Iowa State Cyclones football head coach, Matt Campbell
Head coach Matt Campbell

The Iowa State Cyclones football program is a college football team that represents Iowa State University in the Big 12 Conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The team has had 33 head coaches since organized football at the school began in 1892, and was officially sanctioned in 1894. Originally, the Iowa Agricultural College teams were known as the Cardinals. The name was changed after September 29, 1895, when under coach Pop Warner,[1] the Cardinals defeated the Northwestern Wildcats, 36–0. Inspired by an extremely active tornado (then known as a "cyclone")[2] season, the next day, the Chicago Tribune headline read: "Struck by a Cyclone." The article went on to say, "Northwestern might as well have tried to play football with an Iowa cyclone as with the Iowa team it met yesterday."[3] Since then the Iowa State teams have been known as the Cyclones.[4]

Iowa State has played in 1,290 games during its 131 seasons. In those seasons, five coaches have led the Cyclones to postseason bowl games: Johnny Majors, Earle Bruce, Dan McCarney, Paul Rhoads and Matt Campbell. Clyde Williams won two conference championships with the Cyclones. McCarney is the all-time leader in games coached (141), and years coached (11) and wins (56), while Bert German is the all-time leader in winning percentage (.833). W. P. Finney has the lowest winning percentage (.000) having no wins.

Both Warner and Bruce have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Majors, Bruce, McCarney and Campbell have each received the Coach of the Year Award from their respective conference. The current coach is Matt Campbell, who was hired November 29, 2015.[5] Matt Campbell has received the Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year Award for 2017, 2018 and 2020.[6] For the 2020 season, Matt Campbell led Iowa State to an 8-1 conference leading, regular season record and its first berth in the conference championship game.[7]

Key

Coaches

# Name Term GC Ws Ls Ts W% CWs CLs CTs CW% PWs PLs PTs CCs Awards
1 Ira C. Brownlie 1892 2 1 0 1 .750 — — — — — — — — —
2 W. P. Finney 1893 3 0 3 0 .000 — — — — — — — — —
3 Bert German 1894 6 5 1 0 .833 — — — — — — — — —
4 Pop Warner†[11] 1895–1899 26 18 8 0 .692 — — — — — — — — —
5 Joe Meyers 1899 9 4 4 1 .500 — — — — — — — — —
6 C. E. Woodruff 1900 8 2 5 1 .313 — — — — — — — — —
7 Edgar M. Clinton 1901 10 2 6 2 .300 — — — — — — — — —
8 A. W. Ristine 1902–1906 47 36 10 1 .777 — — — — — — — — —
9 Clyde Williams 1907–1912 49 33 14 2 .694 8 5 2 .600 — — — 2; 1911, 1912 —
10 Homer C. Hubbard 1913–1914 15 8 7 0 .533 4 3 1 .563 — — — — —
11 Charles Mayser 1915–1919 34 21 11 2 .647 10 4 2 .688 — — — — —
12 Norman C. Paine 1920 8 4 4 0 .500 3 2 0 .600 — — — — —
13 Maury Kent 1921 8 4 4 0 .500 3 4 0 .429 — — — — —
14 Sam Willaman 1922–1925 32 14 15 3 .484 11 10 2 .522 — — — — —
15 C. Noel Workman 1926–1930 41 11 27 3 .305 8 17 2 .333 — — — — —
16 George F. Veenker 1931–1936 51 21 22 8 .490 7 18 4 .310 — — — — —
17 James J. Yeager 1937–1940 36 16 19 1 .458 7 12 1 .375 — — — — —
18 Ray Donels 1941–1942 12 3 8 1 .292 1 4 1 .250 — — — — —
19 Mike Michalske 1942–1946 39 18 18 3 .500 8 9 2 .474 — — — — —
20 Abe Stuber 1947–1953 65 24 38 3 .392 12 28 1 .305 — — — — —
21 Vince DiFrancesca 1954–1956 28 6 21 1 .232 2 15 1 .139 — — — — —
22 Jim Myers 1957 10 4 5 1 .450 2 4 0 .333 — — — — —
23 Clay Stapleton 1958–1967 99 42 53 4 .444 22 43 2 .343 — — — — —
24 Johnny Majors 1968–1972 55 24 30 1 .445 9 25 1 .271 0 2 0 — Big Eight Coach of the Year (1971)[12]
25 Earle Bruce†[13] 1973–1978 68 36 32 0 .529 18 24 0 .429 0 2 0 — Big Eight Coach of the Year (1976, 1977)[14]
26 Donnie Duncan 1979–1982 44 18 24 2 .432 7 19 2 .286 — — — — —
27 Jim Criner 1983–1986 42 16 24 2 .405 8 16 2 .346 — — — — —
28 Chuck Banker 1986 2 1 1 0 .500 1 1 0 .500 — — — — —
29 Jim Walden 1987–1994 88 28 57 3 .335 16 37 3 .313 — — — — —
30 Dan McCarney 1995–2006 141 56 85 0 .397 27 68 0 .284 2 3 0 — Big 12 Coach of the Year (2004)[14]
31 Gene Chizik 2007–2008 24 5 19 0 .208 2 14 0 .125 — — — — —
32 Paul Rhoads 2009–2015 87 32 55 0 .368 16 45 0 .262 1 2 0 — —
33 Matt Campbell 2016–present 101 53 48 0 .525 35 33 0 .515 2 4 0 — Big 12 Coach of the Year (2017,2018,2020)

Iowa State football coaching records accurate as of Dec 31, 2023.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Iowa State did not join a conference until 1908.[8]
  2. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[9]
  3. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[10]

References

General
Specific
  1. ^ "Glenn Pop Warner". Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  2. ^ "Current Comments". The Miami News. December 3, 1927. p. D-5. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  3. ^ "Struck by a Cyclone". The Chicago Daily Tribune. September 29, 1895. p. 6. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  4. ^ Doyel, Gregg (August 31, 2007). "Enjoying a moment in Ames while Ames enjoys me, kinda". CBSSports.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2010. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  5. ^ "Matt Campbell leaves Toledo to take over program at Iowa State". cleveland. Associated Press. November 30, 2015.
  6. ^ "Big 12 Coach of the Year Winners". College Football at Sports-Reference.com.
  7. ^ "2020 Football Standings". big12sports.com.
  8. ^ Morey, Earl (November 1, 1962). "Strictly Personal". Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  9. ^ Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  10. ^ Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  11. ^ Pop Warner at the College Football Hall of Fame
  12. ^ "Majors Selected As Coach of Year". Lawrence Journal-World. The Associated Press. November 30, 1971. p. 10. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  13. ^ Earle Bruce at the College Football Hall of Fame
  14. ^ a b "Mac Big 12 Coach of the Year". CycloneSportsReport.com. CN Staff. December 1, 2004. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved February 10, 2010.

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