Hey- disagree and thumbs down all you want; the cold hard truth is that there is a real stigma attached to Cyclone Football. Ames is where coaches go to die. . . .
Not one of us possesses the cold, hard truth. We possess speculations, we have guesses.
My guesses:
CMC's motivation for coming to Ames was not to watch his career die. He was not overwhelmed by stigma, he saw a dynamic possibility.
CMC said money was not what he was after in choosing to move on from Toledo, it was the place, the people that lured him (and, I believe him, or why choose iSu when he could have easily chosen another job for more money?)
Purest of speculation, but, just from watching CMC, absorbing his language, his words since we first got to know him, my instinct tells me he's here, in part, to achieve what not one of his predecessors has been able to do: Go where no Cyclone football coach has gone before, win a conference championship and an invitation to a showcase January bowl game.
At iSu, win games, he'll be far, far from a low-paid coach. Big 12 money and a full stadium will ensure that. His staff will be handsomely paid, too.
My guess, CMC is driven to achieve at iSu what other coaches do not have the guts to attempt. Iowa State University of Science & Technology is terrific academically (and lovely to behold ;-) its athletic fans are never-say-day; it's AD is 100 percent committed, supportive and savvy; Ames is a great university community in which to raise his young family.
IF CMC chooses to leave, my guess is it won't be any time soon. Iowa State University isn't merely a place where he wants to be; to achieve his goals, it is a place he
must be.
Of course, this is no more than my speculation. Not one of us is lucky enough to know the truths that lurk subterranean in CMC's mind, so guessing is all that we can do.