Iowa State football introduces new coach Jimmy Rogers. What he said:
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AMES – A new era of Iowa State football officially got going on Dec. 8.
New Cyclones football coach Jimmy Rogers was formally introduced during a press conference at the Stark Performance Center.
He replaces Matt Campbell, who left Iowa State after 10 seasons to become the new coach at Penn State. Rogers comes to Iowa State after guiding Washington State to a 6-6 mark last season.
The former South Dakota State football player and coach led that program to the 2023 FCS championship and the 2024 FCS semifinals.
During Rogers' press conference, he touched on a number of topics including Campbell, his time at Washington State and more.
On Matt Campbell
“Matt Campbell is an unbelievable person and I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring him up, what he’s done for this university over the last decade, how he’s built a program to want to aspire to want to be a part of, to build a culture that the players love their culture and to walk into really an unbelievable opportunity. I would say that a large part of what Iowa State is and what the football program has become is due to Matt Campbell and I’m thankful for him and that friendship.”
On the college football landscape
“It forces us to become and make decisions that we would never make, if we didn’t have to. From Matt leaving right now, for myself leaving right now. I know for sure he would want to coach this football team going into that bowl game. I know that for a fact. Because I know that I would want to coach the team that I just spent the time preparing to coach in the bowl game itself. And there’s one thing that has to happen in college football, this calendar has to start to align, and rules have to start to make sense. There is uniqueness just across the landscape of college football. I just lived through it. I just came from a place where I replaced the roster of over 75 different players, came together and made a bowl game, had the opportunity to be much better than that season ended up being but at the same time, to bring a lot of players together and commit to a common goal, bring a spirit in which we played with every single day, it’s not easy to do.”
On meeting with the Cyclone players
“Meeting with the team last night, an unbelievable culture that I just walked into, where players that love each other, you can tell, with a spirit that is going to be unmatched and hopefully from the outside world. You don’t see much change because this team was competitive, very competitive, and is driven to win the Big 12 championship and to win championships moving forward. And I believe that we can do that. I believe in the players, I believe in this community, I believe in the spirit of what Iowa State football is.”
On coaching against Iowa State while at South Dakota State
“A couple years ago we had the opportunity when I was at South Dakota State to come here in another storm unfortunately. And that game got delayed like three times and the student section at this place was unbelievable. And if we can do that every single week, it’s going to be hard to beat us in this stadium. But that game itself, rain delay, everybody goes into the locker room and the fans all have to exit, they open it up again, the fans come screaming down the stadium stairs, they have to go back inside, they have to leave. I mean that went on for several hours and I couldn’t believe it. These people are nuts. It was awesome. And that’s what you want to be a part of as a coach. That’s what you want to be a part of as a player and I think that Iowa State has everything and more to succeed. I mean, what we’re doing across the street here, with the facilities that are going on, it is unmatched. I was shocked by the growth of this place. It says a lot about (athletics director) Jamie (Pollard) and his leadership and his team of people that work with him and what he’s been able to accomplish over the last several years, just how fast things have moved. And I’m blessed to be a part of this.”
On what Iowa State fans should expect from him
“What you’ll get from me is consistency and authenticity. I will work extremely hard. I’m extremely focused. I say this every time, but this is how I look. I can’t help this. My face is serious. I get the RBT or whatever they call it, yeah, RBF face. That’s just my face, I was born this way, my son’s got it too. But I am so excited to lead this football program into the next phase of Iowa State football, and I can promise you that you will see a spirited team that comes out, plays physical, plays with passion. There’s going to be a level of consistency of how we prepare and how we do things.”
On his Iowa State staff
“For those coaches that were here on this staff last, I appreciate you guys. They’ve been great, seeing those guys again. And I wish them the best in the future. Several of them will have an opportunity to stick with us. But I’m going to bring in a really competitive staff, one that knows the Midwest very well. One that has a history in winning and recruiting in this area and then several new faces.”
On leaving Washington State
“I never had any intent to leave as fast as I did. I was planning on growing that program to the best of my ability. And when I got this call, I knew this is the one for me. This is the one that I’ve wanted because of the culture that has been laid. Because of Jamie Pollard and his leadership and just getting to know his values and what was important to him and just honestly being a normal person to me and having a genuine conversation that was authentic, and I could just be myself.”
On his message to the team
“The players are going through a hard time. And I said to them, if you didn’t feel this way, it wasn’t done right and the fact that it feels this way and you feel the pain, the hurt, it’s a credit to coach Campbell that there’s this feeling inside of you, 'Man, what do I do?' And kind of feel shook. I think that’s a great sign of great coaching as far as how they were loved and treated inside of this program, but they’re not going to be treated much different. We’re cut from the same cloth. I’ve admired his career and how he’s done it and how he’s stayed consistent and the values in which he preached and these players live it, and it won’t be that much different. I watched how he grew his program with the consistency of keeping those close to him and evaluating them in their life. You can see that in those coaches’ loyalty to him. It’s a credit to him as a person. And although we get bashed for the decisions that we make, that might be the first decision that he’s made for himself in a very long time. And so he’s deserved it. We’ll work through this together. It’s our relationship. But my message to the team was just give us an opportunity to meet our staff.”
On the roster
“I spoke to the team last night. I obviously told them to just give us a shot, hear us out. I want to get to know them. I’m not going to expect them to immediately love me. I’m a normal human being. We have to get to know each other and when we close that gap of a relationship that was already existing prior. I’ll spend the whole week talking with them individually, one on one, with the things that were important to them, with the things that they thought we could have done better here, their experience here, the relationships that they have, who they live with, who is close to them, their parents and their background and then eventually our staff will be jumping on a staff Zoom with all of our players’ parents and then we’ll do the same thing from the offense and defensive side of the ball so the defense and offense can be able to introduce them and not just who they are as people but what we do schematically because nowadays, these players, obviously they want to do it at the highest level and the majority of them want to go to the NFL.
"OK, so a lot of parents are involved. Some parents just want to know that their kids are going to be taken care of. But some parents are involved in saying is this scheme, does this structure, does it fit for you to have a future. And those are all things that we’ll discuss throughout meetings in the next several weeks with the players. Presumably, honest dialect between both sides. Some players will go, naturally. Some will go to Penn State. It’s a common thing now. And if we don’t like it, let’s all change the rules. So I don’t blame those kids at all. But I do think there is something special here and I charged them last night, that feeling that you had when you chose Iowa State, it wasn’t off one person, it was how a community made you feel, it's how those teammates made you feel and there was a spirit behind that and why you chose to come here. And don’t just take it for granted that you’re going to find it at the same place but that’s not always the case.“
On what his football philosophy is
“I would say defensively, one that is multiple that we’ll use disguises and be more attacking. A really fundamentally sound defense that has had really great success over the last seven years. We’re a four-man stretcher but we can get into an odd front up front and get into what we consider a spinner package using a very athletic long D-end to kind of play as a hybrid linebacker in the system. One that has different rules that make it hard and challenging, whether its zone or man. And then offensively, one that is also multiple, using many personnel, being physical up front and having a belief no matter what the circumstance is in the game that we’ll apply the proper technique and strike people and run off the football in the run game and be able to be extremely explosive. Special teams, I believe in that being an explosive unit for us. One that has a level of consistency throughout the game that eliminates error but maximizes its opportunity to make big plays in that game.”
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: What Jimmy Rogers said as Iowa State football's new coach
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