Two major coaching changes highlighted 2025. After 10 years and seven bowl trips at Iowa State, Matt Campbell resigned to become the new head coach at Penn State. He left as ISU’s all-time leader in wins.
“One of the hardest moments of my life was to walk in and leave so many of our great young men that believed in me, that believed in our coaches and that signed up to be part of our great program,” said Campbell at his introductory news conference in State College. “But what I do know is that in 10 years we rewrote history.”
Iowa State moved quickly to fill the post, naming Jimmy Rodgers as new Cyclone coach. He spent last season as the head coach at Washington State.
“A big part of this was family for me and it was the culture and walking into a good situation to where these kids were committed to something bigger than themselves,” said Rodgers. “That’s also extremely intriguing, especially right now in a landscape where everybody is looking for bigger and better.”
Rodgers will need to rebuild the roster. Most of the returning starters from last season’s 8-4 team have announced they will be entering the transfer portal next month.
Ben McCollum became the head coach at the school he grew up cheering for. The former Drake coach was introduced as the 23rd basketball coach at Iowa. He led Drake to a school record 31 victories and a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. McCollum replaced Fran McCaffery, who was fired after 15 years in the midst of dwindling attendance and back-to-back seasons missing out on the NCAA Tournament.
“I always dreamed of playing for the Hawkeyes and I just wasn’t good enough,” said McCollum. “But now I get to coach them and hopefully bring success here.”
Under McCollum, the Hawkeyes end the year ranked 25th in the AP Poll.
The Iowa State men are having another banner season under coach T.J. Otzelberger. The Cyclones end the year ranked third in the AP Poll and are 13-0 heading into Friday night’s Big 12 opener at home against West Virginia.
“With college basketball everybody talks about transfers and how tough it is to play together,” said Otzelberger. “We are fortunate to have great leadership that has carried forward, and guys that make great choices and want to be around each other.”
As the calendar shifts to 2026, the Cyclones are a legitimate national championship contender.