“This is a great honor for all of the staff in our athletics department,” Pollard said. “I am humbled by the recognition because it comes from my peers, but it is really recognition for all of our staff who work tirelessly to make Cyclone Athletics something special for our fans, donors, student-athletes and staff.”
Pollard, in his 14th year at Iowa State, is the eighth-longest serving director in the Football Bowl Subdivision. His impact on the Cyclone program in all facets has been stellar.
“I am proud of what our department has accomplished,” Pollard said. “However, I am really excited about our future because of how we’re positioned to achieve milestones going forward that have never been accomplished before at Iowa State. There’s an awesome story being written in Ames and it’s because of the hard work of our coaches, staff and student-athletes as well as the incredible support from the university campus and our many passionate fans.”
Iowa State’s 2018-19 academic season was punctuated by countless highlights in all areas under Pollard’s watch:
· Competitively: the Cyclones are on pace to have their all-time best finish in the Big 12 composite standings, the football team played in the Alamo Bowl, the women’s and men’s basketball teams participated in the NCAA Tournament and the women’s and men’s cross country teams won Big 12 Championships;
· Academically: the overall cumulative student-athlete GPA of 3.12 is the highest on record and the school’s Graduation Success Rate and Federal Graduation Rates both ranked second in the Big 12;
· Support: the department set an all-time record for annual donations for the eighth straight year;
· Attendance: an interesting anecdote connected to Pollard’s commitment to fans relations is that ISU is the only school nationally that has averaged at least 50,000 fans a football, 12,000 at men’s basketball and 9,000 at women’s basketball for the last eight years consecutively;
· Facilities: during Pollard’s tenure, Iowa State has invested more than $250 million in facilities and it is about to break ground on a $90 million Sports Performance Center, which will house academic and student services and a dining and sports nutrition center;
· Coaching roster: it’s arguable that Pollard’s team has assembled the strongest group of coaches in school history by identifying rising stars, recruiting them to Ames and supporting their visions for success;
· Innovation: ISU has been a national leader in the delivery of digital content and its Cyclones.tv platform makes it one of three schools nationally with a branded network.
Professionally, Pollard is currently serving on the NACDA Executive Committee, the NACDA Honors and Award Committee and was recently nominated by the Big 12 Conference to potentially serve on the NCAA Men’s Division I basketball committee.
Pollard will be joined at the awards ceremony in June by Patrick Chun (Washington State), Danny White (UCF) and Deborah Yow (North Carolina State) as the AD of the Year recipients for the FBS division.
