Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde says Iowa State’s Matt Campbell ‘not a candidate at Oklahoma’

Josh Helmer

Fri, Dec 3, 2021, 4:46 PM·3 min read

According to Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde, fans can cross off Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell’s name from the list of potential candidates to become Oklahoma’s next head football coach.

Forde wrote on Twitter that his sources indicate that Campbell is “not a candidate at Oklahoma.”

Sources: Iowa State's Matt Campbell not a candidate at Oklahoma. That search has gone quiet; school may be waiting on a coach (or coaches) still playing this weekend. Some who are not playing but have prior connections to the program (Brent Venables, Jay Norvell) could be in mix.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) December 3, 2021

Campbell and Iowa State entered the season as one of the favorites to be playing in this weekend’s Big 12 Championship game. Instead, the Cyclones finished 7-5 overall and 5-4 in Big 12 play to wind up on the outside looking in on conference championship weekend.

Iowa State did earn a league-high eight All-Big 12 First Team selections. ISU running back Breece Hall was selected as the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and the Cyclones’ Will McDonald IV was chosen as one of the Co-Defensive Linemen of the Year.

Oklahoma had two All-Big 12 First Team selections and seven others chosen on the All-Big 12 Second Team.

With Campbell reportedly out of the picture, the questions remain. Who is Oklahoma’s next head football coach and when is this decision going to be announced?

Oklahoma interim head coach Bob Stoops shared a potential timeline on his YouTube channel with former TV anchor and host Brad McMullan.

“Makes things into disarray here this past week with current players as well as recruiting. There’s a little bit of uncertainty for everybody and understandably so. But, you know, we’ll find a great head coach and I’m sure it won’t take long. I would anticipate this weekend sometime. At latest, maybe Monday. And things will settle in and people will realize we’re fine,” Stoops said.

Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables has been one of the most prominent names linked to the job. Venables coached at Oklahoma as part of Stoops’ staff from the 1999 through 2011 seasons.

After it was announced that Mike Stoops would return as Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator in January of 2012, Venables left OU to become Clemson’s defensive coordinator.

In his tenure at Clemson, Venables has coached eight first-round NFL Draft selections, seen 15 of his players drafted inside the top 100 players of the NFL Draft and had 26 defensive players drafted overall.

Over the same time span, OU has had one defensive player taken in the NFL Draft’s first round and just five defensive players selected within the NFL Draft’s top 100 picks.

Other names that have been mentioned as potential candidates for Oklahoma’s next head coach include Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning, Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell and Baylor head coach Dave Aranda.

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