Football

What will the start of the Paul Rhoads era bring?

After a disappointing season last year, the Cyclones have a new leader at the helm. Cyclone fans are hoping Paul Rhoads can turn around a program that hasn’t had a winning record since 2005.

Although Rhoads has not had the opportunity to show what this year’s team can do on the field, he promised his teams would work hard.

“We will be physical,” Rhoads said when he was introduced as the head coach last December. “We will play the football game for 60 minutes. And we will give it all we have for 60 minutes. And we will hit you coming off the bus. And we will be passionate — we will be a passionate football team that will bring pride back to the Cyclones Nation.”

After everything the team has been through over the last year, including a completely new coaching staff, Rhoads claims the team members have put it all behind them.

“This team, as I said, is fresh, and they’re enthusiastic,” Rhoads said. “There’s no turmoil in this program. They’re excited about 2009.”

Although the team is excited, Rhoads has modest expectations, refusing to make any predictions.

“The expectation of myself, the staff and this program are to improve in every facet of the program,” Rhoads said. “So if you ask me, ‘What do you want out of 2009?’ I want to improve everything. When that last game is over, I want to look back and definitively say we’ve done that.”

Michael Zogg – Daily Staff Writer

Women’s Basketball

Will ISU women’s basketball continue

its success after the loss of five seniors?

After losing five experienced seniors, the ISU women’s basketball team will look to the experience that is left for the 2009-2010 season. Seniors Alison Lacey and Denae Stuckey will serve as leaders on the team along with junior Kelsey Bolte and sophomore Whitney Williams, who were all key parts of last season’s NCAA tournament advancement to the Elite Eight.

“I think initially even though all of our inside players will be new, the focus for us has to be on people that know what it takes to win and have been successful,” said head coach Bill Fennelly. 

It will be the first year in four years without Heather Ezell or Nicky Wieben, two key players for the Cyclones as seniors last year and the three years prior. Ezell averaged 11.7 points per game and was a major weapon for ISU from behind the arc. 6’4” post Wieben brought height to the roster as the tallest player in the starting lineup, pulling down an average of five rebounds per game and posting 10.3 points.

Iowa State has more height in the post this year than last season, however, as the Cyclones add four freshmen and one sophomore to the roster.

Three of the four freshmen will bring an advantage in the post that Iowa State relied on from Wieben.. Freshman Anna Prins, a 6’6” center from Broomfield, Colo. was Colorado’s Gatorade Player of the Year and will look to be one of the difference makers for the Cyclones down low.

“I think if our guards play great that will help our young post players develop,” Fennelly said. “I want them to get into the system and learn but I honestly believe all of our new players are going to play and have a chance to contribute.”

Kayci Woodley – Daily Staff Writer

Men’s Basketball

Is this the year that Greg McDermott catches a break in Ames?

With the return of Craig Brackins, fourth-year Coach Greg McDermott gets his leading scorer back for another season for the first time in his tenure. McDermott’s stint in Ames has been plagued with transfers, team departures, and inconsistency all mixing with hints of potential. Every player on the squad is a McDermott product, so fans will expect great strides and production from a young squad. The schedule looks to be the greatest obstacle for the team, but McDermott knows the time has come for the work on his first major conference job to come to fruition, so the time to take scheduling risks is now. California, Dukee, and a possible Notre Dame matchup loom, and if Iowa State can pull an upset in a few non-conference games, Brackins’s and McDermott’s national exposure could soar.

Chris Cuellar – Daily Staff Writer

Wrestling

Can Kevin Jackson keep Iowa State in contention for a national title?

Former Iowa State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson shocked the community last spring when he abruptly stepped down from his post to take over at Penn State.

The Cyclones turned to Olympic Gold medalist and Iowa State alum Kevin Jackson. Jackson, a member of Iowa State’s 1987 championship team. He inherits a squad that has won a share of three straight Big 12 titles and finished third at the NCAA Championships last season.

The biggest question surrounding the ISU wrestling program is whether or not Jackson can continue Iowa State’s success, without taking a step back.

“I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t think we could get it done,” Jackson said when he was introduced to the media on May 1. “You are going to see a change in our tactics, in our scoring, in our aggressiveness and the things we are going to do to win matches.”

Nate Sandell – Daily Staff Writer

Volleyball

Will Christy Johnson-Lynch continue to lead the Cyclone volleyball team to success, as she has in the past?

Fifth-year head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch has done much more than put Iowa State volleyball on the map. She has pushed the program towards becoming one of the top teams in the nation. Johnson-Lynch has led the Cyclones to four winning seasons, a Sweet 16 appearance, and most recently an Elite Eight berth in the NCAA tournament in 2008.

With the success Johnson-Lynch has created for Iowa State comes even more pressure for the future. The skill level of Cyclone recruits have increased, home attendance has made a huge jump, and the bar is raised every single year.

“I would say it [last year’s success] puts a lot of pressure on us,” said senior setter Kaylee Manns. “We just want to start the preseason off right and be competitive in the Big 12.”

This season, the Cyclones bring in five freshmen who are some of the most high profile players Iowa State has ever seen, including No. 22 Jamie Straube from Tecumseh, Neb.  —the highest ranked senior recruit that has ever played for the Cyclones.

Every year since Johnson-Lynch has been at ISU the team has stepped up one notch in the NCAA tournament. If the Cyclones continue the trend from the past few years, it looks as though a Final Four appearance could be in sight.

Kayci Woodley – Daily Staff Writer

Track and Field

How much progress has Corey Ihmels made with the track and field program?

For Corey Ihmels, it is year three as the director of the men’s and women’s track and field programs. The programs have seen progress under Ihmels, but will begin to find out where they stand in the Big 12 this season.

The Cyclone men finished eighth at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, their best finish since 2000. They were led by two sophomores, Hilary Bor and Luke Pinkleman, who finished second in the mile run and shot put competitions, respectively. Meanwhile, the women struggled to finish 11th indoors, but four of the five athletes that scored were underclassmen and will be returning to competition this season.

The outdoor season was much of the same for the program, as the men finished ninth – their highest finish since 2005 – and the women finished seventh – their highest finish since 2002.

Bor again carried the torch for the men, finishing second in the 3000-meter steeplechase, while the women were led by junior standout Lisa Koll, who won the 5,000 and 10,000-meter events.

Koll, a former national champion in the 10,000-meter run is heading into her senior season in both cross country and track. She will need to remain healthy all season, after missing much of the indoor season with a back injury, and produce top finishes at the conference championships if the Cyclones want to see progress from the track program.  The men will also have to replace several key competitors to keep moving up the Big 12 ladder.

Jake Lovett – Daily Staff Writer

Soccer

Will freshmen class continue Wendy Dillinger’s revitalization of the Cyclone soccer program?

Head coach Wendy Dillinger and her team are back and ready to start the 2009 campaign. The team finished last year with an overall record of 5-12-2, and ended the season on a three-game losing streak. Dillinger, now entering her second season as the Cyclone head coach brings in 11 new freshmen. This year’s freshman class makes up over 50 percent of the team, but will the freshmen be able to adjust and mesh well with the upperclassmen on the team? Only time will tell.

Dillinger’s first season as head coach at previous post at Washington University in St. Louis went much like her first season here.

Her second season, however, culminated in a second round NCAA appearance, finishing with a 14-3-3 record. With the exception of four seniors returning from last year’s team, Dillinger looks to duplicate the success she had her second season at Washington, here at Iowa State.

Austin Thomas – Daily Staff Writer