I.S.U's Steve Malchow, Craig Floss of I.C.G.A., Rick Klatt of the University of Iowa. (l-R)
The new Cy-Hawk trophy that was supposed to be given to the victor of the Iowa State-Iowa football game September 10th is going the way of the state’s Touchplay machines.
The trophy which features a farm family around a basket of corn, was unveiled by the Iowa Corn Growers Association and representatives of the two schools Saturday.
But Corn Growers Association C.E.O. Craig Floss says fans were not impressed.
“We have received an overwhelming amount of feedback on the new trophy that was unveiled last week at the Iowa State Fair,” Floss said, “We’ve had both positive and negative comments, but I would be remiss to not mention that the overwhelming amount of feedback has been negative.”
Cy-Hawk trophy that caused controversy.
Floss appeared with representatives of the two schools today to pull the plug on the trophy.
“We are announcing that we are changing the trophy as was unveiled last week, and we are going to open up a process that is going to allow Iowans — the fans — to decide what that trophy should be like,” Floss said.
Floss said they had sought to create a trophy that representative of the entire Cy-Hawk series between the schools and not just the football game. He says they “missed the mark.” He says based on what they have heard, they are going to develop several concepts and then let the fans which concept to use to develop a trophy.
Iowa State associate athletic director, Steve Malchow, says the creation of the trophy has been wrongly portrayed as Iowa Corn wanting to design the new trophy in exchange for its sponsorship of the series.
Malchow says each of the schools had received considerable input about changing the trophy, and the change to Iowa Corn as the sponsor of the series simply provided the right time to make the change.
He says they are eager to move ahead and create a new trophy that is more representative of the “states marquee sporting event, the Iowa State-Iowa football game.” Iowa associate athletic director, Rick Klatt also said the criticism aimed at the corn growers was unwarranted.
Klatt says “unfortunately our partner in the project, Iowa Corn has shouldered most of the burden of the criticism.” He says both schools and Iowa corn collaborated in the development of the trophy and that story has been told incorrectly. Klatt was asked if there had been any fan input before the new trophy was developed.
Klatt says the answer is “no” as it would have been a greater challenge with more input, “The honest answer is that we didn’t consult with season ticket holders or donors are any particular constituency group.” The new trophy will not be given out at the September 10th game, but Floss says they will develop and interim trophy to hand out to the winning team until the revamped trophy is ready.
Floss says you can find out more about giving input for the trophy at the Iowa Corn Growers Association website, or at the websites of the two schools.
Listen to the entire Cy-Hawk news conference here: Trophy 29:00