Pollard announces his retirement

Ha! Yeah I remember those days when we were pretty sure Bruce was here posting. Just another example of how lame he is
Remember when he was at Louisiana Tech and turned down their first bowl invite in a while because he thought they deserved something bigger but then nobody came calling after that so they got no bowl game?
 
….But it's strange that he is retiring without Cy Town being totally completed, guy is only 61 years old and people in his position stay on the job well into their 70s….. very well could be the new president wanted to be more hands on with the athletic department and that did not sit well with Pollard.
Or JP’s one of the smart multi-millionaires who can give up the power and just enjoy life.
 
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Remember when he was at Louisiana Tech and turned down their first bowl invite in a while because he thought they deserved something bigger but then nobody came calling after that so they got no bowl game?
The Mailman had some words for Bruce

 
Within the first hour of release people are already speculating the reasons. "This might mean CyTown is in trouble!" "Might be because Cook is too hands on!" "He's mad about selling alcohol to the poors!"

Or, maybe his family is loaded from 2 decades of being a P5 AD and he wants to travel/enjoy life with his wife & kids while he can still walk. Congrats to the guy, I'm glad he chose to lead the Cyclones.
 
Within the first hour of release people are already speculating the reasons. "This might mean CyTown is in trouble!" "Might be because Cook is too hands on!" "He's mad about selling alcohol to the poors!"

Or, maybe his family is loaded from 2 decades of being a P5 AD and he wants to travel/enjoy life with his wife & kids while he can still walk. Congrats to the guy, I'm glad he chose to lead the Cyclones.
I mean CyTown was setting up to be his magnum opus, at least that's what we think. Of course if I were him I'd retire as soon as possible, I hate working and would love to travel with the money he has. I just think he was intending to stay to see CyTown through. Maybe he will in a different capacity who knows.
 
Within the first hour of release people are already speculating the reasons. "This might mean CyTown is in trouble!" "Might be because Cook is too hands on!" "He's mad about selling alcohol to the poors!"

Or, maybe his family is loaded from 2 decades of being a P5 AD and he wants to travel/enjoy life with his wife & kids while he can still walk. Congrats to the guy, I'm glad he chose to lead the Cyclones.
I'll lean that way unless proven wrong. I won't ever be in that boat perhaps as a result of this feeling - but if I came into a few mil even, I'd be done. Enjoy life, spend time with the kids, even if they already don't want to. Golf, workout, travel. None of this work was meant to be our defining legacy.

Enjoy retirement, Jamie.
 
Or JP’s one of the smart multi-millionaires who can give up the power and just enjoy life.
I really hope that is all it is, and that he sails off into retirement and has a long life. I just find it strange that he worked so hard getting Cy Town from the drawing board to the construction phase and then decided it was time to call it a career without seeing the project through. Most people would like to have that final victory lap before they go out the door and tell everyone "this is what I did for you and the university."
 
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Can you name any lasting/memorable accomplishments Bruce had while at ISU because I honestly can't think of anything ISU fans can point to and credit him for. The AD budget and revenues did improve but nothing else really stands out from his tenure. His only major sport hire was when he fired Larry and then got turned down by several targets and had to settle with promoting Wayne Morgan. FB and BB programs were having success before he arrived and then eventually became stagnant over time to the point that Pollard was the one in charge by the time some coaching changes were made.

Bruce was terrible with PR and the fans and personally I didn't care for him because he came off as a smug a-hole that was in over his head for the job. We saw how that played out too with some blunders he made after ISU too. I have shared this story here before about an in-person interaction one of my friends had with him at a soccer game where my friend was unknowingly sitting a few rows behind Bruce's family. Bruce shows up later to sit with them and his wife says something to him and points back at my friend so Bruce asks him to come down and talk to him. Bruce then accuses him of talking bad about him in front of his family which my friend said none of the conversations he was having with the people he came to the game with involved anything about Bruce. They went back and forth a bit and my friend told Bruce he must be paranoid because most fans don't like him which he acted surprised "why do you think fans hate me?" So my friend starts listing out examples like the Larry mess that was pretty recent, getting rid of the baseball program, and a few other things that were hot topics around that time that were unpopular things Bruce did. After hearing about that I definitely was convinced Bruce was not the right person for the job.
BVDV was hired to get the AD budget out of the red and find ways to pay off the facilities built by the previous AD. He did that; that's his "memorable" accomplishment. Granted, the way he did it was certainly not popular with many people. The AD actually had a nice reserve when he left, which was helpful to attract candidates. He wasn't exactly fired, although at the time I recall that kind of being a chicken/egg thing between him and Geoffroy.

I also said he wasn't great in the personality/communications areas, which you are essentially agreeing with. I'm sorry your friends had an unpleasant interaction with him; I'd venture that they probably weren't alone in that regard.

 
Wow, knew this day was coming but still sad to see it arrive.

As said previously - one of the most if not the most influential figure in ISU sports history.

I have to think the current landscape and direction of college athletics weighed a lot on him.

Anxious times now but I am not sure there is a college president other than David Cook to be in place for hiring his successor.
Well Jamie. You always had that list of first to call when a coach was needed. Do you have one for the AD? Lol. He will missed for sure.
 
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Everyone is replaceable but this one is not. Jamie Pollard is one of a kind and I don’t think another exists that can build what he did in 20 years. Circumstances are different, costs are too high. As time went on, we grew to appreciate how dumb lucky we were to hire the right guy at the right time. Thank you AD Pollard.
 
I was 61 when I had my heart attack. I had a very stressful job, and decided it was not worth it. Got out 16 months later and have had no regrets. They actually replaced me with 3 people. There was a lot of work turmoil (layoffs, outsourcing, downsizing) right after I retired. I know what JP is going through. Life is short.
 
I really hope that is all it is, and that he sails off into retirement and has a long life. I just find it strange that he worked so hard getting Cy Town from the drawing board to the construction phase and then decided it was time to call it a career without seeing the project through. Most people would like to have that final victory lap before they go out the door and tell everyone "this is what I did for you and the university."
I'm also at least a little surprised, since that was what everyone was guessing.

But at the same time, even if he's not "seeing the project through," it's not like he'll be banished the day after his retirement. Who knows if he'll stay around Ames, but at the very least, he will hopefully get to see quite a bit of construction progress in the next year, with the end product following within the year after that.

Probably won't happen, but it wouldn't even be that crazy to see him be an official or unofficial advisor to whatever kind of management group CyTown has in the future.
 
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I was guessing he wouldn't retire until after CyTown was finished as that is kind of his final masterpiece for improvements. Happy for him but at the same time sad to see an incredible tenure ending. Definitely let his mark at ISU and something needs to be named after him at some point. This is going to be a big hire as the next AD has some BIG shoes to fill.
With the history of health issues in his family, I imagine he doesn't take his time for granted and really means it when he says that he and Ellen want to experience retirement while they are still healthy enough to enjoy it.
 

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