Nearly Perfect Storm?

Rhoads' new contract (great news, BTW) caused me to reminisce over the past three years of Cyclone Football and what we may be witnessing & (most) are taking an active part in.

2 bowls in 3 seasons. Granted, they are not BCS bowls & there are more for teams to play in than ever, this is huge considering the conference/schedule changes as well as factoring in the state of the program when he took over & our record the previous couple seasons.

Player development and depth within the program appear to at the highest level I can recall. Recruiting classes are not highly ranked, but it appears the staff has a well-thought out plan & has displayed short-term success in identifying then developing the talent brought to Ames. Looks to be the year a number of players will have the opportunity to be in the NFL Draft & would expect that to be the start of a trend looking at coming years (LB's, in particular). In addition, we have been able to defeat teams/programs known to traditionally have very athletic teams - Ok State (this & more recent years), Texas, & Nebraska come to mind. Also, we have been more competitive on the road.

Lost an assistant Coach to a more visible & powerful program by Herman going to Ohio State. Rumblings of Rhoads being a candidate for HC position at other schools (founded or not). Face it, if you are doing things well, others will notice & try to entice good coaches to change, whether for the challenge, money, presige, what have you. This is a good thing to have happen. Heck, should anyone look at ISU the last 3 years, the most growth has been on the defensive side of the ball.

Now our administration has given Rhoads a new contract that goes through to all of the assistants. Home attendance records were broken, and more season tickets were sold than before. Facilities are being upgraded & the conference has more foundation than before & some juice from the additions of TCU & West Virginia going forward.

To conclude, I'd just like to say I am proud of what has been accomplished from all facets of the Cyclone program - coaches, players, adminstration, fans, the whole bit. Not saying I am satisfied, actually all of these occuring is making me hungry for more and maybe selfishly so. If the conference-BS & other things didn't happen, the chance for a more perfect storm could have been there (with 2 divisions & the possibility of a North division championship, etc). But not going to dwell on the woulda, coulda, shoulda, and would like to focus on what did happen and what we can take control over and make happen in the future.

Looking forward to an ISU team laying it all on the line in New York City in the Pinstripe Bowl, thanking those who will be moving on from the program, cheering on those that are fortunate to further their careers in pro ball, welcoming the 2012 and other future classes of Cyclones, and supporting all Cyclone teams from here on out until I'm buried under 6 feet of dirt or my ashes are blown & spread all over by the wind. For now, very happy to have Rhoads starting this and leading us a while longer into the future.

Well said. I'm as confident as ever in the direction our program is heading. These are good times indeed and only going to get better with PR around a while longer.

Well written and more succinct than many posts of similar length.

I breezed right through that and agree with all of it.

I'm probably going to opt for the ashes blowing around choice though -- over some lake in Canada. (If that's legal.)

The only thing I disagree with in the OP's post is the B12's decision to dissolve the divisions. Example: If we had finished second in the B12 north to Kstate people would just say we are in a division that has crappy teams. They can't use that excuse now that we play a round-robin schedule.

Other than that, I agree, we've had a perfect (or near perfect) storm. Rhoads is a perfect fit for the program. The next step has to be getting/keeping quality assistants. We already have a great one in Wally, now we just need to find the right offensive guy.

Rep to you BigLame.

I agree it feels like we are truly witnessing the old cliche' of "changing the culture".

I think, no I BELIEVE that ISU has the right people leading all of our major sport programs.

FB, MBB, WBB, WR, VB all are experiencing success and tons of fan support.

ISU seems to be poised to make a jump into the relevant (or stay there in WBB, VB) again.

It is a great time to be a CYCLONE

Fighting tough on the road (except Missouri game) has been the biggest surprise with CPR.

It has been the 70s that last we were tough on the road.

Time will tell but I was not too upset when I heard Herman was leaving. It seemed to me he called a lot of plays that our ofense was not capable of executing properly.

We were 9th of of 10 in the conference in scoring last year and had less than 50% as many points as the first place team. I'd like to think we can upgrade from those numbers. Here are this years numbers

SCORING OFFENSE Pts Avg
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1. Oklahoma State...... 592 49.3
2. Baylor.............. 522 43.5
3. Oklahoma........ 483 40.2
4. Texas A&M........... 475 39.6
5. Texas Tech.......... 406 33.8
6. Kansas State........ 397 33.1
7. Missouri............ 386 32.2
8. Texas............... 344 28.7
9. Iowa State.......... 282 23.5
10.Kansas.............. 268 22.3

Another factor is when you look at our neighbors. Who knows when Iowa will bounce back, would you rather play in the up tempo offense of ISU or the pro style of Iowa. Some claim Bo Pelini is very safe in his job and will really have to mess up to lose it as long as Tom is AD, what that means for ISU who knows. Minn is a mess right now. Kansas is in change mode. Ill is in change mode. Mizzu is changing conferences. KSU has a 72 yo coach and last time a change was made there it about ruined their program. Hell go clear to Colorado and look at that mess. IF CPR plays his cards right and makes steps forward with the program there is no reason he cannot have the best program in the reigion. Dan Mac had the same chance 10 years ago but didnt make good on his chances. Lets hope CPR doesnt do the same.

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Originally Posted by intrepid27

Time will tell but I was not too upset when I heard Herman was leaving. It seemed to me he called a lot of plays that our ofense was not capable of executing properly.

We were 9th of of 10 in the conference in scoring last year and had less than 50% as many points as the first place team. I'd like to think we can upgrade from those numbers. Here are this years numbers

SCORING OFFENSE Pts Avg
--------------------------------------------------------------
1. Oklahoma State...... 592 49.3
2. Baylor.............. 522 43.5
3. Oklahoma........ 483 40.2
4. Texas A&M........... 475 39.6
5. Texas Tech.......... 406 33.8
6. Kansas State........ 397 33.1
7. Missouri............ 386 32.2
8. Texas............... 344 28.7
9. Iowa State.......... 282 23.5
10.Kansas.............. 268 22.3

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Wow do those numbers include 5 extra periods of overtime?

I believe without the overtimes we averaged under 21 ppg

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Originally Posted by kingcy

Another factor is when you look at our neighbors. Who knows when Iowa will bounce back, would you rather play in the up tempo offense of ISU or the pro style of Iowa. Some claim Bo Pelini is very safe in his job and will really have to mess up to lose it as long as Tom is AD, what that means for ISU who knows. Minn is a mess right now. Kansas is in change mode. Ill is in change mode. Mizzu is changing conferences. KSU has a 72 yo coach and last time a change was made there it about ruined their program. Hell go clear to Colorado and look at that mess. IF CPR plays his cards right and makes steps forward with the program there is no reason he cannot have the best program in the reigion. Dam Mac had the same chance 10 years ago but didnt make good on his chances. Lets hope CPR doesnt do the same.

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We have a tremendous opportunity in front of us.

Yes we have opportunity. What will we do with that opportunity? We don't play Neb, Illinois, colorado, Minnesota, but we do play some of the better teams in the country. That's unfortunate.

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Originally Posted by JUKEBOX

We have a tremendous opportunity in front of us.

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With Coach Paul Rhoads, we have a chance to do what no other Cyclone team has ever done. DMac was a great individual who could pump up the fans and sometimes get a prized recruit. Dan is no Paul Rhoads! Paul knows players and knows how they would fit in the ISU program. Also he's a fantastic person for recruiting. If you get him in the home of the athlete, he can bring home the sale!
My gut feeling is that he will hire a damn good offensive coordinator. It might be someone we've heard of. It might not be. CPR knows college football! To Jamie Pollard, I thank you for what you have just done. Now it's time for the new president to give you a huge raise. You deserve it son!

If we had pulled out 2010 NU and 2011 KSU I would agree about a perfect storm.

Regardless, the ball is rolling and the progress solid/sustainable. Look out if ISU gets a few more breaks (in recruiting and on the field), and some easier schedules (too bad the Big 12 is not the Big 10/ACC/Pac-12).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kingcy

Another factor is when you look at our neighbors. Who knows when Iowa will bounce back, would you rather play in the up tempo offense of ISU or the pro style of Iowa. Some claim Bo Pelini is very safe in his job and will really have to mess up to lose it as long as Tom is AD, what that means for ISU who knows. Minn is a mess right now. Kansas is in change mode. Ill is in change mode. Mizzu is changing conferences. KSU has a 72 yo coach and last time a change was made there it about ruined their program. Hell go clear to Colorado and look at that mess. IF CPR plays his cards right and makes steps forward with the program there is no reason he cannot have the best program in the reigion. Dan Mac had the same chance 10 years ago but didnt make good on his chances. Lets hope CPR doesnt do the same.

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Yep, i would love to see KSU drop back down. Snyder can't have too many years left coaching, and if they dropped back down to the Ron Prince level again, that would be helpful.