Two vacancies on the ISU football coaching staff were filled Wednesday when offensive coordinator Barney Cotton and quarterbacks coach Todd Fitch were hired by the Cyclones.

Cotton and Fitch were hired by ISU head coach Dan McCarney to replace Steve Brickey and Marty Fine, who were both fired at the end of the 2003 football season.

Despite being fired from Nebraska after only one season as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, Cotton led a Husker offense that was ranked seventh in the nation in rushing, averaging 235 yards per game on the ground. Nebraska finished the season with a 10-3 record, ending the year with a 17-3 win over Michigan State in the Alamo Bowl.

The first thing Cotton said he wants to do with the Cyclone offense is to make it more physical.

“The teams that are successful every year are the teams that play a physical brand of ball. That’s job one,” Cotton said.

“We will be very repetitive and teach things over and over and install a physical attitude in our offensive linemen. For any offense to be successful, they have to be physical up front.”

Fitch also comes to Iowa State with an impressive resume, having most recently coached at South Carolina under Lou Holtz.

Fitch spent five seasons with the Gamecocks, the first four as wide receivers coach before taking the quarterbacks coach position last year. He has also coached at Connecticut, Colorado State and Bowling Green.

“We had a huge number of people interested in both our open positions,” McCarney said in a press release. “Barney knows the Big 12 Conference and has been successful at every level of college football. Todd has worked in major conferences under several of the biggest names in college football history. Both are excited to come to Ames and will get to work right away.”

Both coaches will have their work cut out for them.

The Cyclones finished the season last in the Big 12 in scoring, with 14.4 points per game, and finished 11th in total offense, averaging 297.5 yards per game. The 14.4 points per game put Iowa State in 116th place out of 117 Division I-A teams.

Those numbers, coupled with injuries throughout the season, accounted for Iowa State’s 2-10 record. After winning their first two games of the season, the Cyclones lost ten straight, scoring only 24 points in their final five games.

They were also shut out in back-to-back losses to Nebraska and Kansas State, the first time they had been blanked in consecutive games since 1958.

Cotton doesn’t know exactly what changes will be made for next year, but will “explore personnel and watch film and practice to see where the kid’s strengths lie.”

Fitch’s job will be just as difficult. Last season the Cyclones started three quarterbacks during the season, with freshman Austin Flynn and juniors Cris Love and Waye Terry all seeing playing time.

“My job is to get the quarterbacks as fundamentally sound as possible and to make them as good of a group as I can,” Fitch said.

Fitch has never coached in the Big 12, a new challenge he is looking forward to.

“I’m awfully excited, and I look forward to Big 12 competition. I look forward to getting to know the other guys on staff and I look forward to getting to know the players,” Fitch said.

“Forming relationships with guys you coach, that’s the fun part. [It’s about] getting to know the kids you coach, and helping them become better players and watching them grow as people.”