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Iowa native named ISU football coach
By Courtney Linehan
Date Posted: 2008-12-20
"This group over here is like the Verizon network," Paul Rhoades said from the podium outside Iowa State's football offices. "And they're all family."
One week after Gene Chizik left Iowa State for Auburn, dismissing each of Auburn's assistants, the Cyclones announced Rhoads, the Tiger coordinator, would replace Chizik as ISU's head coach.
Rhoads choked back tears as he met the media Saturday evening, describing how happy he was to be home. He coached at ISU under Dan McCarney. His father, Cecil, is in the Iowa High School Football Coaches hall of Fame. And he was born in mid-Iowa.
Rhoads' father, siblings, in-laws and nieces and nephews were all in the throng that gathered for his introduction.
Those local ties were a primary characteristic many ISU fans sought in their new football coach, after Chizik dropped the team two years after arriving in Ames, saying it was largely because he wanted to coach in the SEC.
For athletic director Jamie Pollard, who needed just six days to sift through candidates, it was "icing on the cake."
"The issue was being able to move quickly enough that we would have answers for our student athletes, our current staff--it's a tough time for them, too--and for those 18 young men who committed to Iowa State, so they could go into the dead period knowing who their coach would be," Pollard said. "But getting the right person was far more important than doing it quick."
Rhoads, whose background is almost exclusively on the defensive side of the ball, offered little detail about his preferred offensive scheme. He said he wants to build a Cyclone team that is smart and never beats itself in a game.
He knows coaching in the Big 12 Conference will be a challenge, but said he will build a staff and instill a system that can meet it.
"They've been selling hope," Rhoads said. "I told Jamie, you sell hope, but it's my job to turn that hope into faith and turn that faith into confidence and turn that confidence into victories. That's what we need to do."
Courtney Linehan can be reached at (515) 663-6930, or clinehan@amestrib.com.
By Courtney Linehan
Date Posted: 2008-12-20
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"This group over here is like the Verizon network," Paul Rhoades said from the podium outside Iowa State's football offices. "And they're all family."
One week after Gene Chizik left Iowa State for Auburn, dismissing each of Auburn's assistants, the Cyclones announced Rhoads, the Tiger coordinator, would replace Chizik as ISU's head coach.
Rhoads choked back tears as he met the media Saturday evening, describing how happy he was to be home. He coached at ISU under Dan McCarney. His father, Cecil, is in the Iowa High School Football Coaches hall of Fame. And he was born in mid-Iowa.
Rhoads' father, siblings, in-laws and nieces and nephews were all in the throng that gathered for his introduction.
Those local ties were a primary characteristic many ISU fans sought in their new football coach, after Chizik dropped the team two years after arriving in Ames, saying it was largely because he wanted to coach in the SEC.
For athletic director Jamie Pollard, who needed just six days to sift through candidates, it was "icing on the cake."
"The issue was being able to move quickly enough that we would have answers for our student athletes, our current staff--it's a tough time for them, too--and for those 18 young men who committed to Iowa State, so they could go into the dead period knowing who their coach would be," Pollard said. "But getting the right person was far more important than doing it quick."
Rhoads, whose background is almost exclusively on the defensive side of the ball, offered little detail about his preferred offensive scheme. He said he wants to build a Cyclone team that is smart and never beats itself in a game.
He knows coaching in the Big 12 Conference will be a challenge, but said he will build a staff and instill a system that can meet it.
"They've been selling hope," Rhoads said. "I told Jamie, you sell hope, but it's my job to turn that hope into faith and turn that faith into confidence and turn that confidence into victories. That's what we need to do."
Courtney Linehan can be reached at (515) 663-6930, or clinehan@amestrib.com.
| Comments |
| slip_verk Go coach! You have the fans support! 12/22/08 |
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