A new era in Iowa State women’s athletics has officially started. That era began last Thursday when ISU’s Athletic Director Gene Smith introduced Cathy Klein as the Cyclones’ inaugural women’s soccer coach.

“I’m here and excited to be here,” Klein said at a press conference last week. “I hope to build a very competitive program very quickly. Boy, I’m excited.”

Klein comes to Cyclone country via Creighton were she posted an impressive 14-4 overall record in her first season as the Lady Jays head coach.

Although this is her first stint coaching in the Big 12, Klein has some experience with our rivals to the west. “We had the misfortune, or fortune, of playing Nebraska twice. We beat them both times,” Klein said. Creighton was one of only four teams to beat the Cornhuskers last year.

The Lady Jays posted a perfect home record of 8-0, including a win over Big Ten Conference champion Wisconsin. Aside from beating perennial powerhouses, Klein looks to them as the models by which a team is built.

“The [Atlantic Coast Conference] is considered the best and North Carolina is still the model [to] which all programs are compared,” Klein said. “In my opinion the Big 12 will be one of the top two conferences in the country.”

The keys to success are fairly simple to our new coach. “The key to success at any level is work ethic,” Klein said. “I’m a strong advocate at working hard at whatever you do.”

That work ethic will carry over to the new team and its gearing up for competition next fall. Klein’s excited about ISU’s opportunities to compete in the new Big 12 Conference.

“I’m excited to play against Nebraska, the University of Texas and Missouri. We’ll have four nationally recognized teams on the schedule, some Division I and Division II and some NAIA teams,” Klein said. “Because we have a late start I feel we want to establish a strong foundation [and this is] the best direction to go in terms of developing and teaching.

“Iowa State will compete with all the teams in the Big 12. How quickly? Obviously I don’t know, it depends on how successful I am in the nexty two months as well as next year.”

The “success” that Klein talks about is the recruiting process. “In the next couple of days I’m going to be recruiting nationally and internationally,” Klein said. “Regionally, I’m excited to have some very fine players in the state of Iowa. There are athletes out there that want to play and play for Iowa State.”

If that optimism and enthusisam is not enough to get Ames pumped up with World Cup fever next year, then Klein’s job is going to be a lot harder.