Matt Campbell yearned to pay homage to what Dan McCarney had done to turn around a forlorn Iowa State program before — and he’s humbled to be approaching McCarney’s 18-year-old school wins record in just his ninth season at the helm.

Matt Campbell is in his ninth season as Iowa State’s head football coach. He has now tied Dan McCarney, who coached the team for 12 seasons, for the all-time lead in wins as head coach of the Cyclones.

With a 52-7 win over Arkansas State, Matt Campbell is now tied for most wins all-time by a head coach at Iowa State.

Rocco Becht threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and Carson Hansen rushed for two scores as No. 20 Iowa State rolled to a 52-7 win over Arkansas State on Saturday. Matt Campbell won his 56th game as Iowa State’s coach,

Matt Campbell has led 20th-ranked Iowa State to unprecedented heights over his eight-plus seasons, and now he is on the cusp of becoming the program’s all-time wins leader. If the Cyclones (2-0) beat Arkansas State (2-1) in Ames,

McCarney took over a program that had had two winning seasons in 14 years and was 0-10-1 in 1994. In his sixth season, 2000, the Cyclones went 9-3 and appeared in the Top 25 for the first time since 1981. That team also ended a 22-year bowl drought when it went to the first of a then-school record three straight.