made it to a bowl game in three consecutive seasons only once before Campbell; the Cyclones went to a bowl five straight years from '17-'21
- Campbell is the only coach in ISU history to win more than one bowl game
It probably would have been a mistake if Michigan had backed up a truck for him, but he's still been very successful by Iowa State standards.
September 18th, 2023 at 7:59 AM ^
Why are we wasting energy shitting on some random coach of a random team that doesn't matter at all to Michigan football?
Like idk just a guy trying to do his job and failing. I see several of those every day at work, i dont need to see it here when im trying to read about Michigan Football.
September 18th, 2023 at 8:51 AM ^
Then don’t read it!
September 17th, 2023 at 7:11 AM ^
A lot of message board ADs hired that guy.
September 17th, 2023 at 7:14 AM ^
Fuck yes they did.
I hope they all regret their hypothetical hiring
September 17th, 2023 at 9:24 AM ^
Even thought this sites very own leadership was involved in that insanity. I mostly chalk up that period of fan vitriol to pandemic psychosis and online trolls emboldened by Michigan barely fielding a team during the shut down.
The general idea sounds really funny now.
Fire a legendary football coach during a pandemic and start a rebuilding process, from the ground up, with an up and comer guy from Iowa State who has had a couple good seasons.
Please always remind them in preparation for the next time the faceless online horde starts to rally around a really really historically stupid idea. There should be a check mark like this "$%#@" next to their user name if they wanted to fire coach and replace with ISU guy.
September 17th, 2023 at 10:50 AM ^
Ace, in particular, really was on the Campbell train.
September 17th, 2023 at 11:05 AM ^
I'm shocked Ace wanted to FIRE EVERYONE and start over with an unknown commodity that looks like the new shiny thing. I'm sure he's admitted he was wrong and explained how he'll work harder to be more thoughtful and open minded about his opinions going forward.
September 17th, 2023 at 9:35 AM ^
I wonder how they are doing negotiating the hypothetical buyouts now?
September 17th, 2023 at 11:48 AM ^
Well when your coach starts 0-6 against OSU you get desperate…
September 17th, 2023 at 12:00 PM ^
Fortunately he was only 0-5.
(Should have been 1-4, those 2016 ref bastards...)
September 17th, 2023 at 12:20 PM ^
I will say that although I was not on the FIRE HARBAUGH train I also wasn't laying down on the tracks to stop it.
I mean, we all watched that season, right? (More power to you if you didnt.) It looked like the team had quit and it was off the heels of the not-great 2019 campaign where we struggled vs Army and got skullforked @ Wisconsin
Hindsight is 20/20, pun intended, and thankfully I and many other people were wrong but at the time it wasn't completely unreasonable based on what we saw to look elsewhere for a head coach. It was also reasonable to chalk up 2020 as weird, which thankfully we did.
September 17th, 2023 at 12:56 PM ^
Honestly, I hear you, but I thought it was completely unreasonable. Harbaugh's overall record was excellent up until shutdown covid. And his track record at other programs including NFL was remarkable not to mention his brother is coaching the Baltimore Ravens.
Sure, waving a magic wand to make things perfect would have been awesome and will always be awesome. But nobody could present any semblance of strategy that didn't require a complete system overhaul and ousting of a school legend and bringing in a coach that likely had no NFL ties and pedigree. It was stupid and looks worse by the day.
Internet mob repelled and crisis averted. Next time you go pandemic psycho nuts I'm taking away your computers.
September 17th, 2023 at 1:28 PM ^
not-great 2019
Michigan finished 12 in Sagarin and 12th in ESPN FPI in 2019 https://sagarin.usatoday.com/2019-2/2019-2/college-football-team-rating…; Schedule strength matters.
Harbaugh was significantly better over his first five years at Michigan (at least in terms of power rankings) than Saban was at LSU. The criticism was always based on unrealistic expectations and a lack of understanding on how to grade how good a football team is.
It isn't just a Michigan thing. Saban and Day face ridiculous expectations too and the opposite happens when people overrate Matt Campbell, Matt Rhule and Mel Tucker because of using small sample sizes and not using power rankings. But the criticism Harbaugh received even after San Diego, Stanford the 49ers and the first five years at Michigan never made sense. His first five years were a solid A grade.
September 17th, 2023 at 7:11 AM ^
He's also the guy who said he didn't consider winning the Big 12 in 2021 as a fair barometer for measuring his team's success after he failed to do so.
I forget who on here wrote it (maybe Ace) about how Campbell's approach on both offense and defense was built for the modern game and Harbaugh wasn't and it felt like most of the evidence came down to ISU playing in a bunch of close games every year and 2020 they found a way to win most of them. That turned out not to be sustainable.
I've been wrong about wanting different coaches - I sort of wanted them to go after Tom Herman once they fired Hoke - but I never liked Campbell and I'm glad they didn't move on from Harbaugh for him.
September 17th, 2023 at 7:48 AM ^
So he was trying to win the coveted “Champions of Life” belt?
September 17th, 2023 at 9:21 AM ^
Or ring!
September 17th, 2023 at 7:22 AM ^
The shit-eating grin on the heckler’s face as the video ends is priceless and, I assume, indicative of his character. Reminds me of The Bob Waltman Special.
September 17th, 2023 at 7:55 AM ^
Goodness I would like to see Ace's comment on this - he was the biggest Campbell supporter out there.
The fact that so many people thought this clown was close to Harbaugh as a coach should tell us something about how much we know as fans.
September 17th, 2023 at 8:22 AM ^
Let’s not forget too the AD that everyone hates was the AD that kept Harbaugh despite the fans clamoring for “Soup”
September 17th, 2023 at 9:35 AM ^
A lot of people are simply unable to assess things beyond their current state—they can’t analyze why something is happening (like wins and losses: or a player having a bad game). Many folks look at the present and have no idea that it isn’t a result just of one guy, which is how fools blame “the government” for the state of their own lives. So they look at who is in charge—like Harbaugh and Campbell—and they assess on the surface of that particular moment/season.
Like Jake Butt said after the game, Harbaugh is one of the best football coaches, not just college but pro. His years and years of success of that have supported that over the blip that was 2020.
Anonymity, alcohol, and the petulant whimpering for immediate greatness make for an insufferable fandom.
September 17th, 2023 at 1:46 PM ^
"Many folks look at the present and have no idea that it isn’t a result just of one guy, which is how fools blame “the government” for the state of their own lives."
"The government" is not just one guy. And I wouldn't say they're as clean as the wind-driven snow.
But your point is taken. Same with people who blame "big business" or "the system" or any other entity for things well within their own control
September 17th, 2023 at 2:22 PM ^
Look at the reaction after last nights game. Suddenly the first two games of near perfection from JJ don’t matter and he can’t help us win a national championship anymore. I have read comparisons to OKorn…like, really? JJ had a bad night and a reality check. He is human - I’d rather he learn this against Bowling Green than against a Big Ten team capable of upsetting them (like, say, Rutgers next week).
September 17th, 2023 at 2:33 PM ^
You take that mature and reasonable take right outta here!
September 17th, 2023 at 9:59 AM ^
Ace was a total dick to anyone on twitter who suggested that firing Harbaugh and hiring Campbell wasn't the right move.
Ace gets a lot of love around these parts but his takes are terrible just as often as they are good.
September 17th, 2023 at 10:41 AM ^
“Ace was a total dick”
you could have stopped there and been right, as he’s always over the top with anyone who disagrees with him about anything either on this site or Twitter.
September 17th, 2023 at 9:22 PM ^
I really liked Ace's contributions and supported him during a rough time, but even I have no defense left for him. He's now lashing out at Brian on Twitter apparently for how he's talked about the MSU/Tucker situation. Brian defended and supported Ace even to his own detriment, and while I agree with many of Ace's positions, he leaves no room for any nuance and is intolerant of folk with differing views. Now he's not even producing anything anymore (likely somewhat health related) and seems to resent many of the people who helped him.
September 17th, 2023 at 10:43 AM ^
Watch out, man. Ace is going to call you Campbell-phobic and unleash his follower on Twitter on you.
You don’t want that smoke.
September 17th, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
Hahaha. "Follower". +1 for you sir.
September 17th, 2023 at 12:34 PM ^
+1 for the use of Campbell phobic.
September 17th, 2023 at 8:01 AM ^
Just two years ago, many of you wanted him and Tom Allen... I remember.
September 17th, 2023 at 8:09 AM ^
And Luke Fickell and Matt Rhule and Josh Gattis.
September 17th, 2023 at 9:21 AM ^
We remember that you remember, Catchafire. You remind us frequently.
FWIW, though I wasn’t all in on Campbell, or really anyone in particular, I was in the group, along with Brian and most of my friends, who didn’t think Harbaugh was going to get things on track again, and therefore assumed we were doomed to mediocrity. Happy to say I was wrong!
September 17th, 2023 at 10:35 AM ^
I remember how everyone wanted to fire a coach that had a winning record except against OSU, and based on a 2020 clown season.