Bill Fennelly has two favorite college teams.

The ISU women’s basketball coach will cheer on the Cyclones when they open their college football season Thursday against Kent State, but he also has plans to see a different collegiate team open its schedule in Tampa, Fla. on Sept. 1.

Dan McCarney, former ISU football coach and Fennelly’s close friend, will not open the season in Ames as he had done for the previous 12 seasons. This year, he’s at the University of South Florida, where he got hired as an assistant coach and defensive line coach.

That’s where Fennelly’s going to be, too. At least for one game.

“I told him wherever he ended up, I was going to be at his first game,” Fennelly said.

McCarney spent 12 years as the Cyclones’ head coach, but resigned last November as the winningest football coach in ISU history.

“I’ve made a great adjustment,” McCarney said. “They had a fabulous program in place already and I’m just going to try to do whatever I can do to make it continue to improve.”

He brings plenty experience to the South Florida program. In his 12 years with the Cyclones, he guided Iowa State to a 55-84 overall record and five bowl appearences, including the first two bowl wins in school history. Even though he’s traded his Cyclone cardinal and gold for the Bulls’ green and white, McCarney said he still thinks about about his time in Ames.

“You look back and remember there’s a lot of great memories to be cherished from,” he said. “Twelve years, that’s a really long time to be in one place. I’m really proud to have been there and proud of the success we had.”

He also said he’s proud of the friends he has made, including Fennelly, who he says he keeps in close contact with along with many of his former players who visited him during his father Patrick’s funeral last summer.

“I’ve never met a guy that’s more upbeat and more positive about anything,” Fennelly said. “He’s got more enthusiasm and energy than anybody that I’ve ever met. He cares about people and he’s always been that way. He’s one of those guys that is passionate about what he does and he’s passionate about the people he does it with.”

That passion has taken him to South Florida. But while McCarney will take on the role of an assistant, many of his old players will still be getting used to seeing a different coach on the sideline.

“We’ve got to do our best with whoever is coaching,” said sophomore lineback Jesse Smith who was recruited by McCarney.

Although McCarney is unsure about how long he’ll stay in South Florida, and if he’ll ever be a head coach again, one thing is for sure – he will always be an ISU fan.