Just received this email from JP. Thoughts?
January 3, 2020
Dear Cyclone fans,
As we begin 2020, and the next decade of Cyclone athletics, I want to share several important thoughts.
Like many of you, I was disappointed with the final month of 2019. Although our student-athletes continued to excel in the classroom, December did not go as desired from a competitive standpoint.
Unfortunately, it is human nature to magnify our frustrations during challenging times. However, it is equally important to remember where our journey began and how much we have progressed during the past decade. Our facilities, fan support, and overall athletic and academic success, have never been better at Iowa State University.
The simple fact that the Florida Citrus Sports leadership team chose the Cyclones over several other Big 12 institutions to play Notre Dame in the Camping World Bowl, underlines how our football program is perceived nationally. Furthermore, the competitive success of our entire department has risen from the bottom of the Big 12 a decade ago to one of the top three programs as recently as last year.
We have won ten Big 12 championships in the last ten years (after just three in the prior decade) and won four of the last six Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament championships. In addition, next fall our football program will have the opportunity to qualify for a bowl game for the fourth year in a row, a feat never before accomplished in the history of our institution.
This past December’s performance is a good reminder that the journey from good to great is not a straight line and often includes many setbacks and turns, which can bring disappointments and even bewilderment. All of our coaches and student-athletes work extremely hard week after week, but progress sometimes mysteriously stalls. For some people, the irrational impulse when things get tough is to lose hope, become negative and quit the journey because it is simply too challenging.
I can guarantee you that is not the case for our coaches, student-athletes and staff. We are ready to continue the journey. I am reminded of a quote from the late, great, Vince Lombardi who once said, “The man on top of the mountain didn’t fall there.” Climbing a steep mountain only gets tougher the higher you get because the air gets thinner. It is important to remember that our journey will not get easier, and will most likely include further disappointments. However, I am confident that we will ultimately achieve the success we all desire.
My simple request to each of you is to never lose your passion and desire to want the best for our program. Disappointment, although painful, is also very motivating. However, we need to remember there is a difference between being irrational and being disappointed. Irrational thoughts, when acted upon, actually make us look like the fan bases we often times make fun of when they experience disappointments. Let us be the fan base that other schools aspire to model. I am confident we can do that, but we need everyone’s help.
Finally, I want to share several exciting updates with you related to the multiple facility projects we are currently working on.
- The construction of the $90M Student Performance Center continues to progress on budget and on schedule. We anticipate it will open in January of 2021. Once the building is completed, we can begin work on the north end of the stadium, which includes the new game day plaza and north concourse connection. We anticipate that project will be completed by August of 2021.
- We recently secured two $5M gift commitments ($10M total) from separate donors to fund the construction of the “Pedestrian Gateway” bridge over University Boulevard that we introduced last fall as part of our Multi-Use Entertainment and Art District. We are scheduled to seek approval from the Board of Regents at their February meeting to begin the design and construction of the bridge. The construction of the bridge will create a dynamic entranceway to campus and serve as a catalyst for the development of additional football game day parking inventory and the completion of the multi-use district.
- We are also planning to present to the Board of Regents at their April meeting, our plans to proceed with the Hilton Coliseum concourse expansion project and our vision to connect Hilton to the Scheman Building, further enhancing our ability to provide additional hospitality and entertainment space for patrons using Hilton and the Iowa State Center.
- We continue to explore modifications to the parking lots in and around the Iowa State Center to further improve parking accommodations for fans visiting those facilities, including Hilton Coliseum. We hope to have these improvements completed by the fall of 2021.
- We are making great progress on the multi-use development project (the funding for the Pedestrian Bridge was a critical first step) and we anticipate providing more updates related to this project later this spring.
In closing, I simply want to say thank you. The support, passion, and patience that the majority of our fan base has exhibited over the past decade is phenomenal. We have so much to be proud of, and even more to look forward to. I can honestly say our coaches and staff have never been more committed and confident about their abilities to achieve greatness at Iowa State University. We look forward to a prosperous future together.
Happy New Year and Go Cyclones!
Jamie Pollard
Director of Athletics
