After days of speculation, U. Toledo Athletic Director Mike O’Brien announced Monday that interim head football coach Matt Campbell will take over the position permanently.
Toledo made Campbell the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision’s youngest coach with a five-year deal worth nearly $2 million.
“These last few days have been intense,” O’Brien said. “I’ve made many phone calls and emails. But it had clearly gotten to the point, after watching Matt Campbell work for three-plus years, that we need not prolong the search. We had the very best candidate right here in Larimer [Athletic Complex].”
Campbell, 32, served the last three seasons as the Rockets offensive coordinator. He took the interim role Friday, Dec. 9 when former head coach Tim Beckman accepted a five-year deal with Illinois worth $9 million.
“Change in life is inevitable, but greatness is a choice,” Campbell said. “Right now we’ve been consistently good in this football program. We are going to make the choice to be great. We have that opportunity on the 28th [at the Military Bowl] and I look forward to it.
“It’s a chance to kickoff our era and it’s a chance for us to get going on the ultimate goal of bringing our MAC Championship back home to Toledo in 2012.”
Preferring an in-house hire, Campbell was the player’s choice to become the program’s 26th head coach.
“Everybody wanted Coach Campbell,” said junior defensive end T.J. Fatinikun. “We all believe in Coach Campbell. He’s a player’s coach and someone we all can relate to.”
“The players love him,” said 6th year senior Desmond Marrow. “He just goes about his job in a very business-like way.”
Campbell coordinated an offensive unit which ranks eighth in the nation in total offensive (493.2 yards per game) and scoring (42.3 points per game) this season.
He began his coaching career as the offensive graduate assistant at rival Bowling Green in 2003 and 2004 before spending the next two years winning back-to-back national titles as the offensive coordinator/offensive line coach at Mount Union.
Campbell, a 2002 graduate of Mount Union, was also a member of three national championships as an offensive lineman for the Purple Raiders. He was a two-time first-team All-American who earned Academic All-American honors as well.
A native of Massillon, OH, Campbell was a standout offensive lineman at Perry High School.
The Rockets first game with Campbell at the reigns will be a showdown with Air Force in the Military Bowl on Dec. 28th. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C.