There are not any secret formulas to Mark Mangino’s past success.

If there was, Iowa State’s new offensive coordinator said he would be selling them out of a pickup truck. Putting his nose to the grindstone and leading his players is, perhaps, where he finds that success that followed him through his career on the sidelines.

ISU coach Paul Rhoads formally introduced Mangino and running backs coach Louis Ayeni in a news conference Thursday morning. In Rhoads’ process of hiring Mangino, ties to western Pennsylvania for each brought the knowledge of each other’s past jobs.

“He gave me a good recruiting pitch,” Mangino said. “I’m going to take a few tips out on the road from him; but it was good and I felt comfortable with Paul and comfortable in the Big 12. I’ve been to Ames, Iowa, many days, but usually on the other side of the field.

“So I’m not going into unfamiliar territory either.”

Mangino spent last season at his alma mater, Youngstown State, as the assistant head coach in charge of tight ends. In Youngstown, he and his wife were surrounded by both of their families and said moving back to the area after two decades away gave him time to reconnect with people he had unintentionally neglected during his years as an assistant and head coach in the Big 12.

Although he didn’t intend to leave Youngstown State so quickly, Mangino said if the right situation came along and it was something he believed in, he would consider making a move.

He found that fit when Rhoads approached him about moving to Ames. 

“I’ve said this publicly way before Paul ever contacted me, it had to be a place that football had a level of importance on the campus,” Mangino said of why Iowa State was a good fit. “It had to be a place that cared about the academic interest of the players and it had to be a place that I believed had good people that care about one another, all pulled the line in the same direction, no sidebar agendas.

“It was a bonus that it was in the Big 12 because I’m familiar with it.”

Travel complications impeded the hiring process for Rhoads slightly, and Mangino admitted he has probably spent more time at Chicago O’Hare International Airport than Ames so far, but it is trying to acclimate himself in his time so far to his new role, and the ISU program.

When looking at the ISU roster on offense, Mangino said in the limited time he has studied them so far there will be pieces in place to be successful right away. Something he said he sees on the current roster — as well as ISU teams in the past — is competitiveness, scrappiness, as well as talent.

“The cupboard’s not bare,” Mangino said of the ISU personnel. “I’m not coming in here as a rebuilding project on offense. There are players here, there are talented players here.

“This is more of a remodeling job, maybe, than a rebuilding job.”