What a Mess

By now most of you have heard Iowa State Football Coach Gene Chizik has moved on and taken over at Auburn. The man who went 5-19 over two years in the Big 12 (including a 0-8 conference record in 2008 without playing Oklahoma, Texas or Texas Tech) is taking over a program that will contend in-state with Nick Saban's Crimson Tide program that in two years has reached top five status. A quick look at his days in Ames...

2007--Lost his first two games as head coach to Kent State and Northern Iowa before upsetting Iowa 15-13. Finished strong winning two of the last three.

2008-- Won the first two over South Dakota State and Kent State before losing to in-state rival Iowa. Went on to lose every remaining game. In the middle of the season lost back-up quarterback Philip Bates. Chizik called him a quitter which the father objected to. At the end of the season demoted each of his coordinators as well as firing two coaches. Whether that was brought on by pressure within the administration or a move on his own is of question.

Chizik came in changing what little tradition the Cyclones had amassed. The Cy logo had changed, uniforms changed, colors changed. New enthusiasm for the program came with the changes while seats were being filled and money filtering in for improvements to a very bland stadium.

Iowa State AD, Jamie Pollard encouraged the changes as he too wanted to encourage a new age for Cyclone Athletics. Now he is faced with generating new enthusiasm at a school that is being labled as one no one can win at. Among the early names on the list may include Buffalo Head Coach Turner Gill, former Cyclone Offensive Coordinator Steve Loney, and former Minnesota Head Coach Glen Mason.

Loney definitely would take pride in being the Cyclone Head Coach, but he is associated with the Dan McCarney era and Pollard would have to swallow some pride to bring him back. Gill has Big 12 ties dating to his days as a player and coach at Nebraska, but there are better jobs for Gill, even if he has to wait another year or two. Mason has a proven track record of taking poorer programs and getting them to post-season play. He has shown success at Kansas and Minnesota.

Mason may be the best choice available for Pollard. Recruiting is badly hurt and many current Cyclones may look for better options. It will take anyone over two years to begin to right the program. But what Pollard may need to look for is the next Tim Brewster. A man who can bring the Cyclone fans jilted by Chizik's departure back to the program and have the charisma needed to make people want to be a part of the program. The next coach needs to have solid coordinators. People who are looking to make a name and to show their worth as the next head coach of a Division I program.

Pollard has to make the right choice. If he doesn't, he won't have to worry about the next one.

Wrong Type of Bedlam

Saturday when Oklahoma State hosts in-state rival Oklahoma in the Bedlam Series, less than a capacity crowd may be on hand at Boone Pickens Stadium. In what is becomming a disturbingly popular trend, fans looking to attend the Cowboy's home game must purchase season tickets.

A year ago Iowa State and its Athletic Director, Jamie Pollard was the first to mandate access to the in-state rivalry game with Iowa was by season ticket access. 49,516 were in Jack Trice Stadium that day to witness one of the biggest upsets in the series history. The Cyclones connected on five field goals, one with :05 in regulation to upset the heavily favored Hawkeyes. The crowd was short of capacity by less than a thousand, but with standing room, the attendance could've approached 54,000. A reliable source said regarding the game, tickets were made available secretively as the Cyclones did not sell 49,000 season tickets.


This Saturday projected attendance at Stillwater is 39,000 based on season ticket sales, leaving 15,000 empty seats. Unless OU fans want to spend $292 for season tickets for this one game, there should be less than a capacity crowd. However we know there won't be many empty seats for this game. As was the case with Iowa State in 2007, there are ways to distribute tickets to fans of the home team as well as distributing the tickets to brokers who can make the money needed for the University.


The reason for this move is based on financial issues. Iowa State and Oklahoma State cannot succeed in the Big 12, a conference which is not based on revune sharing from their television contracts, without selling out most of their home games. They demand, from their fan base that if they want to be a fan, there is a financial responsibility that goes along with it. And if the fans demand success, they must ante up their level of support.


While I understand and will defend the athletic directors for this unprecedented move, let's not forget who is responsible for letting athletic department budgets escalate. Athletic directors and university presidents have signed off on the sky-rocketing salaries that coaches are being paid today. This "arms race" is out of control and the university brass need to control their spending. Fans demand winning athletic teams and they don't care at what cost. But coaches will still coach as long as their salaries are competitive. Theoretically if Nick Saban is the highest paid coach at $300,000, then other coaches will demand like amounts. But once the athletic directors and presidents began to pay coaches millions of dollars a year, as well as bonuses for bowl games, graduation rates, etc. (which isn't this in their job description?) the financial responsibility rests back on the fan to support the program.


Don't blame the fans for inappropriate spending of university funds, blame university presidents.

Much to Read

I didn't begin to read blogs until the beginning of this year, but I continue to find new and informative ones on a daily basis. I find some blogs more informative than reading the newspapers. Many bloggers spend way too much time to keep theirs up to date with daily information. Today I stumbled upon a couple of different college football sites with links to more local university blogs. I found the following interesting. http://badgercentric.blogspot.com/search/label/john%20chadima.

Prior to 1990, the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department was on hard times. The football program was unable to fill it's 76,000+ stadium unless it was for a border game with Minnesota or Iowa. The basketball team continued its mediocrity and the Olympic Sports weren't excelling. Times were so tough the department decided to drop baseball. Then the President of the University became involved and put the right people in place to build the program up again. In less than 15 years the Badgers won three Rose Bowls, attended a couple of Final Fours and numerous other honors ensued.

Jamie Pollard is now the AD at Iowa State. As a Hawkeye fan and a long-time resident of the State of Iowa, I was not a fan of how he treated the price per ticket for the 2007 Iowa - Iowa State football game. But I do respect the job he has done in Ames. In 2006, coming off a year where the Cyclones won the Cy-Hawk trophy, he purchased a popular billboard in Cedar Rapids claiming victory. Then in 2007 he increased the price of the game ticket for the annual football showdown in Ames from $50 to $95 and the only way you could gain entrance for that game was to buy a season ticket. Following the 2006 season, he fired popular head football coach Dan McCarney and replaced him with the Defensive Coordinator at Auburn and Texas, Gene Chizek.

Pollard is trying to make Cyclone backers proud of the program again and inject it with enthusiasm needed to contend in the Hawkeye State. He has worked hard and I admire him for making some very difficult decisions for the best of the Iowa State program. Although I admire him doesn't mean I like him.

The linked article is from February, but worth reading.