Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell addressed the media recently, with the spotlight squarely on the Cyclones’ season opener in Dublin against Kansas State. For Campbell, the trip is as much about opportunity as it is about football.
“I think the one thing is, you know, as uniquely challenging as this opportunity is, the word opportunity is right,” Campbell said. “To take your program over to Ireland, what a great experience for the fan bases, the universities, the schools, and to play in this kind of setting. I still think it’s really special, and I’m really grateful to be a part of that. I think our kids feel that way.”
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Campbell traveled overseas last summer to get a feel for the setup and stressed the importance of normalcy once the team lands. “My whole mission was how do we try to keep everything as normal as we possibly can? Now, I don’t know if it’s normal not sleeping overnight on a plane and then getting up on Thursday when you get there and Thursday morning and going to practice, but I think we prepare for that.”
The coach also credited the support staff for preparing for the international trip. “Skip and our nutrition team, they’ve went over, they got that same experience, and I think they’ve done an incredible job. Tireless work. A lot of effort has gone into it and I really appreciate what they’ve done to kind of give us a platform to get over there and try to get into normality as fast as we possibly can.”
While the game presents obvious challenges, Campbell framed it as a defining moment. “You’re obviously playing a tremendous opponent that you have the utmost respect for on top of it, and man, you get to play in a very iconic game. So, I think all those things are really exciting and we don’t take that for granted.”
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