UPDATE:
Subject: Update from your Director of Athletics
Dear Cross Country and Track and Field Student Athletes,
I am writing you this morning at 3:15 a.m. (Saturday morning) because I am wide awake and can’t sleep. I can’t sleep not because I am stressed or worried about the future of our program. On the contrary, I can’t sleep because my mind is racing about the excitement and opportunity we have before us right now to elevate our program to an entirely different level. I can’t sleep because I feel a sense of responsibility to each of you to do my absolute best to find each of you, our program and our institution a new coach who will take the baton we are handing him or her and win the race for us.
Coach Ihmels and his staff, as well as each of you, have done a tremendous job revitalizing our program to national prominence. People now know Iowa State University is in the race – simply put, we matter! However, much like a track race, it is not how you start but how you finish. We need to find a coach that will help each of you finish your own race at Iowa State with the same energy, passion and excitement that you have had in the beginning of your race at Iowa State. It doesn’t matter if you are a senior or an incoming freshman, we owe you the opportunity to have the best possible experience you can have and we plan to see that happens for each and every one of you.
The good news is there is tremendous interest in our program. In addition, with the United States track and field championships in Des Moines this week, it provides an opportunity for us to meet with some of the most talented coaches in the country. Furthermore, as some of you know, my family and I spent a week of vacation in Eugene, Oregon last week supporting our student-athletes who were competing in the national meet. Because Coach Ihmels and I have been talking about his interest in moving back out west for some time, I also took the opportunity to meet with several officials and coaches that work for Nike (with some of the world’s greatest track and field athletes) about our program and possible coaches should Coach Ihmels leave Iowa State.
Needless to say, I have already put the information I gained from those meetings and discussions to work and have set-up interviews with multiple coaches for next week. Part of the reason I can’t sleep is I spent most of the day on Friday talking with several national championship level coaches about everything we have going for us at Iowa State. The more I think about and talk with coaches about it, the more excited I get. There is simply no reason in the world our program can’t be the best program in the Big 12 and compete for national championships. Anyone who thinks differently simply doesn’t get it. The bottom line is I am extremely confident that we will find an outstanding coach and I want each of you to know we are All-In on this process.
Please keep your heads held high and keep working hard in both the classroom and on the track, roads or weight room. Embrace the uncertainty about the future as an opportunity to get even better than what we originally thought we could do. I know that is how I am approaching this challenge.
Go Cyclones!
Jamie Pollard
Director of Athletics
Iowa State University
Jacobson Athletic Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-1140
(515) 294-0123
Subject: Update from your Director of Athletics
Dear Cross Country and Track and Field Student Athletes,
I am writing you this morning at 3:15 a.m. (Saturday morning) because I am wide awake and can’t sleep. I can’t sleep not because I am stressed or worried about the future of our program. On the contrary, I can’t sleep because my mind is racing about the excitement and opportunity we have before us right now to elevate our program to an entirely different level. I can’t sleep because I feel a sense of responsibility to each of you to do my absolute best to find each of you, our program and our institution a new coach who will take the baton we are handing him or her and win the race for us.
Coach Ihmels and his staff, as well as each of you, have done a tremendous job revitalizing our program to national prominence. People now know Iowa State University is in the race – simply put, we matter! However, much like a track race, it is not how you start but how you finish. We need to find a coach that will help each of you finish your own race at Iowa State with the same energy, passion and excitement that you have had in the beginning of your race at Iowa State. It doesn’t matter if you are a senior or an incoming freshman, we owe you the opportunity to have the best possible experience you can have and we plan to see that happens for each and every one of you.
The good news is there is tremendous interest in our program. In addition, with the United States track and field championships in Des Moines this week, it provides an opportunity for us to meet with some of the most talented coaches in the country. Furthermore, as some of you know, my family and I spent a week of vacation in Eugene, Oregon last week supporting our student-athletes who were competing in the national meet. Because Coach Ihmels and I have been talking about his interest in moving back out west for some time, I also took the opportunity to meet with several officials and coaches that work for Nike (with some of the world’s greatest track and field athletes) about our program and possible coaches should Coach Ihmels leave Iowa State.
Needless to say, I have already put the information I gained from those meetings and discussions to work and have set-up interviews with multiple coaches for next week. Part of the reason I can’t sleep is I spent most of the day on Friday talking with several national championship level coaches about everything we have going for us at Iowa State. The more I think about and talk with coaches about it, the more excited I get. There is simply no reason in the world our program can’t be the best program in the Big 12 and compete for national championships. Anyone who thinks differently simply doesn’t get it. The bottom line is I am extremely confident that we will find an outstanding coach and I want each of you to know we are All-In on this process.
Please keep your heads held high and keep working hard in both the classroom and on the track, roads or weight room. Embrace the uncertainty about the future as an opportunity to get even better than what we originally thought we could do. I know that is how I am approaching this challenge.
Go Cyclones!
Jamie Pollard
Director of Athletics
Iowa State University
Jacobson Athletic Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-1140
(515) 294-0123
