Jamie Pollard Breaks Down Fast Timeline of Hiring Jimmy Rogers for Iowa State

Iowa State Cyclones' AD recently spoke about the quick timeline of hiring Jimmy Rogers

Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard speaks during Cyclones Tailgate Tour kickoff at Toast on May 19, 2025, in Ankeny, Iowa | Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Iowa State Cyclones introduced their new head coach, Jimmy Rogers, on Monday, following a hectic weekend for the program. 

Friday night was one of the busiest in the history of the program for the Cyclones. After 10 amazing years with the program, Matt Campbell elected to take the Penn State Nittany Lions job. It was very understandable that he decided to leave for one of the most prestigious jobs in the country, but there was a significant ripple effect afterward.

Just about an hour after it was reported that Campbell was indeed taking the Penn State job, it was also reported that Rogers was leaving the Washington State Cougars to become the coach of the Cyclones. This felt like it was one of the quickest hires in college football history, and it came together very quickly. 

During Rogers’ introductory conference, Jamie Pollard broke down the timeline of the team making the decision to hire him in a move that started on Friday morning.  

Pollard Breaks Down Timeline

Pollard: I called Rogers on Friday morning, it was the first time we talked about this opportunity.

— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) December 8, 2025

With how quickly the team was able to pivot to Rogers to be their new head coach, it seemed like something would have been in the works for a bit longer than Pollard said. Coming to a deal within a day, with their first interaction being on Friday, is a remarkable job by the program to quickly get a new leader in place. 

Rogers is coming to Iowa State just one year after becoming the head coach of the Cougars. He was able to total a 6-6 record and played some close games against really strong opponents. With close losses against teams like the Ole Miss Rebels and the Virginia Cavaliers, Rogers had a strong year. 

While he likely didn’t think about leaving Washington State as quickly as he did, the Cyclones seemed to be a job that he was interested in from a conversation with Pollard in the past. Even though the two might have only started formal talks on Friday, the relationship between the two seemed to be good. 

Rogers is going to be trying to fill some big shoes from Campbell, and it isn’t going to be easy. The Cyclones really improved during his tenure, and the hope will be that their upward trajectory continues. 

Overall, it was shocking to see how quickly things came to be between the two sides, but with timing being important and every day counting right now, it was good to see Iowa State act quickly.