ISU football coach Dan McCarney’s message to the gathered media at his weekly Monday press conference was simple – this is about me, not my players. And please leave them out of it.

“All this negativity can be almost overwhelming to young kids, and I’d really appreciate it if when you talk to the players and the kids on this team that you would stay away from asking them about my future and my coaches’ future,” McCarney said.

“I’d really appreciate it if you’d zero in on these last two games, instead of trying to get a vote out of the kids whether they believe in us or trust in us or what’s here for the future. It’s a burden they don’t need to bear right now.”

McCarney’s tenure as coach may coming to an end as the Cyclones limp through a season that has them winless after six games in the Big 12 and hold just a 3-7 record overall.

With all the uncertainty surrounding McCarney and his assistants’ jobs, it’s starting to interfere with the players’ focus.

“It’s a complete distraction,” McCarney said. “They’re emotionally sapped right now. When you have a football family who doesn’t care about one another or the coaches, then it’s not that big a deal. But that’s not the case here.”

Although Athletic Director Jamie Pollard has said he will wait until the end of the season to make a decision about the football program’s future, McCarney wanted to make sure the attention during the final two weeks of the season was on his team and players, not on whether there will be a different face prowling the ISU sideline next season.

“I think it’s way too much for the kids,” McCarney said. “It’s not too much for me, it’s not too much for my coaches, we’ll handle that and answer your questions. I think it’s not fair to do that to the kids right now.”

One thing McCarney can count on from his players is loyalty, refusing to use their coach’s situation as a way to deflect blame for a subpar season.

“You might think about it when you’re not playing, but when you’re out there practicing you’re not thinking, I have to make this play or this is going to happen or that’s going to happen,” said ISU quarterback Bret Meyer.

Senior receiver Austin Flynn said he didn’t have any knowledge of the coaching situation.

“That stuff is dealt outside of where I’m at,” Flynn said. “All I hear is in newspapers, all I hear is rumors. I don’t even know what’s going on.”

After coming one game short of winning the Big 12 North in both 2004 and 2005, expectations were high for this season’s Cyclones.

They were picked to battle for the North title again. The predictions were based on 10 starters returning on offense, although nearly the entire defense had to be replaced.

“Expectations were high,” McCarney said. “Naturally we wanted to have a better record than we have now, but we also knew the schedule was daunting.”

Now Iowa State is on the verge of finishing 0-8 in the Big 12 for the second time in four years. The Cyclones’ final two games come against 1-9 Colorado and 7-3 Missouri.

“I just want to do everything I can to finish this up strong for these kids,” McCarney said.