Iowa State and only Iowa State has Top Ten teams in all three AP college polls

At 11 a.m., Tuesday, Iowa State athletics ascended to a place it had never been.

The news the ISU women’s basketball team was ranked eighth in Associated Press’ preseason Top 25 was no surprise given the returning talent the Cyclones feature, but it gave the school Top Ten teams in football (No. 9), women’s basketball, and men’s basketball (No. 5).

AP has polls only in those three sports. No school had all three of its teams simultaneously ranked in the Top Ten since Baylor’s 2021 football team and 2021-22 basketball teams finished their seasons in the Top Ten.

It had never happened in our state. Iowa came close in 1986-87 when its men’s basketball team finished the season No. 6, the women closed at No. 9, and the football team was 16th.

“It’s validation for our outstanding coaches,” Iowa State Athletic Director Jamie Pollard said by phone Tuesday. “Among our coaching staffs and administration, I think it’s a reflection of our culture in the athletics program.

“I’m happy for our fans. Our fans waited for a moment like this for a long time, and I know that they appreciate it and enjoy it.”

Just four schools have teams in all three Top 25s. Texas’ football team is No. 1, its women’s basketball team is No. 4 and its men’s basketball team is 19th. The others are Indiana (16th-17th-25th) and Mississippi (18th-24th-20th).

North Carolina State was the only school that could claim Top 25 teams from all three programs at the end of last season.

Stability seems to be a common denominator of the ISU football and basketball programs, and the athletic department in general.

Bill Fennelly is in his 30th season as women’s basketball coach, the fourth-longest tenure of any Division I women’s coach. Matt Campbell is in his ninth year as the football coach. T.J. Otzelberger is in Year 4 as the men’s basketball head coach, but was at Iowa State for eight seasons as an assistant before he was head coach at South Dakota State and UNLV.

Pollard is in his 20th year as AD at Iowa State. That’s the longest current tenure for that job in the Big 12, and fourth-longest among athletic directors in Power 4 conferences.

In football, Pollard credits former coach Dan McCarney for doing “a great job of laying the foundation.”

“Coach Campbell's had the baton for the last nine years,” Pollard said, “and it's been really enjoyable to see the growth that the program's made over that entire time period.”

Iowa State isn’t new to the Top Ten in football, having finished the 2020 season at No. 9 after beating Oklahoma and Texas in the regular season and Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl. The Cyclones then spent three weeks in the Top Ten the following season.

This season’s team was unranked in the preseason, but would be in the College Football Playoff if the season ended today.

“Football is ranked ninth because they’re ranked ninth,” Pollard said. “It wasn’t because somebody thought they’re ranked ninth. They’ve earned their way.”

As for the basketball teams, Pollard said, “The preseason rankings are really a reflection of the culture and where you’ve been. What happens from here going forward is going to be who you play and who you beat.

“But it says a lot about Coach Fennelly and Coach Otzelberger that they’ve built programs that people see as Top Ten programs. Because that's basically what the preseason rankings are. It's more a reflection of a much-bigger time span than once you start playing.”

Iowa State football has made NFL waves, too. Seldom have many former Cyclones been impact players in the league at the same time until the last few years.

In Monday’s Buffalo-New York Jets game, former Cyclones Breece Hall (169 total yards), Allen Lazard (114 receiving yards and a touchdown) and Will McDonald IV (his seventh sack of the season, tied for second in the NFL) were standouts for the Jets.

That capped an NFL week in which ex-ISU stars David Montgomery rushed for 80 yards and two touchdowns for Detroit and Brock Purdy passed for 255 yards and three TDs, both in road wins.

Oh, the Cyclones men’s cross country team is ranked No. 4 in the nation. You’ve got to run to keep up in Ames these days.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com