Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard on advice for coaching
Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard on his best advice to his sons when it came to coaching.
Iowa State announced Friday, July 10, that longtime athletics director Jamie Pollard is stepping down.
The school announced that Pollard, the longest-tenured athletics director in Iowa State history, is retiring after more than two decades, during which he became the nation’s longest-serving active Power Four athletics director.
The 61-year-old plans to retire on June 30, 2027, or sooner if Iowa State hires his replacement before then.
Pollard began working in college athletics at Saint Louis University in 1989, then held leadership roles in the athletic departments at Maryland and Wisconsin before coming to Iowa State in 2005.
“It has been my privilege to engage with thousands of Cyclone fans over the years and develop life-long friendships with so many of them,” Pollard said in a news release from the school. “There is nothing better than celebrating and enjoying the victories and championships with our fans. Although I’ll be leaving my office in the Jacobson Building, I will always be a loyal Cyclone for the rest of my life. Once a Cyclone, always a Cyclone.”
Jamie Pollard oversaw big investments in Iowa State athletics
Pollard’s tenure as athletics director included 24 Big 12 team titles across eight sports, a surge in fundraising from just over $9 million a year before Pollard arrived to $53 million in 2025-26, and more than $400 million invested in new construction and facility upgrades in the Ames community, including the planned CyTown district.
He was twice honored as the Football Subdivision Athletics Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics in 2019 and 2023. In March 2026, he was invited by U.S. President Donald Trump’s to take part in a White House roundtable focused on saving college sports, according to ISU’s news release.
Iowa State President David Cook said Pollard’s leadership created a culture that has lifted the school’s athletics program to new heights.
“Jamie Pollard’s bold vision has produced the most sustained period of academic and athletic excellence in Iowa State’s Athletics history, and Cyclones everywhere are incredibly grateful for his leadership, passion and dedication to our university,” Cook said.
Jamie Pollard contract went through 2030
Pollard signed a five-year extension in early 2025 to remain the school’s athletics director through 2030. He told reporters in June that he knew retirement was coming, but that even he didn’t know exactly when the right time would be.
“I’ve basically said if this was a game of soccer, we’d be in extra time,” he said. “Nobody knows how much time is left on the clock, including the player.”
Pollard said that he and his wife “want to physically and mentally be able to enjoy ‘next,’ but, at the same time, I want to make sure when that day comes, that we hand it off in as good a spot as can be.”
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
