ISU's Bill Fennelly quieter, but just as intense

 By Rob Gray

 Gazette correspondent

AMES - On the other side of the world, Lauren Mansfield's heart sank.

The Iowa State senior guard from Adelaide, South Australia was back home for her brother's wedding in early October when an e-mail brought news that her coach, Bill Fennelly, had been diagnosed with a cancerous lesion on his vocal cords.

Of course, Fennelly himself sent the dispatch.

“I think about (the team) as my family, so it definitely made me sad,” said Mansfield, who scored five points while dishing out four assists in Tuesday's exhibition win over Coe. “I e-mailed him back and said, ‘You know I'm here for you and sorry to hear that. We're praying for you,' and stuff like that.”

She's not alone.

The boisterous and beloved coach has literally put ISU on the women's hoops map.

The Cyclones attracted an average of 9,370 fans to Hilton Coliseum last season.

That ranked fourth-best in the NCAA, ahead of teams such as Notre Dame, Baylor and defending national champion Texas A & M.

And Fennelly hasn't skipped a beat.

He's quieter now, having completed the 15th of 28 radiation treatments, but only in terms of his voice.

“I'm doing OK,” Fennelly, who will coach his team in its final exhibition game Sunday at 5:30 p.m. against Rockhurst, said this week. “My throat hurts, which they said you're going to feel like you have a big lump in your throat, which I do. They worry about dehydration. I'm not very hungry because I don't want to swallow. And I'm a little bit more tired.”

That's a relative term.

Fennelly, a self-professed night owl, said he doesn't feel quite as much pep as the clock approaches midnight.

Other than that, the radiation treatments simply complicate his already busy weekdays.

“I go every morning at 8 o'clock,” Fennelly said. “Go in, get it done, get to work.”

In terms of challenges, Fennelly speaks only of those facing his team.

How will he make himself heard without yelling - or his voice carrying as much as usual?

Answer: Hand signals.

“I don't know how it's going to work,” Fennelly said. “We're not going to have the dummy person on the sideline, like football.”

How will he and his staff find a consistent scorer like they had in Kelsey Bolte as they seek a sixth straight berth in the NCAA Tournament?

Answer: They might not - not immediately, anyway.

“I think we have eight or nine kids that could go out there and get 20 points,” said Fennelly, who added forward Chelsea Poppens has been the most consistent player thus far. “And those same eight or nine kids could get shut out. That's who we are. That's the scary part. We don't know who that person's going to be.”

The Cyclones and their fans know who they have in Fennelly - whether he's loud or quiet, by necessity or by choice.

“The intensity is just the same,” said true freshman guard/forward

Brynn Williamson. “Even when we first found out about the cancer, he had the white board at practice and that was kind of more intense than him yelling. He was so frustrated because we couldn't understand what he was saying. We're frustrated because we don't know what he's trying to say with this board, screaming. We're just like, ‘OK, this is crazy. He's just kind of crazy right now.' But it's just a matter of you always want to pay attention to the little things. And now it's even more important for us to pay attention and listen to him."