There isn’t a whole lot of Big 12 news this week and with Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard announcing his decision to call it quits in 2027, I thought this would be a good time for me to talk about that. I know it’s old news and some of you out there are probably tired of talking about it, but I only get to do this once a week here so bear with me.
First off, lasting over 20 years at anything is incredible in itself. I couldn’t even imagine doing what I do now for 20 years but sometimes when you do something you love, you hardly ever check the clock.
When Pollard took over in 2005, things were very different at Iowa State as many of you already know. Then again, I don’t remember a ton back then because I was just some snot-nosed 12-yeard old kid who didn’t know his ass from his elbow.
Fundraising was nearly non-existent and Jamie helped get Iowa State with the times. Then came the first set of hires. Greg McDermott and Gene Chizik who at the time were very big gets for Iowa State despite neither one truly working out.
Two more hires came along with Fred Hoiberg and Paul Rhoads. Not long after that, he dealt with two rounds of realignment back in the early 2010’s. And while the Rhoads hire ended up going downhill towards the end, the Hoiberg hire turned into the exact opposite as Iowa State’s basketball team made the tournament four out of his five years along with a sweet 16 appearance.
Eventually, the mayor left to coach in the NBA and Steve Prohm was brought in and despite success in year one, it didn’t end well. But when the football team needed a new head coach, he brought in Matt Campbell. Then came T.J. Otzelberger for basketball and one could argue that those were the two greatest hires in Iowa State history. Who did that? Jamie Pollard.
Of course, COVID came along as well as NIL. Throw in more realignment and it felt like we were in the wild west of college athletics. It was absolute madness and yet, Iowa State still had a seat at the big boy table and managed to persevere.
Sure, it wasn’t always pretty and you can say what you want about money but guess what? Everyone in college athletics has a money problem including teams in the Big Ten who make a hell of a lot more money.
I understand that not everyone agreed with Jamie Pollard every step of the way and that’s fine. I felt like over the last few years I disagreed with him more often times than not.
There are comments he has made that people will never let go of whether it’s regarding paying players or selling alcohol at sporting events. And yes, I was one of the slobs who wanted to drink a beer inside Jack Trice stadium and Hilton Coliseum.
Even though I didn’t always agree with Jamie, I respected him for not being afraid to speak his mind. In today’s world, that’s refreshing, especially coming from an athletic director.
While I don’t know for certain, it felt like Jamie got a bit tired of the everyday grind of being an athletic director over the last few years. If not for COVID and everything else, who knows, maybe he would have called it quits earlier but he didn’t. But with a new president coming in, he probably felt like it was the right time to move on.
We will see how Cy-Town works out and what the Jimmy Rogers era looks like at Iowa State when Pollard is gone. We can leave that to the next guy who will have much different problems than Jamie had when he took over 20 plus years ago. But even still, his resume at Iowa State speaks for itself. If anyone deserves one more lap around it’s Jamie Pollard because he’s earned it.
What Jamie Pollard has done for Iowa State will never be forgotten. In fact, you couldn’t tell the story of Iowa State athletics and not mention his name. Love him or hate him, Iowa State would not be where they are at today without him. And to that, I say thank you Jamie Pollard and I wish you nothing but the best moving forward.
