About a month before a rocky 2-10 football season ended, ISU coach Gene Chizik faced questions and speculation on his future.

The second-year head coach had not had a very strong run to that point in Ames, and was in the midst of an seven game losing streak. Worse yet, rumors were circulating that Chizik was unhappy as a Cyclone.

Chizik did all he could to squash those rumors at his Nov. 10 press conference.

“Anybody who knows myself, my wife, my family, they know that we are firmly entrenched here in Ames,” he said. “We love this university, we love who we work for, we love this football team, we love this community. We are on a journey here that will get done, and I’m as happy as I have ever been in the coaching profession, and I want to make that clear.”

Just over a month later, Chizik was brought in as the new coach at Auburn.

Football players felt betrayed, and told the Daily that Chizik’s farewell speech to the team lasted less than two minutes. But athletics director Jamie Pollard’s message was clear — it was time to move on.

And move on they did, hiring Paul Rhoads a week after Chizik’s decision. Rhoads wasted no time getting Cyclone fans looking towards the future in his introduction speech on Dec. 20.

“We will be physical,” he said. “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 Cyclone Nation.”