In college football, you don’t have to have a long and storied history to be successful, you just need to find the right coach. The Iowa State Cyclones are a perfect example of that. For years, the Cyclones were a mediocre program with cheap Iowa State football tickets widely available. But the arrival of head coach Matt Campbell changed the program forever. He turned the Cyclones into a serious football program and a legitimate contender in the Big 12. As a result, last-minute Iowa State football tickets now sell like hotcakes for every home game.

A History of Futility

The Cyclones have been playing football since 1892, albeit with limited success during that time. Iowa State won conference championships in 1911 and 1912, but that is where the program peaked during the 20th century. For decades, the Cyclones were perennial doormats in the Big Six and Big Eight Conferences. Signs of hope were brief and sporadic. While the Cyclones played in four bowl games during the 1970s, they lost all of them. After 1978, Iowa State didn’t get back to a bowl game until 2000, when the Cyclones won their first bowl in program history. One coach after another failed to gain traction, most of them leaving Ames with a losing record during their tenure.

The Magic Man

In 2016, the Cyclones hit the jackpot when they hired Matt Campbell as their head coach. Campbell almost immediately turned the program around, going 3-9 in his first season but guiding Iowa State to an 8-5 campaign and a bowl win in his second season. In a short period of time, Campbell turned Iowa State into a program that others in the Big 12 respected and almost feared.

In 2020, Campbell led the Cyclones to the Big 12 Championship Game and a New Year’s Six bowl game for the first time in program history. The Cyclones finished the season 9-3 and ranked in the top-10, both watermarks for the program. In just five seasons, Campbell changed the trajectory of the program, setting up Iowa State to be a force to be reckoned with moving forward.