As Iowa State searches for Gene Chizik’s replacement, ISU athletics director Jamie Pollard has kept the search secretive as usual. Pollard has refused to discuss anything about the search until the new hire is announced. The Iowa State Daily has compiled a list of five possible coaching candidates who have been rumored to either be interested in or have been sought after for the Iowa State position.

Keep in mind — it’s all just speculation and guessing for now.

Steve Loney — Loney is currently an offensive line coach with the 2-12 St. Louis Rams. He served two stints as an offensive coordinator at Iowa State under former ISU coach Dan McCarney, first from 1995-97 and then from 2000-01.

Loney is also an Iowa State graduate, and played for the Cyclones on their 1971 Sun Bowl and 1972 Liberty Bowl teams. He was a graduate assistant for the team in 1974.

Loney has spent time in the NFL with three different teams, including the Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings and his current position with St. Louis. After leaving Iowa State in 2004, he went to the Vikings and then the Cardinals before spending a year as interim coach at Drake in 2007.

Mike Stoops — Stoops is in his fifth year as head coach at the University of Arizona, with a 24-34 overall record.

Arizona was 7-5 in 2008, and will play in the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday against BYU. The bowl game is the Wildcats’ first in 10 years.

Stoops played for Iowa and earned All-American honors as a defensive back in 1984. He was a graduate assistant and then volunteer coach for the Hawkeyes from 1986-91.

He’s also had assistant coaching stints with Kansas State and Oklahoma before going to Arizona in 2004.

Pat Hill — Fresno State’s coach has led the Bulldogs to nine bowl games and a 92-60 record. Hill’s best season at Fresno State was in 2001, when the team finished 11-3 with victories over Wisconsin, Colorado and Oregon State.

Hill is in his second stint with the Bulldogs, serving as an assistant coach from 1984-89. He has also spent time with Utah, UNLV and Arizona in the NCAA, Calgary in the CFL, and Baltimore and Cleveland in the NFL, all as an assistant.

Fresno State has not been afraid to schedule tough competition under Hill either. The Bulldogs have defeated 14 BCS conference opponents in his tenure.

Gary Patterson — In eight seasons at Texas Christian, Patterson has compiled a 72-27 record. The Frogs have made 10 bowl appearances in 11 years with Patterson as either a head coach or an assistant.

Patterson is one of 15 semifinalists for the George Munger National Coach of the Year award by the Maxwell Football Club.

Patterson led TCU to an 11-2 record in 2008, only losing to Oklahoma and Utah. TCU is ranked No. 11 in the final BCS standings.

The Frogs will play against Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl on Tuesday.

Phillip Fulmer — Fulmer was forced out as Tennessee’s head coach after 17 years and a 151-52 record. Tennessee wen to a bowl game in all but two years under Fulmer.

His greatest achievement at Tennessee came in 1998. The Volunteers went 13-0 and defeated Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl for the program’s sixth national championship.

The Volunteers won 10 or more games nine times in Fulmer’s tenure. 2008 was a sour end to his Tennessee career, however, with a 4-7 record. After missing out of bowl games two of the last four years, Fulmer and the Vols decided to part ways.

Fulmer was the National Coach of the year in Tennessee’s 1998 championship season.

-Biographies compiled by Daily Staff Writer Kyle Oppenhuizen