Pollard heart attack came as shock to Rhoads, ISU football community

AMES - Of the countless people who suffer from heart-related illness, Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads would never have guessed that Iowa State Athletics Director Jamie Pollard would be among them.

News of Pollard's heart attack Monday shocked Rhoads and the entire ISU community.

'He's healthy, he eats a heck of a lot better than I do and he trains,” Rhoads said. 'So those kinds of things you don't think are going to catch up with a guy like that.”

Pollard suffered the heart attack Monday afternoon while watching his daughters compete in a track meet on the UNI campus in Cedar Falls. He was rushed by ambulance to Allen Hospital in Waterloo, where he spent the night and underwent observation and treatment.

Rhoads said he communicated with Pollard that evening and said he was alert and stable.

'Quite honestly, he said he was embarrassed that he had to be cared for like that,” Rhoads said. 'But that's the sign of a leader when he feels that way, that people have to pay special attention to him instead of him being able to be out in front and lead.”

Pollard was transferred Tuesday to Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines to be closer to home. He's scheduled to have open-heart surgery this week.

ISU President Steven Leath appointed Senior Associate Athletics Director David Harris to serve as athletics director during Pollard's absence.

'It has been overwhelming to have received so many messages of support,” Pollard said in a news release. 'Our family is so appreciative of the uplifting and encouraging thoughts and prayers.”

Additional bad news for Iowa State surfaced Tuesday when Rhoads announced that sophomore safety Kamari Cotton-Moya suffered an apparent head injury near the end of the morning practice session and was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Tuesday was the first day of full-contact tackling, and Rhoads said the incident happened in a team drill.

'Too early to exactly diagnose what it is, but serious enough that they put him on a backboard, secured him and took him to Mary Greeley Hospital,” Rhoads said.

Rhoads added that Cotton-Moya, the Cyclones' leading tackler last season, was alert and communicating with people as he left the facility.

'Really, everyone just comes together and rallies around him,” said offensive lineman Jake Campos. 'We got together and had a little prayer and everyone just rallied around him.”