For 12 years, the Iowa State football team has been happy with teams ranging from horrible to decent at best, but times have changed. After coaching the Cyclones through one of their most successful stretches in history, Dan McCarney has decided to step down as the head coach. In 12 years of coaching the Cyclone’s football team, McCarney has had a record of 55-85 with a conference record of 26-68. This would be an embarrassing record for most teams, but for a team that was once thought of as one of the worst major conference teams, this record is actually pretty good. Thanks to the coaching of McCarney over the past decade, the Iowa State program has improved to a team that is actually respected, for the most part. After a 22 year drought of no bowl game appearances, McCarney coached the team to bowl games in 5 of their last 7 years and. On top of that, the Cyclones have beaten in-state rival, the Iowa Hawkeyes, in 6 of their last 9 years. The only complaint the loyal Cyclone fans have had in these past few years with the team is that they always seemed to choke during the big game. In two consecutive years, the Cyclones failed to win the Big 12 North because they were unable to hit a game winning field goal. Things like that are now expected from the Cyclones, a good season with a disappointing ending. Following a 7-5 record last year, and 10 returning offensive starters, big things were expected from the Cyclones this year. A record amount of season tickets were sold, experts predicted a very successful year, and the general population of Ames was excited for this football season. Sadly, the Cyclones were unable to live up to the hype and are currently 3-8 overall with a conference record of 0-7 with one more game in the season. After an embarrassing 41-10 loss at home to Kansas, McCarney decided to step down from the head coaching position at Iowa State, although he will finish out the season. He will leave behind an organization that would be nothing without him, and will be missed and respected by all that he worked with.