Jake Lovett – Daily Staff Writer

A new era of ISU football is about to begin.

The Gene Chizik era is all but a distant memory for Cyclone fans after he departed last December to become the new head coach at Auburn University. Now, the Paul Rhoads term begins, as he has taken the reigns of the struggling program, trying to lead it to its first bowl game since 2005.

“The expectation of myself, the staff and this program are to improve in every facet of the program,” Rhoads said. “We’ve got to improve at every single thing that we do.”

These vast improvements may be a huge task for Rhoads and his staff. The Cyclones have had just nine wins in the last three seasons and haven’t won a Big 12 game on the road since 2005.

However, Rhoads brings a tremendous defensive pedigree with him. As the defensive coordinator at Pitt and Auburn the last two seasons, his defenses have ranked in the top 15 in both scoring defense and total defense — two areas the Cyclones must improve on after finishing 110th and 112th in those categories.

“It begins with tackling,” Rhoads said about the defense’s biggest weakness from a year ago. “I could go on and on with that list, but it begins and ends with tackling.”

To help improve Iowa State’s defense, Rhoads brought in Wally Burnham, who spent the last eight seasons as the defensive coordinator at South Florida. Under Burnham, the defense was regularly ranked top 30 nationally and finished 10th in total defense in 2008.

The Cyclones return six starters to this year’s defensive unit and had only one underclassman listed as a starter at the beginning of fall practice.

“Everyone has really bought into the new system we have here,” said senior nose guard Nate Frere. “We’ve all been making strides, and we’ve just got to keep that going and going.”

The offensive side of the ball should be a different story altogether. The unit that scored 25 points per game last season returns nine starters, including junior quarterback Austen Arnaud and junior running back Alexander Robinson.

The new offensive coordinator Tom Herman brings a wide-open spread attack that he used during the past two seasons at Rice, where the Owls broke nearly 50 school records.

“The advantage to being in the spread is that we’re going to use every square inch of the field to our advantage,” Herman said. “The field is 54 yards wide and 100 yards long, and the defense only has 11 men to cover it. We’re always going to look for numbers and space.”

Last season, Arnaud started every game under center and led the second-most prolific passing attack in Cyclone history. He will have plenty of weapons again this season, with Robinson returning along with wide receivers Sedrick Johnson, Darius Darks and Marquis Hamilton. These players accounted for 46 percent of Arnaud’s yardage through the air.

This will be Arnaud’s second full season as the starting quarterback, and in his freshman season he saw action in six games.

“Any time you have experience at the quarterback position, you’re ahead of the game,” Rhoads said. “If you’ve got a guy that’s been on the field, that’s been in the battles, that’s tested — that’s critically important. Austen definitely is that guy.”

Rhoads has also made it clear that the team needs to control field position through special teams play if they are to be successful this season.

Senior Mike Brandtner returns this year to do the punting for the Cyclones, while sophomores Zach Guyer and Grant Mahoney are competing for the number-one spot at place kicker.

“Special teams has the ability to win or lose football games,” Rhoads said. “If we’re going to advance this program, they’ve got to win games for us.”

There were six names listed as potential punt and kick returners on the pre-fall depth chart, but the likely favorite would be sophomore cornerback Leonard Johnson, who averaged 26.4 yards per kick return last season.

“What Leonard Johnson did last year as a kick returner encourages you,” Rhoads said. “But, nobody jumped out from the punt returners this spring.”

Ever since he was hired in December, Rhoads has made one thing clear: Both he and his football team will be enthusiastic and passionate.

Concern was raised at media day that Rhoads and his staff may have difficulty controlling their emotions on the field, but the coach was quick to deny it would be a problem.

“It will be hard to temper my enthusiasm, whether I’m the head coach or I’m a ball boy out there,” Rhoads said. “This game has to be played with emotion and enthusiasm, and I think it has to be coached that way too.”

However, players have raved about the attitude Rhoads has instilled at practice during fall camp, and many share his passion about the work they’re doing on the field.

“The guy definitely has a motor on him,” Frere said. “He’s running full speed all the time, and it definitely motivates us.”

Rhoads’s enthusiastic coaching style is much less like his predecessor, Chizik, than his former boss at Iowa State, Dan McCarney.

“Coach Rhoads is more hands-on, he’s always around, he’s always interacting with players,” freshman quarterback Jerome Tiller said. “It tends to make me, and the other players as well, feel more comfortable with him and the other coaches around.”

Players and coaches are quick to dismiss the past and the struggles the program has had since its last bowl appearance.

However, forgetting about a past that includes going 3-21 in conference play since 2006 may be easier said than done.

“We’ve moved on,” Rhoads said. “Our kids are fresh and enthusiastic about a new era of Iowa State football.”