Why is Matt Campbell still at Iowa State? To reset, rebuild the Cyclones’ magical rise

[CascadeClone]

Read the article (comes with my NYT subscription), good read and explains why he has stayed. His painful (having to dismiss people who had been loyal and with/to him for years) reorganization after last season was covered but he knew it needed to be done if the "process" was going to be successful. He continues to focus on the athletes and how to enable them to be successful, and he is able to run the program his way at ISU. We are lucky as a fan base to have him and he seems to be dedicated to building our (and especially the ISU athletes) program.

One of the hardest things to do as a leader is fire people. But you absolutely have to do it for the good of the organization (or Process if you like). Your team will have people that don't perform well. They fail to improve, they get stale or complacent, lose their drive, a million reasons why. But you can't sacrifice the entire ship to save one guy; even when it's a friend or long-time relationship. And you can't do their job for them either.

Hopefully going thru this experience will help make CMC a better leader - add a chapter called "clean out the dead wood" to The Process.

 

[madguy30]

You obviously have no idea what I was saying. There’s no doubt he’s probably been ISU’s best football coach ever.

All these people out there that think CMC has turned down all these great offers to stay at lowly ISU are kidding themselves.

Has CMC said himself he turned down offers? Because saying he's fooling people without him actually saying that is you yourself making **** up.

 

[Cycsk]

So, he's been trying to leave all this time according to you. What exactly are you basing that on?

May I recommend not responding to certain posters? They are the definition of trolls. These threads are much nicer with them on my Ignore List, but I wish that no one would take their bait.

The full article in The Athletic is really good.

 

[CyLyte2]

You obviously have no idea what I was saying. There’s no doubt he’s probably been ISU’s best football coach ever.

All these people out there that think CMC has turned down all these great offers to stay at lowly ISU are kidding themselves.

You’re wrong and silly(to put it nicely).

 

[clonedude]

So, he's been trying to leave all this time according to you. What exactly are you basing that on?

I didn’t say that either.

 

[NetflixAndClone]

I feel you. It’s annoying. And lord knows none of us need another subscription. Hell if you add up just my Iowa State ones I have 5 or 6.

But the athletic does have some good stuff.

Athletic is a must if you are either a hockey or soccer fan. No other american sport news group gives the coverage of either of those sports. It blew my mind when I came across their hockey stuff.

 

[Cloneon]

One of the hardest things to do as a leader is fire people. But you absolutely have to do it for the good of the organization (or Process if you like). Your team will have people that don't perform well. They fail to improve, they get stale or complacent, lose their drive, a million reasons why. But you can't sacrifice the entire ship to save one guy; even when it's a friend or long-time relationship. And you can't do their job for them either.

Hopefully going thru this experience will help make CMC a better leader - add a chapter called "clean out the dead wood" to The Process.

Interestingly, every single company I've ever worked for no longer exists in my 40 years of experience. Which, has embedded a dreadful lack of confidence in our business educational system. And, in every single employ, I saw drastic shortcomings in management philosophy. You see, my experience says young startups are motivated by innovation, engineering, and quality. But, once they reach a certain size, investors seek management which leverages 'margins'. That is the turning point, not only during my employment, but also in my investments over the same time period. What I'm trying to say is that our business philosophy is built on the wrong ideals. We should better strive to continue those initial motivational characteristics instead of marketing and margining. While we have those criticizing JP, my observations over his employment is that he continues to 'build' the product, not sacrificing quality along the way. Heck, I (an engineer) even pitched a 'marketing' idea for him clear to make money, but his focus was elsewhere. Good for him.

 

[Al_4_State]

To me, it depends on what you view as the "hot seat". If ISU goes 4-8 again in 2023, then I view 2024 as a pivotal year. He either gets us back to a bowl in 2024 or we start looking at buyouts. That's because once the sharks see blood in the water, the negative recruiting is tough to overcome. After 2021 and 2022, we're almost to that point now. It's only going to get worse if they can't pull out of it this year.

I refuse to feel too sorry for him, as he's made a ton of money from ISU and Pollard has given him total leeway to do things that he wants to do. I applaud him for sticking around and doing things the right way, but we also hear a ton of coach speak about winning in the margins and ISU has done the opposite. We've won with elite defensive coaching and elite skill players. The things that should be easy in this location (having a good OL and good special teams) have eluded him.

This is spot on

 

[cysmiley]

One of the hardest things to do as a leader is fire people. But you absolutely have to do it for the good of the organization (or Process if you like). Your team will have people that don't perform well. They fail to improve, they get stale or complacent, lose their drive, a million reasons why. But you can't sacrifice the entire ship to save one guy; even when it's a friend or long-time relationship. And you can't do their job for them either.

Hopefully going thru this experience will help make CMC a better leader - add a chapter called "clean out the dead wood" to The Process.

Yeah Jack Welch, former GE CEO , institutionalized turnover, he famously targeted 10% annually, Wasn't a disciple but many were when GE was world's largest corporation.

 

[RagingCloner]

CMC has so many people fooled IMO. There, I said it.

I believe the only reason he hasn't left yet is because a better opportunity hasn't been offered to him.

You obviously have no idea what I was saying. There’s no doubt he’s probably been ISU’s best football coach ever.

All these people out there that think CMC has turned down all these great offers to stay at lowly ISU are kidding themselves.

Its been documented.....He also turned down an NFL gig. There is a university on the East side of the state that your IQ level would fit in well with i believe....

 

[CascadeClone]

Yeah Jack Welch, former GE CEO , institutionalized turnover, he famously targeted 10% annually, Wasn't a disciple but many were when GE was world's largest corporation.

Yeah a lot of the shine is off Welch now. On one hand, I think having firm numbers on something like that isn't a good thing, it drives the wrong kind of management actions. On the other hand, most places I have worked, WAY more than 10% should have been doing something else. Not necessarily because they were failing miserably, but because they just weren't in a job that they enjoyed at all.

Bet if most of us look around the office, you could easily come up with 10% that should be somewhere else...

 

[KnappShack]

Yeah a lot of the shine is off Welch now. On one hand, I think having firm numbers on something like that isn't a good thing, it drives the wrong kind of management actions. On the other hand, most places I have worked, WAY more than 10% should have been doing something else. Not necessarily because they were failing miserably, but because they just weren't in a job that they enjoyed at all.

Bet if most of us look around the office, you could easily come up with 10% that should be somewhere else...

I work from home. So does my wife.

I'm having trouble finding a 10% cut here

 

[qwerty]

I work from home. So does my wife.

I'm having trouble finding a 10% cut here

One arm or leg should cover that cut

 

[clonedude]

Its been documented.....He also turned down an NFL gig. There is a university on the East side of the state that your IQ level would fit in well with i believe....

There’s documented evidence that he turned down jobs that he interviewed for and was offered the job?

If so, I apologize, and I was wrong in my assessment.

 

[MeanDean]

Interestingly, every single company I've ever worked for no longer exists in my 40 years of experience. Which, has embedded a dreadful lack of confidence in our business educational system. And, in every single employ, I saw drastic shortcomings in management philosophy. You see, my experience says young startups are motivated by innovation, engineering, and quality. But, once they reach a certain size, investors seek management which leverages 'margins'. That is the turning point, not only during my employment, but also in my investments over the same time period. What I'm trying to say is that our business philosophy is built on the wrong ideals. We should better strive to continue those initial motivational characteristics instead of marketing and margining. While we have those criticizing JP, my observations over his employment is that he continues to 'build' the product, not sacrificing quality along the way. Heck, I (an engineer) even pitched a 'marketing' idea for him clear to make money, but his focus was elsewhere. Good for him.

Not specifically what you covered but one of, in my opinion, stupidest marketing moves:

Offering huge discounts to lure in new customers to a service like cable or internet. Then after the initial discount period is over the customer gets the standard rate.

I think a better long-term strategy is to set up the rates so as a customer's longevity and positive payment history is rewarded with lower rates over time. More of an incentive to stay.

The first gets the marketing staff big bonuses for new customers, but that's very short-sighted I think.

 

[carvers4math]

Athletic is a must if you are either a hockey or soccer fan. No other american sport news group gives the coverage of either of those sports. It blew my mind when I came across their hockey stuff.

Do they have a lot Premier League and other European soccer coverage? One of my kids used to love NBA and NFL, but now about all he follows is ISU and European soccer

 

[cyclone1209]

It was a very good article. Should make us appreciate HCMC even more. With a stable Big 12 and the CFP opening up to 12 teams, Matt still has plenty of good reasons to stay. We can get there.

The fact that he has had this many pro and high level college offers to this point and he is still here, that makes me think he will be here another 10 years+ hopefully, like a Mike Gundy.

Easier to live like a prince forever versus a king for 3 years.

I think the reason Mike Gundy, Ferentz, and (maybe) a Campbell stay at their spot for so long is that they can be who they are authentically as a man, not have to look over their shoulder very 5 seconds, and they can run their program the way the want to run a damn program. That last part seems underrated to me for sure.

 

[cycloneworld]

Please tell me that we don’t have real fans that ask questions like this.

 

[clone52]

I didn’t say that either.

You don't even know what you are trying to say.

You think he hasn't turned down any offers and also hasn't had any offers? Then someone must be pulling the wool over every football reporter that exists.

Just use Occum's razor. The simplest reason he is still at Iowa State is because he wants to do things his way and not many places would allow him to do that.

 

[clonedude]

You don't even know what you are trying to say.

You think he hasn't turned down any offers and also hasn't had any offers? Then someone must be pulling the wool over every football reporter that exists.

Just use Occum's razor. The simplest reason he is still at Iowa State is because he wants to do things his way and not many places would allow him to do that.

He’s had offers from jobs he’s interviewed for? That’s all I’m asking.

If anyone can link me to proof of this…. I will gladly admit I’m wrong on this. I’m not afraid to admit when I’m wrong.