Iowa State is in search of a new soccer coach after announcing Sunday, Nov. 3, that the athletic department would not extend former ISU coach Wendy Dillinger’s contract after six seasons as head coach.

Calli Sanders, senior associate athletic director for sports administration, said the decision was made to search for a new coach after a lot of thought.

“[There are] a lot of factors involved in evaluating a head coach,” Sanders said. “Ultimately, it was the program was not improving as rapidly as we had hoped.”

Dillinger, who would have coached in her first Big 12 tournament game Wednesday, Nov. 6, said there was little warning before being told she would not coach her team. Sanders said she met with Dillinger personally to inform her of the decision.

“I got a text message Saturday evening asking me to come in Sunday morning, but that was pretty much it,” Dillinger said.

Dillinger’s contract is slated to run through Dec. 31, but the decision was made to find a new head coach after she led the Cyclones to the first Big 12 tournament since 2007, the year before Dillinger took over as head coach. She will be paid until her contract runs out.

Despite still being on contract, Sanders said Dillinger was not given the option to coach the No. 4-seeded Cyclones in their first round game against Baylor on Wednesday in the Big 12 Championship. 

“It was really just a matter of making a decision that once she was not our coach, I felt like we needed to move forward,” Sanders said. “It’s not really typical to have a coach that is done continue to coach. As soon as I was sure of my decision, that [is when] I was going to make the change.”

Dillinger finished her coaching career at Iowa State with a 48-58-11 record and one winning record, this season. She coached the Cyclones into a tie for fourth place in the Big 12 this season that would have led her to her first Big 12 Championship appearance.

Iowa State will start searching for a replacement “shortly” with a nation-wide search as the plan for the athletic department. Current ISU assistant coach Tony Minatta will serve as interim head coach for the Cyclones in the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City, Mo., on Wednesday.