With all due respect to Athletic Director Jamie Pollard, the most impressive recruiting job in the process of acquiring Gene Chizik as the new ISU football coach may have been done by Chizik himself.

Chizik faced an even tougher job – selling Ames to his family who was used to the Texas sun and warm, southern weather.

But the coach had a plan up his sleeve, winning them over with something his family wasn’t very familiar with – snow.

“We talked about seeing snow and snowball fights and playing in the snow,” Chizik said of his pitch to his three children. “We had to throw a carrot out, dangle a carrot out there and that’s how we did it.”

From the start of his search for a new ISU football coach, Pollard had his sights squarely on the Texas defensive coordinator.

When Pollard sat down to interview Chizik, Chizik heard exactly what he needed to.

“Commitment. One word,” Chizik said. “He was very adamant about the commitment of where he envisioned this program going. The things that I felt were important were already in place, the things he was going to give me to help me be successful.

“That’s what’s so exciting to me. Having a guy here who has a vision for this place to go to the next level. As long as you have a guy in charge who has that vision, it allows us to have the resources and the things we need to be successful.”

Pollard’s commitment to his new staff was evident from day one.

Needing to get on the recruiting trail as quickly as possible, Pollard made arrangements for Chizik’s assistant coaches to get the phones and transportation they needed – things that are crucial in the recruiting process.

That support has allowed Chizik to hit the ground running, adjusting to being a first-time head coach in the heart of recruiting season.

He has already landed players at two positions the Cyclones need the most, running back and offensive line. Chizik signed junior college tackle Doug Dedrick and landed a verbal commitment from JUCO running back Jamicah Bass on New Year’s Day.

Bass totaled nearly 1,200 total yards this season for El Camino College, and will most likely sign a letter of intent to come to Ames. The four-star recruit chose Iowa State over Oregon State.

“When you’re an assistant, you focus on a few things that just pertain to you,” Chizik said. “In my case it was the defense and the players on the defense, I was in charge of half the people on the football team and it was just the players.

“When you become head coach, you’re not only in charge of all the players but you have to be on top of everything. It broadens what you have to stay on top of.”

While his job has changed, Chizik maintains the job won’t change him.

Family and faith are the two most important things in his life, Chizik said, something he practices as well as preaches.

“When we’re not football we’re family, and when we’re families, we’re families together,” said defensive coordinator Wayne Bolt. “Family has always been first [for Chizik].”

Chizik is greatful to be one of just 119 people who can call themselves Division 1 college football coaches.

“I’m blessed to be able to sit in this chair, I’m blessed to be able to coach football as a job,” Chizik said. “It’s really neat to be able to go into work every day and your job doesn’t feel like a job. I never take that for granted.”

For the first time in the last 12 years, someone other than Dan McCarney will be calling the shots from the sideline when Iowa State opens their season Sept. 1 against Kent State.

While filling McCarney’s shoes is no easy task, Chizik isn’t interested in that job. He has his own brand and size of shoes ready to go.

“I’m just me,” Chizik said. “I don’t try to follow in anyone’s footsteps. I have my own way of thinking and my own idea and vision of where I want to go with this.

“I don’t ever try to model myself after another guy. I just do what I do and do what’s worked for me over the years.”

Although Chizik wants to make his own legacy at Iowa State, he knows where he wants that legacy to lead the Cyclone football team.

“I would hope that five years from now we would be a Big 12 North contender every year and get it to a point where there aren’t a lot of highs and lows and peaks and valleys,” he said. “That’s when you know you’ve got it in the right direction. You’re always in the hunt for championships and playing in some major bowl games. That’s where our goals are, that’s where our objectives are.”