Most important Cyclone Moment

[ceeboe]

This could be one that influences you more personally, but I'm going for importance to the school.

Obviously the hire of JP would be one, but really that has yet to be proven as the coaches are all still young.

One that comes to mind for me was the Insight.com bowl. This really set expectations for the program and pushed us to where we are now. I know the coach isn't around anymore, but that is irrelevant.

 

[gocubs2118]

Getting to the elite 8 and putting Iowa State basketball on the map.

 

[Cy Hard]

I think it goes back further. Troy Davis becoming the first collegiate player ever to rush for over 2,000 yards in consecutive years was the resurgence of ISU FB. He was a sepcial player who gave ISU national recognition. He paved the way to getting guys like Ennis and those who played on the Insight.Com team. But I agree our first bowl win was a monumentous moment.

 

[Bobber]

Hiring Johnny Orr. To make it comparable today it by like hiring Roy Williams away from North Carolina. And he never left ISU!

Johnny brought instant respect to our basketball program and our progress through the 90's would have never occured without the foundation he laid. Hilton Magic was coined in the Johnny Orr days.

 

[Phaedrus]

Hiring Johnny Orr. To make it comparable today it by like hiring Roy Williams away from North Carolina. And he never left ISU!

Johnny brought instant respect to our basketball program and our progress through the 90's would have never occured without the foundation he laid. Hilton Magic was coined in the Johnny Orr days.

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winnah!

The change in atmosphere when Johnny showed up was instantaneous and dramatic. I remember having my pick of parquet level seats pre-Johnny, and then having to camp out to even GET tickets the first year or so after Johnny getting here.

 

[jkrapfl]

Hiring Tim Floyd to replace Johnny Orr was huge for me. Without that one move, its likely we never would have experienced even a fraction of the success that we did in the late '90s and early '00s.

 

[ceeboe]

Jonny Orr is a good one. And to follow it up with Tim Floyd didn't hurt either.

 

[pulse]

Simple, hiring Johnny Orr. All you have to know is how terribly bad we were before he arrived and you would agree.

 

[jay moe]

I agree 100%, the buzz that surrounded the hiring of Johnny was second to none.

Hiring Johnny Orr. To make it comparable today it by like hiring Roy Williams away from North Carolina. And he never left ISU!

Johnny brought instant respect to our basketball program and our progress through the 90's would have never occured without the foundation he laid. Hilton Magic was coined in the Johnny Orr days.

 

[redrocker]

Cael Sanderson becoming the first Undefeated Collegiate Wrestler. I have my autographed wheaties box!

 

[JJ4ISU]

I'm going to look at this the other way...to be devil's advocate here, the most important moment for us in football was when we lost to Missouri in the final game of the 2004 season to go to the Big 12 Championship game. In basketball, it was the double foul call on Shirley in the Elite 8 against Michigan State. If those two things would not have happened, we might be better in both sports today.

 

[Torks Pub]

President Robert Parks pulling the plug on the hiring of ISU alum John Cooper. Max Urick had no fall back hire and we end up with Jim Criner.

 

[mclatch]

I would have to agree that hiring Johnny Orr was probably the most important moment. Sept. 12 1998 would be another biggie though. 27-9 baby!

 

[ajk4st8]

I would say having chances at the Big 12 North title and blowing both of them. No shot in the arm in recruiting. No bigtime exposure.

 

[CYKOFAN]

Two events that greatly influenced ISU basketball and football in the worst way were when Maury John got cancer and when Woody Hayes hit the Clemson player in the bowl game. Both events cost us great coaches and strong programs, and brought on years of losing. Hiring Johnny certainly changed the atmosphere and attitude at Hilton, but even Lynn Nance tied for second in the conference once, which is as high as Johnny got us. Johnny and Mac got the benefit of an expanded NCAA tournament and bowl field, which helped bring more excitement for a lot more teams nationwide.

 

[Cydar]

I'm going to have to add the hiring of Gene Smith as AD. It seems under his guidance ISU athletics went to another level...

 

[mike4cy]

I am younger than many here so I would say the most important moment to me was attending the NCAA Tourney game against Auburn in HHH Dome. That was AMAZING.

 

[CrossCyed]

Losing to Michigan State really changed things. We were pretty goddamn close to being national champions that year. That really could have drastically changed things.

 

[mike4cy]

I was thinking that too, but wanted to go the happy route...

 

[Cydar]

Losing to Michigan State really changed things. We were pretty goddamn close to being national champions that year. That really could have drastically changed things.

Another event that could have drastically changed things was Glen Rice deferring his college choice in until spring. If I remember correctly it was between us and Central Michigan. He would have signed with us but his coach made him wait. Damn...

I also need to add losing both Sam Mack and Mark Baugh in the same year really hurt the team. With both of them and Big Vic we would have had a really good front line...