Report: TCU 'definitely has interest' in current Big 12 coach

The TCU Horned Frogs have expressed interest in hiring Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell to fill its head coaching vacancy, according to a report by Drew Davidson of the Star-Telegram.

Campbell joins an array of current college coaches that have been linked to the TCU job since the university announced that it would be parting ways with Gary Patterson, its head coach of 22 years. Other reported candidates have included Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders, Nevada head coach Jay Norvell, Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliot and Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.

Campbell, 41, has been the head coach at Iowa State since 2016, taking over a program that went a combined 8-28 in the three prior seasons. In his first year in Ames, Campbell led Iowa State to a 3-9 record; ever since then, he’s led the Cyclones to five consecutive winning seasons, amassing a 41-31 record and going 2-2 in bowl games, with wins in the 2017 Liberty Bowl and 2020 Fiesta Bowl. He was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year three times, claiming the honor in 2017, 2018 and 2020.

Campbell has gone 3-2 against TCU since taking over at Iowa State and the Cyclones are on a two-game winning streak against the Horned Frogs. Iowa State is scheduled to host TCU on Nov. 26, the final week of the 2021 regular season.

Prior to his arrival at Iowa State, Campbell served as the head coach at Toledo for five seasons, coaching the Rockets to a 35-15 overall record and appearing in three bowl games. He was named the 2015 MAC Coach of the Year.

Campbell emerges as TCU candidate after Patterson’s departure

The report that TCU “definitely has interest” in Campbell came just over a week after TCU announced that it would be parting ways with Gary Patterson, its head coach of 22 seasons.

Patterson, rightfully so, has been credited with rebuilding TCU’s program from the ground up; when he first took over in 2000, the TCU Horned Frogs had just moved from the Western Athletic Conference to Conference USA, where he led them to three bowl games in four seasons. Then, Patterson helped TCU make the transition to the Mountain West Conference in 2005, where he led the Horned Frogs to so much success that they later jumped to the Big 12 in 2012. Patterson had a 181-79 record in 22 seasons, including an 11-6 record in bowl games, while winning 14 separate coach of the year awards.

Patterson was one of college football’s longest-tenured head coaches, ranking No. 2 behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz. The 61-year old head coach joined the program as a defensive coordinator in 1998 and took over head coaching duties in 2000. He is the winningest head coach in TCU program history; however, reports later emerged that Patterson would be open to coaching elsewhere in the near future, rather than retiring.