Pollard/Rhoads Firing

Cyclonesrule91

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4-29 against Top 25 teams just isn't good enough. One winning record in 7 years. I don't know how that wouldn't be considered a mistake.

If we were a consistent winning program before Rhoads gets to Ames, you have a point. But since we were cellar dwellers before and rarely competitive against decent teams before McCarney's few years and then now with Rhoads we have moved up a bit more. It was time for him to go, but for you to label his tenure here a mistake is cluelass on your part.
 

FootballinTexas

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I like how so many people want to sugar coat CPR's tenure. Yes, there were some great wins, but there were a lot of flat out embarrassing losses. He was outcoached in the second half of almost every game this year. The KSU game was just a microcosm of CPR's time at ISU: show enough in the first half to get fans excited about the football program and then lay down and nap in the second half.

The head coach gets paid a lot of money to make the crucial decisions. Just like any other CEO, they do not produce products, the workers do that. They make decisions. CPR was fired because he couldn't or didn't make the right decisions on a lot of things when it came to the game. He started his career at ISU as a risk taker. Big business will tell you that risk takers are the ones who won. He saw success early and got comfortable and it cost him his job. Any correlation to some of the football games?
 

bawbie

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4-29 against Top 25 teams just isn't good enough. One winning record in 7 years. I don't know how that wouldn't be considered a mistake.

But you claimed Pollard admitted he made a mistake. He did no such thing, and nor should he. Rhoads was the right hire, and the extension was right as well. It didn't work out, that's life. We are moving on at the correct time now.
 

dmclone

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If we were a consistent winning program before Rhoads gets to Ames, you have a point. But since we were cellar dwellers before and rarely competitive against decent teams before McCarney's few years and then now with Rhoads we have moved up a bit more. It was time for him to go, but for you to label his tenure here a mistake is cluelass on your part.


Not understanding why it wasn't a mistake.

Would you consider his tenure as a whole successful?

Are we more competitive in 2015 than we were in 2008?

Have we passed any teams in our conference during that time? I guess we're now better than KU.
 
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TXCyclones

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I have to give Pollard credit. I didn't think there was any chance that Pollard would make a move this year and it takes a lot of balls to admit you made a mistake with hiring CPR.

I do question whether why it had to happen after this game and not at the end of the season.

WTF... where did this come from. First, he didn't admit he made a mistake. And second, he didn't make a mistake hiring CPR.
 

TXCyclones

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Not understanding why it wasn't a mistake.

Would you consider his tenure as a whole successful?

Are we more competitive in 2015 than we were in 2008?

Have we passed any teams in our conference during that time? I guess we're now better than KU.

Did we go to any bowl games?
Did we win any bowl games?
Was it more bowl games than at any other point in the history of our program?

I seem to recall beating UT for the first time in the history of our conference: twice.

Go be a Hawkeye fan. You'd be good at it.
 

FarminCy

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Not understanding why it wasn't a mistake.

Would you consider his tenure as a whole successful?

Are we more competitive in 2015 than we were in 2008?

Have we passed any teams in our conference during that time? I guess we're now better than KU.

If you can't see how the program as a whole has progressed since the 08 season I don't know what to tell you.

CPR was a good hire, he just couldn't sustain early success. He created a buzz in ISU football that has helped lay a foundation for the next coach through facilities, ticket sales, etc. Sure the last 3 years have been rough and it was time to move on but anyone with an objective view can see the program is in a much better place right now.
 

Wesley

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While true, that's a little misleading. Rhoads made 3 bowl games in 7 years at Iowa State. That's not a bad accomplishment when we've gone to 12 bowls in school history. So Rhoads has taken us to 25% of our bowl games. And has 33% of our bowl wins. That's not a mistake hire IMO.

He couldn't get over the hump nor could he recover from 2 very bad years. We were positioned to greatly improve this year but it didn't happen. But again, I wouldn't call the hire a mistake.
Similar to Danny Mac.
 

CyJack13

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Did we go to any bowl games?
Did we win any bowl games?
Was it more bowl games than at any other point in the history of our program?

I seem to recall beating UT for the first time in the history of our conference: twice.

Go be a Hawkeye fan. You'd be good at it.

So CPR gets credit for Texas being terrible during his tenure?
 

Incyte

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Did we go to any bowl games?
Did we win any bowl games?
Was it more bowl games than at any other point in the history of our program?

I seem to recall beating UT for the first time in the history of our conference: twice.

Go be a Hawkeye fan. You'd be good at it.

It's not unreasonable to think of CPR's tenure is a failure. Actually it's pretty hard to argue that it wasn't. For every good win was there are about 3 awful losses (FCS schools, teams we had beat and let it slip away, etc).
 

FarminCy

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It's not unreasonable to think of CPR's tenure is a failure. Actually it's pretty hard to argue that it wasn't. For every good win was there are about 3 awful losses (FCS schools, teams we had beat and let it slip away, etc).

I don't disagree that you can argue it can be viewed as a failure. But to say it was a mistake and the program is in no better shape than 08 is crazy.
 

Spam

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I guess I'm in the group that considers our hiring of Rhoads a mistake. Relative standing in comparison with the rest of the conference is an important indicator. And that has remained unchanged. It doesn't matter that we're twice as good as we were when McCarney left if the rest of the conference has improved on average three times in that period.

We never won more than 3 conference games in his tenure. Hopefully that changes this weekend.
 
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Clonefan94

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Oct 18, 2006
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In the end why does that matter? Would a win or loss by a team that isn't making a bowl make any difference at all?

It really doesn't matter, at least not that much. But, it's always good to finish on a good note. It's definitely not program changing one way or another, but it's always good to win.
 

Incyte

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I don't disagree that you can argue it can be viewed as a failure. But to say it was a mistake and the program is in no better shape than 08 is crazy.

I think the program is about in the same position - an ok roster with coaches not capable of maximizing it. We might have a small advantage at the skill positions now but not much.
 

jbhtexas

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Not understanding why it wasn't a mistake.

Would you consider his tenure as a whole successful?

Are we more competitive in 2015 than we were in 2008?

Have we passed any teams in our conference during that time? I guess we're now better than KU.

I cannot dispute your statements above. But I think it comes down to how a "hiring mistake" is defined. If someone appears qualified and that person is hired, it generally isn't considered to be a "mistake" to hire them. From what I could tell, Rhoads had adequate qualifications.

The "mistake" comes in evaluation of performance and deciding whether to terminate/retain. Recent FBS history indicates that in the vast majority of cases, if a coach cannot turn things around in 3-5 years, the turnaround doesn't happen. IMO, given the crash and burn in season 5, the "mistake" was not to terminate then. I'm not really sure what Pollard saw to indicate that things would improve. The OC hire had washed out, the decision making was getting worse, and the recruiting classes, apart from a couple of good players, were still at the bottom of the Big 12.
 
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Cycsk

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Especially when we were literally 1 play away from a win 3 different times this year. We should be 6-5.

At the beginning of the season, how many of us would have been happy with a coach if we were promised 3 wins and 3 easy plays for 3 more wins? That is who Pollard just fired.
 

Cycsk

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The head coach gets paid a lot of money to make the crucial decisions. Just like any other CEO, they do not produce products, the workers do that. They make decisions. CPR was fired because he couldn't or didn't make the right decisions on a lot of things when it came to the game. He started his career at ISU as a risk taker. Big business will tell you that risk takers are the ones who won. He saw success early and got comfortable and it cost him his job. Any correlation to some of the football games?


Could Rhoads have saved his job by throwing Sturdy under the bus? Is Sturdy the one calling offensive plays? I think Rhoads sealed his fate in the press conferences where he defended the play calling.