Iowa State lands Texas defensive coordinator Chizik

N.C. State fired Chuck Amato over the weekend, Alabama dismissed Mike Shula on Monday and Mark Dantonio left the University of Cincinnati for Michigan State.

"I knew from speaking with (Texas athletic director DeLoss) Dodds that there were other schools that had contacted him to say 'If we make a change, would he be interested?'" Pollard said. "I'm ecstatic. I told (Chizik) on the car ride over here, 'I don't know if you heard, but there were a lot of changes today. I'm glad you're signed.'

"We're excited he's here because any one of those jobs, those institutions would have loved to have a shot at him."

Chizik's arrival was heralded by Pollard as a new era in the Cyclones football, and the school pulled out all the stops in welcoming him to Ames. He emerged from a smoke-filled inflatable tunnel to a pep rally that included cheerleaders, about 2,500 fans and the entire marching band inside Hilton Coliseum.

"I'm still expecting a rock star or somebody to come out behind me," Chizik said. "This is truly a blessing."

Iowa State was 56-84 under McCarney. The Cyclones were picked to finish second in the Big 12 North in the preseason coaches poll, but stumbled through a six-game losing streak that included a 37-14 loss to Texas.

The hiring of Chizik is Pollard's third major move since taking over on Oct. 1, 2005. Pollard hired former Northern Iowa coach Greg McDermott to take over the basketball program in March, and he promoted Olympic gold medalist Cael Sanderson to head wrestling coach later that month.

Chizik met with Iowa State's players for about 30 minutes on Monday. Many of them were very upset about McCarney's resignation, saying they thought he deserved a shot to rebuild the program.

But wide receiver Todd Blythe said Chizik made a strong first impression with the players.

"You can tell he's a no nonsense guy. That's something we need in this program," Blythe said. "He told us he's not a guy that's going to be content with five, six, seven wins, and that's exactly how we feel as players."