Now that Gene Chizik has arrived in Ames, weeks of speculation can finally be put to rest.
Jeremy first reported (as far as I know) that McCarney would be stepping down in the early afternoon of November 8th. This was later confirmed by the athletic department the same day. Rumors of
JP’s short list were almost instantaneously reported on
CF. Gene Chizik, Bo Pellini, Tim Brewster, Jim Harbaugh, Steve Loney and Paul Rhoads all appeared to be the early front-runners. Within a week, all indications were that Jim Harbaugh of the University of San Diego would shortly be named the new head coach. It now looks like Harbaugh’s interview went poorly and he was crossed off
JP’s list. Tim Brewster shortly thereafter removed his name from contention. It was widely thought early on that a “big name” such as Chizik or Pellini wouldn’t be interested in the job and they were dismissed by most as potential candidates. Loney apparently had too many connections to McCarney, so he likewise went the way of the others. Rhoads, for reasons unknown to me, likewise dropped off the radar.
Then Mike Price, Steve Kragthorpe, Gary Patterson and Jay Norvell’s names suddenly surfaced as possibilities. Perhaps
JP’s plan was to hire a successful D1 coach from a non-BCS school. Certainly Price, Kragthorpe and Patterson fit the bill. But of these 4, Jay Norvell’s name came up the most often in connection with the coaching vacancy. Norvell was actively pursuing the job and he had ties to
ISU, albeit ties to Nebraska and Iowa as well. It was widely rumored he would shortly take over the position, but just as fast as his name came into consideration, it, like the others before him, quickly faded as a possibility too.
Enter Brian Kelly from Central Michigan University. Widely regarded as the front-runner for the Michigan State vacancy, Kelly had the proven track record of developing struggling programs into proven winners. However, he wasn’t exactly a “sexy hire” so many fans, myself included, weren’t quite sure what to think of Kelly. As the snowball surrounding Kelly grew, it looked more and more likely he would succeed McCarney.
JP officially asked for permission to pursue Kelly on Saturday, and by Sunday a press conference was scheduled for the following Monday to announce the new head coach. With these developments, many media outlets began reporting Kelly was to be named the new head coach of Iowa State football. It seemed a done deal, almost…
Then, late Sunday night, rumors began flying around that Kelly wasn’t the guy.
JP stated
ISU had landed his #1 choice, but could Kelly really have been #1 all along? And a seemingly off-the-cuff remark by
JP that none of the media had pegged the right guy fueled further speculation. All fingers pointed to Kelly, but now the latest revelations were casting doubt. Was it just a publicity stunt or was it true? We all knew the mystery would be solved within 24 hours, but that wasn’t fast enough for the cyclone faithful.
Monday morning arrived with fresh speculation. There’s a new rumor that Troy Aikman’s private jet will be flying to Ames via Austin with some precious cargo. An internet search confirms a plane is indeed coming, but who is on board? Dutiful reporting by
CF’s members patched together a plausible and rather remarkable plot twist. The plane could contain Gene Chizik, an early possibility widely thought to be outside
ISU’s reach. Finally, the story breaks. It’s true, the improbable has come to pass. As of 6 PM CST, November 27, 2006, some 19 days after Coach McCarney resigned, Gene Chizik will become Iowa State’s Head Football Coach.
It’s been a fun ride these past few weeks and CycloneFanatic has been on the cusp of all of the action. I have to imagine the site traffic has been incredible, and we all owe one individual a lot of thanks for providing us not only with an outlet to speculate, but also with an inside scoop to the whole ordeal: Mr. Jeremy Lind. As it turns out, Jeremy, like others, was misled along the way. We all were. Jamie Pollard engineered one of the greatest (in my mind) coach searches in the history of Iowa State. We were all kept guessing, and I think, we’re now pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I’ve seen a little finger-pointing and “I told you so” posts in the past 24 hours, and I think we can all agree it has no place here at
CF. We weren’t meant to know who the coach was by design, and you can’t discredit someone because they guessed, but guessed wrong. No harm in that.
Oh yeah, one final note: WELCOME TO IOWA STATE COACH CHIZIK!!!
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