Randy Peterson
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December 10, 2025
In reflection . . .
Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard was just doing job as we’ve seen him do it before, when swiftly and emphatically securing Jimmy Rogers to become the school’s 34th football coach . . .
. . . while just steps away, Matt Campbell and his former players had barely finished their good-byes.
College sports, these days, demands quick and decisive decisions. Whether that’s right or wrong – you can decide, but it’s the world in which we live.
NIL. Transfer portal. Private equity. Above the cap. Revenue sharing.
That’s college sports’ new vernacular, and if you’re not all-in – you’re unfortunately all out.
While deciphering new rules and mandates, or at least attempting to figure how they pertain to the department you’re paid to run, one of the worst things an athletics director can do, is put their money-maker sports program in a fourth-and-long – even before a new coach steps on campus.
In Iowa State’s case, after so much football success under Campbell, the school’s forward-thinking AD wasn’t about to be left behind.
“He (Pollard) used to text me prior to every game, like, 'Hey, good luck,' Rogers said during his introductory press conference Monday. “And I think that's pretty awesome for him to think that way.”
It’s how Jamie Pollard runs his business.
If you’ve followed Pollard since becoming Iowa State’s athletics CEO in September 2005, you know Rogers’ speed-of-light hiring is his method of operation. It’s his thing – and it works at Iowa State.
** Paul Rhoads was fired after the Nov. 21, 2015 loss at Kansas State.
** Iowa State announced Campbell as its new coach a week later – on Nov. 29.
** Basketball coach Greg McDermott announced he was going to Creighton on April 26, 2010.
** Fred Hoiberg was hired two days later.
** Basketball coach Steve Prohm was fired March 6, 2021.
** T.J. Otzelberger was hired 26 days later -- on April 1, 2021.
Campbell went on to become the most successful football coach in Iowa State history.
In five seasons, Hoiberg coached the Cyclones to four NCAA Tournaments, consecutive Big 12 titles, and recruited some of the finest players ever to play at Iowa State.
Otzelberger coached Iowa State to four NCAA Tournaments, two Sweet 16s and a Big 12 tournament title in his first four seasons. His fifth season already includes a 23-point win at top-ranked Purdue – or as Boilermakers coach Matt Painter told reporters: “They stole our spirit."
And don’t forget this one: McDermott-for-Wayne Morgan took only four days . . .
Here’s another: Wrestling coach Kevin Jackson announced on Jan. 31, 2017 that he would step away from his position after that season. A day after the regular season ended, Kevin Dresser became the new head coach.
That’s Pollard – who has been known to hire coaches in just minutes, instead of the 50-plus days it took Penn State to hire Campbell.
**
Expecting big things immediately in Rogers’ first Iowa State season? Possibly you are, considering the Cyclones are coming off the school’s most successful period in school history.
Know this, though, before forecasting the school’s 2026 football future:
In 50 years, just one football coach has had a winning record in his first Iowa State season.
That’d be Rhoads, whose 2009 team went 7-6 in his first season after the two-season debacle under Gene Chizik.
Translated: Transitions can take a while. Campbell’s first Cyclones team went 3-9 – and we all know the record-setting way in which his Iowa State chapter ended.
**
And finally . . .
The last time Iowa State hired a coach from Washington State was Jim Walden on Dec. 15, 1986.
(Columnist Randy Peterson, a past Iowa Sportswriter of the Year winner, can be reached at randypete4846@gmail.com or at any Okoboji-area beverage/food establishment between the hours of open and close.)