A trip to firegenechizik.com will not take you to a site cursing the second year coach, yet Gene Chizik was clearly displeased with how the team has done in his tenure during his press conference Monday.

Chizik was asked repeatedly about if he felt the team was where he hoped it would be at, at this point in the season. The answer was a resounding no.

“My expectations of where I feel we ought to be and where I’d like to be — good night,” Chizik said. “I would never feel good about being 2-5 halfway through my second season.”

But what should expectations have been for Chizik and his staff through his first year-and-a-half?

Fans were excited to bring in a high profile coach at the beginning of last season, but that excitment was premature. Look at what Chizik had coming back that year. Sure, there was some talent and experience on the team with Todd Blythe, Bret Myer, Alvin Bowen, Jon Banks and Ahtyba Rubin, but all of those players were seniors, and former coach Dan McCarney did not have good recruiting classes in his final two years, even by Iowa State standards.

It takes time for players to adjust to a new system. Cyclone fans certainly saw the effects of that at the opening of the 2007 season with losses to Kent State, Northern Iowa and Toledo.

Toward the end of the season, however, the Cyclones appeared to have a better grasp on what Chizik and his staff wanted to do as they went 2-1 in their final three games.

This year, the Cyclone faithful, fueled by the last two home games of last season, both wins, were again expecting further improvement from Chizik. But Iowa State is not in the right conference for improvement to manifest itself in wins, with four Big 12 teams in the top 10 and six in the top 20. The Cyclones also had key players graduate last season, and were left with many inexperienced players. The Cyclones had a quarterback who had never started, two linebackers trying to fill the shoes of current NFL players, and while the offensive line returned four starters, last week’s starting line-up included a freshman and two sophomores.

In all, 11 true freshman have played this season, including eight who received significant playing time. Chizik said that he has never had to play so many young players in his coaching career, and the youth is showing.

“It is still an 18 year-old playing against a 22 year-old defensive lineman and he may get whooped on a block,” Chizik said. “… It still is frustrating to me because my expectation of a coach, you know — I expect perfection. I know I’m not going to get it, but I expect it. When I see a guy out of his gap or I see a guard getting whooped on a run play, I expect more than that. If they are on the field playing in the Big 12, I expect more out of them.”

It is that expectation that sets Chizik apart from ISU coaches of the past 20 years. In the past, Cyclone teams would routinely fold when faced with large halftime deficits.

In Chizik’s tenure, Iowa State has come back from 21-point halftime deficits three times already. The first, against Colorado last season, the Cyclones came all the way back to win 31-28. This year, the Cyclones were down by 21 at UNLV and came back to tie the game at 28. The final 21-point deficit the Cyclones faced was last week against Nebraska. While the Cyclones ended up losing by 28, it was clear the team didn’t give up at halftime. On the second play of the second half, Alexander Robinson broke free for a 67-yard touchdown. The defense joined in, stopping the Cornhusker offense until Nebraska had another short field after a fumble on a punt return.

Although the Cyclones have a poor 2-5 record, the mentality that Chizik has helped instill in his players, along with the experience that young players are getting will result in success down the road.

So, while Chizik and his staff are beating themselves up for the team’s performance recently, fans should not lose heart. The fact that Chizik is so hard on himself is the very reason that things will turn around at Iowa State.