TOLEDO, Ohio -- The temptation with coaches like Toledo's Matt Campbell is to grab the DVR and skip ahead a few scenes. What happens next? What job will he land? Will he succeed in turning around Program X in Power 5 Conference Y?

Put down the remote and step away, slowly. The scenes that define the man, and always will, show Campbell's path to this point, not where he goes from here. He's a blossoming young coach -- he leads a 7-0 Toledo team ranked No. 20 nationally and eying a New Year's Six bowl -- but one forever fastened to his roots in the game, roots that are deeper than sturdier than most 35-year-olds.

"It's a lot more grassroots than anything else," he said.

Campbell has fast-tracked professionally - he became the second-youngest FBS coordinator at 29 and the youngest FBS head coach at 32 - but he's still the type who prefers the local, not the express. He wasn't molded in big or flashy places but in football-obsessed Ohio towns like Massillon, Canton, Alliance, Bowling Green and now Toledo. He wasn't molded by famous men but by coaches who succeeded on smaller stages like Mount Union's Larry Kehres and Campbell's father, Rick, a former high school coach in Massillon.

His lone experience in college football's higher rungs - as a freshman at Pitt in 1998 - turned him off so much that he ditched his scholarship for a Division III program. He still lives in the same house he did as a Toledo assistant, despite receiving several raises to be the Rockets' leading man. His code of conduct in Toledo's team room could be a manual for Midwestern nice: I can always be heard saying please when asking for something ... To politely interrupt, I will say excuse me.

There's an element of purity in Campbell's football story, worth appreciating, even as the chatter about his future grows louder.

"Extremely humble, no ego," Toledo athletic director Mike O'Brien said. "He'll never forget where he comes from. Never."

Molded at Mount

Campbell didn't stumble into this life. Few football paths seem more preordained than his. O'Brien puts it this way: "He was born to be a head football coach."

As the 2001 documentary "Go Tigers!" captured, football resonates in the Massillon-Canton area, where Campbell was born and raised. Rick left coaching in 1986 for administrative roles -- he didn't want to coach Matt or his younger son, Scott -- and never pushed football on his kids, but made sure the athletics avenue stayed open.

Matt, athletic and competitive, latched onto football. "Wanting to learn about the game," Rick says, "made him different." Matt considers two-a-day practices at Massillon's Jackson High School, where Rick coached, as his greatest childhood experiences.

"Back in the day, your schoolbooks were covered by newspapers," Scott Campbell said. "People are drawing their favorite whatever. Every one of Matt's books had football plays written on them."

Matt attended Perry High School -- Scott now serves as athletic director there -- and became a standout defensive end for Keith Wakefield, still one of his major coaching influences. He received interest from several Power 5 programs, including West Virginia and Illinois, and picked Pitt after seeing the Panthers beat Virginia Tech on his recruiting visit.

But the fall of 1998 was tough for Campbell. His parents were getting divorced. Pitt went 2-9 and Campbell could see why.

"Off-the-field issues, commitment level," he said. "I never want any kid here to touch or feel what I felt like during that time. The love for football never wavered. I just learned how important great culture is to football. I learned that at 18, 19 years old, as I sat there and saw, why is this not working? Why is this not successful?"

Matt left Pitt the following summer. He transferred to Mount Union, a Division III school in Alliance, Ohio, where his parents had studied and where Rick had played football.

He stepped into a program with no scholarships but three consecutive national titles and seven consecutive league titles under Kehres.

"You went from one of the poorest cultures at that time to Mount Union, one of the most elite cultures maybe in college football history," Campbell said.

As a player, Campbell helped "Mount" to three more national championships (2000-02), twice earning All-America honors and recording 22 sacks and 42 tackles for loss. He later returned as offensive coordinator and Mount went 29-1 with national titles in each of his two seasons.

Campbell says his experience with Kehres has a "profound impact" on how he runs Toledo's program. Toledo's staff includes two assistants, offensive coordinator Jason Candle and offensive line coach Tom Manning, who played with Campbell at Mount.

"There was never a day missed," Candle said. "You weren't going to slide on the details and what got us to that particular point. Those Mondays and Tuesday after 60- or 70-point wins were really tough. It was because we didn't do it to a certain standard.

"It's everything that he's really good at right now -- putting a really good plan and executing it, making sure everything's right so when you go out on Saturday, the product reflects the work."

A football prodigy

A few years ago, Campbell and Manning, along with their wives, flew to Mexico for spring break. As soon as the plane cleared 10,000 feet, Campbell whipped out his laptop and alerted Manning, showing him a play he'd been studying.

"I'm like, 'Oh, cool, Coach," Manning said. "I'm just worried about getting to the beach. His wife was shaking her head."

Toledo's code of conduct reflects Campbell's humility. Adam Rittenberg/ESPN

When the two families vacationed in Florida this summer, Erica Campbell told Manning to confiscate her husband's electronic devices. "He really has no hobbies," Manning said. "He just likes football." Matt calls football his getaway.

His singular focus has propelled him professionally. Greg Studwara could see it when Campbell was his graduate assistant at Bowling Green. Urban Meyer had left for Utah, but his spread offense, still unique at the time, remained.

Although Campbell played defense at Mount Union, he immersed himself in the offensive scheme. "I was fascinated," he said. "I wouldn't leave there most nights." Studwara had just become offensive coordinator and would be calling plays from the coaches' booth, but because also oversaw the offensive line, he needed on-field help during games.

Enter Campbell.

"The first spring he was there, he's in my office asking me. 'How about this technique? How about this in the no-huddle?'" said Studwara, now offensive line coach at Maryland. "He picked it up so fast and was coaching those guys so quickly. I was shocked by the transition.

"I thought, 'This guy's going to go a long way.'"

After two years at Bowling Green, Campbell returned to Mount Union. Division III schools had just been cleared to hold spring practice, and Campbell produced a detailed plan for Mount's first session.

He also brought elements of the spread offense to his Alma mater.

"When he came back to me, he was extremely valuable based on what he could teach," Kehres said. "It was clear that he could plan. He had tremendous ideas. He has great anticipation. His intelligence puts him in that position, of anticipating what he needs to do, what his team needs, what's good for his entire program.

"I was very impressed. I'm not sure at that point I'm thinking he's going to be a head coach soon, but I had an insight of what he was capable of doing."

Taking flight in Toledo

Campbell's office in Toledo's Larimer Athletic Complex looks like those of his older coaching peers. A "COACH" placard rests between two game balls. A book, Frank Arnold's "What makes great leaders great," rests on the desk.

The only sign of youth is tucked in the corner: a photo of Campbell, wearing a devilish grin, gripping a Super Soaker and dousing players at a practice last year.

"Age meant nothing to me," O'Brien said of promoting Campbell to head coach on Dec. 12, 2011. "I'm not even sure I knew how old he was."

O'Brien needed all of three days to remove "interim" from Campbell's title. Campbell, Toledo's offensive coordinator since 2009, had put in charge after Tim Beckman left for Illinois. O'Brien attended the first bowl practice, mainly to observe the players, some of whom were angry about Beckman's exit.

They immediately responded to their new leader. So did the staff.

"It was an unbelievable switch," defensive line coach Eli Rasheed said. "You just knew, 'OK, this guy's going to be alright."

O'Brien had a candidate list and made calls but soon came to the realization: Why should I let one of my top employees get away?

"It wasn't so much me giving Matt a break," O'Brien said. "He was going to get it sooner or later. It was: This is our guy. I thought he could take our program to the next level."

Campbell has guided Toledo to three bowl wins, two 9-4 seasons and a 33-13 record.

Last season marked a breakthrough, especially after a bowl-less 7-5 campaign in 2013. The Rockets fought through myriad injuries -- they used their fourth-string quarterback down the stretch, and nearly 30 players had postseason surgeries -- to win nine games with just one conference blemish.

The outgoing seniors had set a standard. Others needed to follow.

"That's what our Mount Union process taught us," Campbell said. "The players in the program tell the young players how to do things the right way. Then they leave a lasting legacy. That's the biggest difference between years past and this year."

Campbell doesn't mention Mount very often, but his Toledo players are aware of his ties.

"You can tell he's been part of a program that was very successful," quarterback Phillip Ely said. "They won numerous championships, they were a team that bought in. He wants to implement that here."

Toledo had never beaten two Power 5 opponents in the same season. The Rockets needed just two weeks to achieve it, as they opened with a stunning upset of Arkansas, followed by a win against Iowa State in two overtimes. ESPN's Football Power Index favors Toledo in three of its final four regular-season games; its rivalry matchup with Bowling Green is essentially a toss-up.

Campbell and the Rockets sit at No. 20 in the polls and could earn a spot in a New Year's Six bowl. AP Photo/David Richard

Defense is the difference, as Toledo is tied for 13th nationally in points allowed (12.3 ppg). Campbell had implemented a recruiting rubric for the offense, outlining traits for each position. He began doing the same on defense.

"That's kind of a [Bill] Belichick, [Bill] Parcells way of doing it," he said. "It was really important to me, as much as scheme, of making sure we create great depth. That's the biggest thing you're seeing now.

"We're growing up."

Assessing Campbell's ambition

Most assume Campbell soon will outgrow Toledo. His name is constantly included among the rising-star coaches from Group of 5 programs: Memphis' Justin Fuente, Temple's Matt Rhule, Houston's Tom Herman and Boise State's Bryan Harsin.

Seven FBS jobs are already open -- five at Power 5 programs. Campbell, who earns a bit less than $500,000, will have opportunities.

"That's part of the MAC business," O'Brien said. "At the same time, Matt has a real good job. I know his name's out there a lot, but we in turn are going to do what we are able to, to keep him. His concentration's on football and his program."

Campbell learned that from Kehres, who turned down several job offers to stay at Mount Union, and from his dad. Kehres wouldn't speculate on Campbell's future, only saying, "Matt will be ready for each event that unfolds. Matt makes places better, whatever the place is."

He has made Toledo better, and he's not finished there.

"He has one goal in mind: how to put Toledo on the map and make it bigger and better than it's ever been," Scott Campbell said. "He believes when you write a name on a contract or give your word, you better do everything you can to uphold it.

"There's nothing phony about him."

Manning, who considers Campbell one of his closest friends, has no idea what could come next. "I can tell you," he said, "he's like no football coach you've ever met.

"

"The most genuine person I've ever been around," Rasheed said.

It begs the question: Can a grassroots coach succeed in the brightest spotlights or is he better off staying put? Studwara said coaches like Campbell are "a breath of fresh air" for some major programs.

Thing is, Campbell already believes he's at one. He ditched the DVR long ago. He doesn't need to skip ahead.

"You say what's your dream job? I'd say I'm living that right now," he said. "We're building a culture here that's really special. We've got great kids who really believe in our coaching staff and the people we have. That part of it means the world to me.

"So ambition toward what? To be build something special and be different? Yes, that's my ambition."