Editor’s note:

The following is part four in a five-part series about student-athletes’ lives after their careers as Cyclones.

Part one looked at how life changes after their final season.

Part two highlighted the balance struck between athletic and academic work, preparing them for the rest of their lives.

Part three profiled athletes with hopes of professional or Olympic careers.

Part four examines the differences for those headed into the workplace, and takes a look at former athletes who have already made the jump.

Finally, part five will reveal our student-athletes’ feelings about their lives after Iowa State.

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At some point, every athlete must move on. Some do it after a run at playing professionally, but most do it directly after college.

While being a professional athlete is almost every little boy’s dream, priorities change later.

“I liked playing football, but it wasn’t my love,” said former ISU student-athlete Jon Davis. “It wasn’t one of those things that I saw myself doing for the long run.”

Davis graduated in 2006 after spending four years on the ISU football team.

In his final season, he was the Cyclones’ leading receiver. Four years later, he’s eighth in ISU history with 126 receptions and 1,445 yards.

When he left, though, Davis just wanted to settle down.

“Moving around so much as a military kid, I kind of wanted to get settled down in one spot and make sure I have something stable,” Davis said. “[Playing professionally] wouldn’t have been something stable that I really wanted.”

Instead, Davis moved to the Omaha, Neb., area — his hometown, Papillion, is a suburb of the city — to work at TD Ameritrade in Bellevue, Neb.

In his three years as an account manager, he’s survived rounds of job cuts and feels like his bosses are keeping him around for a reason.

“I think a lot of it is just making sure that you do give it your all, you try to make a good impression and you make sure that you handle your part,” Davis — who majored in exercise and sports science at Iowa State — said. “Whatever part I have to do now, I make sure I do it the best way so when it comes down to it I did what I was responsible for.”

Naturally, Davis’ story isn’t the only one along this road.

Patrick Hall, a former marketing major and member of the ISU golf team from 2003-’07, also made a smooth transition from being a student-athlete into the workforce.

“It was a tough adjustment, but after a few months you grow accustomed to it,” Hall said.

Hall, an Owatonna, Minn., native, stayed in Ames after graduation and now works at Innova Ideas and Services, a marketing and advertising company located on Main Street.

He’s already been promoted from a project manager to an account executive and although he said he was ready from day one, there were still some things he had to get used to.

“I miss the afternoon naps between class and practice,” Hall said. “There’s no spring breaks and there’s no summers off. It’s full time every day. You work hard to graduate but then once you’re gone you’re like, ‘Oh, I kind of miss that.’”

Unlike Davis, Hall has had a little more trouble letting go of his game — albeit golf is considerably easier to keep as a hobby than football.

Hall said he plays six or seven tournaments around the state each summer, but his attitude is a little different now that he’s playing on the side.

“I’m a weekend warrior, that’s all I can ask for,” he said. “I don’t have as high of expectations as I used to, but sometimes that makes me better. I know no matter how I finish I still have to go to work on Monday.”

Even though he only plays recreationally, Hall said his work still benefits from his time spent on the links.

“You have ups and downs [in golf] just like in life and just like in your career,” Hall said. “Mistakes are going to happen, problems are going to occur, so you just have to stay patient and have a positive attitude.”

While Hall has spent his weekends with a sand wedge in his hands, Davis has made himself a home in the Omaha area.

He and his wife, Ashli, just celebrated their third anniversary on Tuesday, and their daughter, Jonae’, turned 2 years old in February.

Davis said that even though his time at Iowa State has been a great deal of help for him, there is no way to prepare for the challenges of starting a family.

“School and Iowa State did help me get ready for everything,” Davis said, “Overall, there’s enough stuff that you aren’t ready for regardless.”

Hall and Davis have more similarities than they do differences, though.

They’ve both been successful in their jobs, and they both say that their time at Iowa State has helped them achieve what they have.

“I’m glad that I did choose to go to Iowa State,” Davis said. “The people I met, the experiences that I got were really good. I think it did teach me a lot of things that I still look back to now.”

Lauren Fader and Elise Reid have been roommates and teammates on the ISU soccer since their freshman year.

Now, as they look toward their future, the two couldn’t be in more different places.

Reid, a senior marketing major, said she doesn’t have a plan for what she wants to do. Fader, on the other hand, is searching for an opportunity to go to medical school.

Both of them agree, though, that they’re better off in their search for life after Iowa State because of their time here.

“I think a big thing is facing adversity and dealing with difficult situations and other people,” Fader said. “Learning to handle that situation, talking with other people, seeking help when necessary and that kind of stuff is a big thing.

“On the soccer field you have to be accountable and know when it’s your responsibility to do something or tell someone to do something,” she said. “All of those kinds of things translate into the real world.”

The two friends still have time to figure out where they’re headed — they’re not graduating until May 2011 — so they’ll have even more time to get ready and figure out what path to take.

Other student-athletes, though, are on the cusp of the decision right now.

Fred Garrin and Lisa Koll are still in search of their chance to continue competing in their sport after they depart.

Garrin must wait until later this month to find out if his NFL dream will come true, but if it doesn’t he’s got plan B worked out in his mind already.

“I’m so conflicted because I feel like I have so many great things I can do besides just football,” Garrin said. “I want to put so much effort into being a great football player, but I also have these other side ventures that I want to get into … but football wouldn’t let me do that.”

The six-foot-one, 234-pound linebacker wants to go into education and volunteering.

He’s an interdisciplinary studies major who is graduating in May, and sees his future focusing on inequality and activism.

“I want to do something more in social work like activism and community development; building up urban neighborhoods that have been torn down and run down and stuff like that,” Garrin said. “That’s my focus and what I want to do. That’s just the kinds of things I want to get into. That’s where I see myself going after football.”

Koll is headed down a similar path as Garrin.

She’s got the Olympics in her sights, right now. And, although she flew through the biology program and graduated in three years, she won’t have time to finish studying at the College of Veterinary Medicine, so she’s taking a break from school to give her run at the games the best chance she can.

The second-year veterinary medicine student won’t give up on school, though, and plans to come back after her time competing, whether its three years from now or 10.

“It’s very important to me to invest myself in my education as well as my running, because running is not going to be there forever and you can’t control it,” Koll said. “Throughout my running career I want to be putting something into my education, putting aside money to go back to school and volunteering on my free time or maybe getting a part-time job, doing something outside of running where I can apply myself and mentally take a break from running.”

Koll said the balance she’s been able to maintain in school has been a key to her success on and off the track. For her to get the most out of her time at Iowa State, she said it will have to remain the same even when classes aren’t in session.

“I don’t want it to be where all I do is running and forget about the rest of my life,” she said. “School is something that is going to be in the back of my head and keep investing things into.”


Koll and the rest of Iowa State’s departing student-athletes have been investing in and planning for their future for the last four years — or more, in cases similar to Koll’s. Most of their work is behind them, but the hardest part of moving on remains.

They still have to say goodbye.