Although surprised by the personnel changes, ISU men’s basketball fans seem to be embracing new coach Greg McDermott.

Athletic Director Jamie Pollard fired former coach Wayne Morgan during Spring Break and – just five days later – stole McDermott away from the University of Northern Iowa to replace him. Earlier this month, the Panthers made their third-straight NCAA tournament appearance.

“I think he is a good coach; he has done a lot with not that much talent,” said Steven Pinkston, senior in marketing and member of the Cyclone Alley marketing committee.

“If he can do that there, then hopefully he can get us back into the NCAA tournament.”

Pollard said he thought the program under Morgan couldn’t sustain the level of performance that was needed to reach its goals. Morgan finished with a 55-39 record at Iowa State.

Micah Monroe, junior in health and human performance and game day chairman for Cyclone Alley, said the consensus among fans is surprise at, but not disagreement with what transpired.

“We had an off season, and I know all the stuff came out about the D1 Scheduling. I’m not sure how that played into the decision,” Monroe said. “But I was surprised and kind of shocked. I don’t think people disagree [with the coaching changes]. I think a lot of people were upset with how the whole thing happened. Everything was so abrupt.”

The Cyclones performance last season – Morgan’s third as head coach – also may weigh heavily on the fans. Iowa State was ranked as high as 13th in some preseason polls, but the team failed to make it in the postseason.

“Coming into the season, there was so much hype with Curtis [Stinson] and Will [Blalock], Rahshon [Clark] and Tasheed [Carr],” Monroe said. “Everyone expected an amazing season with another NCAA [tournament] run. Through the season, it was disappointing going to the games and watching them losing to some teams we should have beat.”

Kelly Lau, senior in elementary education, said she isn’t sure that it was time to pull the plug.

“I don’t know if it was necessarily time to get rid of Wayne Morgan,” Lau said.

“But if that’s the direction they want to take the program, then I can respect that.”

McDermott relied heavily on Iowa talent at Northern Iowa – three of his five starters last season were in-state recruits.

“I’m actually friends with a few guys that played for him. He’s got the best Iowa basketball players to go to his school,” Monroe said. “Obviously, it’s worked for them. I think if he can do that here, it will be great for our program.”

Lucas Funke, freshman in pre-business, said recruiting difficulties might be a concern with McDermott.

He also said success next season will depend heavily on how the current roster accepts McDermott’s coaching.

“If they kind of do their own thing and don’t listen to the new guy, we’ll suck,” Funke said. “If the players get behind him, we’ll be all right.”

Pinkston said last year’s team seemed undisciplined.

“The biggest problem is we didn’t see much development,” Pinkston said.

“I think it was time for us to move on.”