Matt Campbell's media day opening statement
As Iowa State's annual event got underway on Friday morning, the leader of the program spoke for nearly 10 minutes in an opening statement to the press. Here's everything the veteran head coach had to share.
“First and foremost, welcome to everybody. I’m really glad to have everybody here. I want to talk a little bit about our football team with just a couple things. I would just say, from our end, two practices into fall camp already, I purposely wanted to get into fall camp, so I could talk about some of our players. Two days into fall camp, what I would say from my end, 11th year being a head football coach and going into my 12th season, quite honestly, for the last six months what I’ve witnessed from what was a very young football team a year ago has just been this unbelievable passion to grow forward. I’m really proud of our football staff, our football coaches, and our kids, and what’s occurred over the last six months.
“November 26th, that TCU game last year, obviously was humbling. Not easy. Tough. When I walked onto the plane that day, we use the book “Chop Wood, Carry Water” in our football program and give it to every one of our kids that come into the program. I take that book with me and in the back of the book, I had etched after the first year I ready it, that when you focus on the roots and not on the fruits, we’ve certainly been at our best. I thought, probably, if I was praying for clarity at the time, I certainly got clarity in the TCU game of where we were and maybe where we needed to continue to grow forward.
“I would say by December 5th, I felt there was elite momentum that started to churn about a week and a half later towards the future of our football program. The soul of this football team really started to take shape. I know I said this probably in January at some point, that the value systems of almost a realignment of our football team and football program around the things that have made us great here.
“The first thing would have been, understanding the value of one football culture within our walls. Man, tying in all the pieces that touch our team and our program and aligning our football team to one football culture.
“I would say, number two, is competitive excellence. You (have) a young football team and lose seven games in the last possession of the game. As the head coach, it’s not easy to watch. But I think you’re diligent when you’re diving into how we get those things corrected. Our success here, we play a ton of one-possession football games here, how do we do a great job of winning in the margins. When we’ve been at our best, we’ve won those margins. When we’ve been at our worst, man, we’ve struggled to win those margins. Competitive excellence in things like strength and conditioning, weight gain, academics…all the things that before the football season actually comes, where can we sink those values into.
“The third thing is the standard and growth plan for every individual in our football program. My ask was everybody that touches our program and serves our kids, academically, physically, nutritionally, how do we do a great job of really serving our program forward.
“The last thing is ’10 Strong’. There are 10 position groups going into every season. Here at Iowa State, that’s what we have. Those 10 position groups…how do we get them to be the best in the conference and give ourselves a chance to play championship football in the fall? For the last seven years, you’ve seen the majority of us play championship-level football or be right there to play championship-level football at Iowa State. How do we continue to get ourselves back there and where we need to be?
“Some small, huge wins that I would say as what our indicators that our team has really bought into that…we had our greatest academic semester in the spring that we’ve ever had here. A team GPA of a 3.22. Our cumulative GPA here is a 3.18. Our kids’ investment into doing right again. Great leadership in those areas here at Iowa State. But our kids buy into those value systems. As you see our football team continue to grow forward this year and get to see some of our guys today and as the weeks come. As soon as we get out and play in the fall, man, our football in average strength and weight gain of eight pounds per kid. The outliers, you’re talking about some kids adding up to 20 to 25 pounds of weight gain. It's been sheerly incredible with what our strength and conditioning and nutrition programs have done. Again, our kids’ credit to buying into those value systems has been nothing short of exceptional.
“I would give a lot of credit to our staff. I’ll start with Coach (Jon) Heacock and Coach (Nate) Scheelhaase. You’re talking about ushering in some new faces for maybe the first time where we’ve really had some new faces come on board. Those new faces have been a great sense of energy and positivity. You’re talking about all these new faces coming from programs that have had elite success. That energy, fostered in by some of our great leadership and Coach Scheelhaase in a new role and Coach Heacock continues to do a great job leading the way…I’m really proud of what that group’s looked like.
“It really started to come together last Saturday. We were able to take our football team to Wildwood Hills Ranch and had a 48-hour retreat. We had a great speaker. We had a great opportunity to be together. Then, on Saturday, we served about a hundred young people at Wildwood Hills Ranch. One of the things that I’ve always loved about our football team is the ability to understand of ‘give more than you take’ and this ability to serve others. It is really special to play at Iowa State and one of the great things about playing here is you can use your platform to make a difference in the lives of other people.
“There is a lot of energy and momentum in our walls. We’re excited to get going with the football season. This group has certainly earned the right to get to fall camp and get themselves ready for the great opportunities that lie ahead this football season.
“I know all of you, certainly, would have questions today on sports gambling. I know that’s been a hot topic in this state and certainly in our football program. I understand those questions that you guys would have. But I would tell you is, obviously, this is an ongoing NCAA and legal investigation. I’m empathetic to you guys, because I know all of you have a job to do and I get it. I’m also empathetic to the young people and our families that are going through some of this. The reality of it is, we’re just not allowed to talk about any of those things to you. From that end, I apologize. I know some people are frustrated because today is different. I want to apologize for it. Today was going to be different, no matter what was going to happen, because this is a young team, a new staff in a lot of ways. Guys have to deserve and earn the right to be up in front of you. This is such a young team that we have so many faces that, hopefully throughout the next couple weeks, I can bring some of those faces to you and some of those people to you. And certainly our staff. Today, what we do have with our players, are some of our veterans. I know sometimes this media has been bigger or different. We will have our coaches in front of you and players over the course of the next couple weeks. I want to make sure we handle today the right way and continue to move ourselves forward.”
