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A Look At the Iowa State Coaching Carousel He’s Out-OC Tom Herman He’s In-Former WR Coach Courtney...

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A Look At the Iowa State Coaching Carousel He’s Out-OC Tom Herman He’s In-Former WR Coach Courtney Messingham • One of the biggest stories coming into the Pinstripe Bowl this season was the hiring (Poaching) of then current Offensive Coordinator Tom Herman by new Ohio State Head man Urban Meyer. As Lucrative as a job is at THE Ohio State University, many Iowa State Fans (who remember just being spurned a few years back by a former Head Coach who left for "greener" pastures) wondered how much of Herman’s Heart was really in Ames while preparing for the bowl game, and many of Coach Herman’s Critics were answered by what most consider a subpar bowl performance by the cyclone offense. Coach Herman’s offenses during this season though average about 390 yds/game and was a huge spark plug in upset wins over Iowa and Oklahoma State. However 390 yds/game was only good enough for 8th place in the High Powered Big 12 this season and in fact-Herman’s offense-although effective-has never placed higher than 8th in the Conference. • After the bowl game, Coach Paul Rhoads announced that the search for an offensive coordinator would officially begin and he was faced with a few choices, 1. Go out and hire someone from another program, who would perhaps implement another system and hinder the progress of a young QB and offense, or 2. Promote someone deserving of the raise from inside the Cyclone Family, and he chose that. Coach Messingham had been known for one running a great special teams unit during his tenure here (Outside of the fingers crossed on FG attempts) and developing great young players such as Darius Reynolds and Josh Lenz. Coach Messsingham should prove to be a very safe choice to promote to the OC position, for consistency’s sake alone. Having a similar offensive style to run next season will be extremely beneficial for a developing Sophomore Quarterback. The Switch to Messingham’s system will not be exactly identical to the one under Coach Herman, as he has already been quoted saying that we will run some packages "Under Center" even for the sake of consistency running the football. As a big proponent of Smash Mouth Run it down your throat Football I am all for this. The Offense the season struggled to set up the play action passing game at times this season because of their inability to pound the rock. All In all, it seems like a great –safe-hire and I am excited for what it will bring to spread look we’ve been used to seeing under Coach Paul Rhoads. The Guy also rocks an awesome mustache.