If there's a tougher job in the Big 12 than being the head football coach at Iowa State, I'd sure like to know what it is. Gene Chizik just finished his second season in Ames, and it wasn't a good one. The Cyclones won but a single game over a That's the sort of outcome that could lead a coach, even a relatively new one, to make some drastic changes, and that's what Chizik did yesterday. Chizik fired two coaches and demoted both his coordinators. Gone are quarterbacks coach Tony Petersen and secondary coach Shawn Raney; offensive coordinator Robert McFarland will now coach the offensive line and serve as associate head coach, while defensive coordinator Wayne Bolt will coach ISU's linebackers.
it's not like the Cyclones got blown out in every game. They took Kansas and Colorado down to the wire but couldn't finish them off. Of course, Kansas finished 7-5 and the Buffs wound up 5-7. The Clones also lost to Baylor and Nebraska by four touchdowns. They lost to Oklahoma State and Missouri by, uh, more than that. Clearly. something drastic needed to be done.
Ames might not be a great place to be the head coach, but it did launch Johnny Majors towards Tennessee and Earle Bruce towards Ohio State. Maybe Dan McCarney stayed a little too long at the fair, but these days, loyalty is a pretty rare thing. When you look at the list of former Cyclone assistants, though, it's hard not to have your jaw drop a little bit.
Let's start with Mack Brown and Pete Carroll, shall we? They were on Donnie Duncan's staff together in 1979. Before that, Glen Mason was a Cyclone assistant. So was former Ohio State coach John Cooper. The open coordinator positions at Iowa State are great opportunities for the right coach. Now it's up to Chizik and ISU athletic director Jamie Pollard to find them.
(NOTE: The picture accompanying this article is of former ISU running back Stevie Hicks, who died this past weekend of injuries sustained in a fall. He was 25 years old.)
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chizek will have a very difficult time achieving mediocracy. He may equal McCarney's "success" - a bowl game here and there but it will be awfully difficult to sustain any success. He left Texas too quickly - meaning he left for the wrong job.
You forgot to mention the most famous of them all - Jimmy Johnson who when asked to name his favorite coaching stop in college on David Letterman said that Ames was the most enjoyable place he had been.