TJ (to his staff): If we want to be a top 5 college basketball team we'll have to find a way to compete with the blue bloods with rosters full of 4-star and 5-star recruits.

Anonymous staff member: That will be tough, would do you suggest?

TJ: I've been thinking...what if we scour the rosters of Eastern Kentucky, Wofford, Buffalo, Denver, and VCU and see what's available?

Staff member: Hey coach, didn't you have a recruit at UNLV that you beat out Long Beach State for?

Iowa State Media Relations

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State defensive back T.J. Tampa was selected with the 130th pick by the Baltimore Ravens in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Tampa, a St. Petersburg, Florida, native, was a First Team All-Big 12 and Associated Press Third-Team All-American in 2023. He earned second team All-Big 12 honors as a junior in 2022.

Tampa appeared in 46 games for the Cyclones, recording 107 tackles, including 9.5 for a loss, with three interceptions and 19 pass breakups.

One of the best cornerbacks in the nation in 2023, Tampa notched 44 tackles and made two interceptions. He allowed just one touchdown in his last 497 coverage snaps on his way to becoming ISU’s first defensive back to earn All-America honors since 2018.

Tampa sealed the Cyclones’ win against Oklahoma State with an interception with less than two minutes left and the Cowboys in Cyclone territory.

He was a semifinalist for both the Thorpe and Bednarik Awards.

Tampa is another success story of sorts, originally visiting Iowa State in 2019 as a wide receiver. In a twist of fate, Tampa’s flight home got delayed and he joined the next day’s camp. Near the end of the camp, Green Bay Packers defensive back Anthony Johnson Jr. coaxed Tampa into getting some reps at corner.

The rest is history and Tampa now joins an elite group that can call themselves NFL draft picks.

2024 Iowa State NFL Draft Picks

T.J. Tampa – Baltimore Ravens – Fourth Round – Pick 130

Cyclone Draft Notes

• Tampa is the third Cyclone to be selected by the Baltimore Ravens , joining Kelechi Osemele (2012) and Charlie Kolar (2022).
• Tampa is the 11th Cyclone drafted under Matt Campbell.
• This is Iowa State’s ninth draft pick since the 2021 NFL Draft.
• Iowa State has had a player selected in four-straight NFL Drafts for the first time since 2006-09.

Wait..how does this conspiracy theory work again? Too funny.

It's the deep state! LOL

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Just announced during a ceremony at his high school, Bismarck (ND) OL Jack Shaffer has picked Iowa State out of a list of five finalists.

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Yeah...LOL and you think this guy is winning. Dictator clown.

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SIAP

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In his address to the nation, did he say that there was fine people on both sides?!?

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Linking a piece below on Storm Lake's Jaidyn Coon from my Rivals colleague on the Iowa site. Sounds like the Cyclones are expressing a bit of early interest.

Iowa State Media Relations

Ames, Iowa – Matt Leach, who has spent the past six seasons as the Head Swimming Coach at Washington State University, has been named the fifth head coach of the Iowa State Swimming & Diving program, Senior Associate Director of Athletics Dr. Calli Sanders announced today.

“We are thrilled to welcome Matt, Katie, and their children, Eloise and Arlo, back to the Midwest and to our Cyclone family,” Sanders said. “We believe Matt embodies the perfect blend of characteristics and experiences that we were looking for in our next head coach, bringing Power 5 head coaching experience, a commitment to the whole student-athlete, and boundless energy, to our program. His enthusiasm for joining our community and leading our swimming and diving program was undeniable throughout the entire interview process, and he has a clear vision for the future of the Cyclone Swimming & Diving program.”

Leach inherited a Washington State program that hadn’t produced an NCAA Championship qualifier in nearly a decade prior to his arrival in Pullman and promptly turned it into one that produced an NCAA qualifier every year (excluding the 2020 season when the NCAA Championships were canceled due to COVID) during his six-year tenure in Pullman, including the Cougars’ first NCAA Championship scorer in some 17 seasons in 2024. WSU finished tied for 40th at the 2024 NCAA Championships and scored points for only the sixth time in program history.

Washington State produced one of the most impressive performances in the program history at the 2024 Pac-12 Conference Championships. The Cougars recorded 21 WSU Top 10 times, including six school records and a pair of medals, while as a team, WSU totaled 498.5 points to register the program’s second-highest point total since 1987 (Pac-10/12 era).

All-told, Leach’s WSU program saw five NCAA Championship qualifiers, its first-ever PAC-12 Conference individual champion and 60 Pac-12 Winter Academic Honor Roll members.

“I am honored to be the next Head Swimming and Diving Coach at Iowa State University,” Leach said. “Coach (Duane) Sorenson has been an absolute pillar of this program and I am thrilled to be named his successor. I want to sincerely wish him well in his retirement and hope to see him on the pool deck.

“I would like to thank President Wendy Wintersteen, Jamie Pollard and Calli Sanders for allowing me to lead the next generation of Cyclones,” he added. “I am humbled and extremely excited to get to work and help lead, grow, and inspire these student-athletes into the next chapter of success. Go Cyclones!”

Before taking over as Washington State’s head coach, Leach spent three seasons at Indiana State, where he started the Sycamore women’s program from scratch in 2015 and hit the water the following year. In the program’s second competitive season, he was honored as the 2017-18 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year after guiding ISU to a 13-win campaign that featured a 10-dual match win streak and a record-setting team performance at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships where it set school records in every event, highlighted by the program’s first individual conference champion. Nine Sycamores earned All-MVC honors, including a trio of first-team selections.

Leach went to Indiana State after spending six seasons at the University of Wyoming (2009-15), including the last four as the program’s associate head coach, and worked extensively with sprint swimmers. His group helped rewrite the Cowgirl record books, as every spring event school record was broken during his time at the Laramie institution. He also coached sprint swimmers to NCAA and Olympic trials competitions at Wyoming, including two-time All-America selection Kelsey Conci who earned trips to the NCAA Championships in the 100 backstroke and the 50 and 100 freestyle, placing 10th in the 100 backstroke at the 2011 NCAA Championships and ninth at the 2012 championships.

He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at Louisiana State in 2004, and then spent two seasons (2007-09) as a volunteer assistant coach on the Tigers’ staff. Leach coached several athletes to the NCAA Championships, and a Top 25 ranking for the men’s and women’s teams. He also served as the head age group coach at Tiger Aquatics from 2006-09 and was named the 2007 Louisiana State Age Group Coach of the Year for his efforts in his rookie season.

The Portland, Ore., native swam collegiately at Indiana University (2000-04), where he was a four-time All-American. He helped the Hoosiers to a Big Ten Conference title in the 200-medley relay as a senior and still holds school records as a member of the 200-freestyle relay and 400- medley relay. Leach also competed at the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials.

He graduated from Indiana in December 2004 with a bachelor's degree in environmental management and received his master's degree, also in environmental planning and management, from LSU in May 2007. Leach and his wife, Katie, who hails from Springfield, Ill., have one daughter, Eloise, and one son, Arlo.

Leach starts his duties in Ames on May 13 and replaces Duane Sorenson, who is retiring from the University next month after leading the Cyclone swim program for 27 years.

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Just announced on social media....Iowa State adds another forward to the mix for the 2024-25 season and beyond.

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I just heard on Big 12 This morning on Sirius XM's Big XII channel that David Carr suffered an ankle injury in training and will miss the 2024 Paris Olympics. Others can probably provide more detail.

Had to give this one its own thread…..classic!

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Really enjoyed talking to TJ on the phone yesterday afternoon and getting his perspective on how the NFL Draft played out. Pretty good stuff here...enjoy!

LINK

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Twenty two minutes long, but a joy to watch for you WBB fans.

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Iowa State Media Relations

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell announced Thursday that seniors Beau Freyler and Stevo Klotz are this season’s recipients of the Nick Bassett Perseverance Award.

Nick Bassett was a supporter, fan and friend not only to the Cyclone Football program, but to the entire Iowa State community. He had various health struggles from age two until he passed away in January of 2022 at 29 years old.

Nick served as an inspiration to everyone he met. His continued positive spirit, attitude toward adversity of all kinds, ability to persevere through challenges he faced and continued support and love for those he cared about provided an illustration all people can learn from – both in the Iowa State community and around the world. Nick’s life and legacy continues to impact Iowa State’s players, staff, fans and the entire program in tremendous ways.

The award recognizes two football players annually at the conclusion of spring football practice each season. The players that earn the honor are selected based on exemplifying the characteristics of that we remember Nick by: positive spirit, perseverance and selflessness.

Freyler is a senior from Colorado Springs, Colorado, while Klotz is a redshirt senior from Chaska, Minnesota. The pair will wear a Nick Bassett Perseverance Award decal on the back of their helmets next season.

Nick Bassett Perseverance Award Recipients
2022 – Zach Ross, Tayvonn Kyle
2023 – Jake Remsburg, Gerry Vaughn
2024 – Beau Freyler, Stevo Klotz

So now we find out that 6 pallets of documents were sent TO Mara Largo by the Federal Government (Trump did not take them, did not request them), and they sat for about a year in government buildings completely unprotected. Trump was not even expecting them. He was told to take them off their hands. (The government no longer wanted them on their property). Then later they raid his home looking for the documents that they intentionally sent Trump, claiming something nefarious by Trump. They were actually more secure at Mara Largo then when at the federal agency! It was all a setup! This justice department and this White House are absolute scum.

... Coming to a coliseum near you?

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Inquiring aviation minds want to know.

Uh...duh...somewhere...uh...I just made it up actually. Never says anything that's real.

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Sometimes maybe it's someone from outside our little paradise that sees what it's all about to remind us just how good we have it here in what the right and left coasts refer to as flyover country.....




https://www.facebook.com/thatAmanda...8cVarq3GQsxDyO_kqGHmDeAtnhHz4&__tn__=<<,P-y-R

Amanda Goodman​

nsdtrpoSoel20 Am1a0f7820m1M69:t5i8a pc1h93 A31rcl51 l3i9700i ·
I was recently a part of a conversation with a woman who took some passive-aggressive digs at people who live in Iowa. Without getting into it, I got the impression that she thought anyone who lives here is uneducated and inferior.
I thought I would share this again to educate those who choose to be ignorant.
I live in Iowa.
You don't know much about it therefore you make some assumptions. You throw out words like "overalls and tractors" like it is an insult when those "overalls and tractors" are the backbone of this country to provide food and so much more for every family.
Let me start by saying this: I'm not from Iowa.
I'm a PA girl. My TV news career took me from the keystone state to Texas to North Carolina.
When my agent told me about a job in Iowa, I'll admit, I did the whole: "ok, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois" while closing my eyes trying to envision the map of the US.
I didn't know much about Iowa and its people, but I quickly learned that they are different.
It's the wave everyone gives you when you're driving - their way of saying, "hey how are you? Have a good day."
It's the neighborhoods with a ton of bikes in one driveway like it's a childhood from the 80s...
It's the neighborhood BBQs with everyone going driveway to driveway to say hi...
It's the way every neighbor looks out for every child...
It's the small town celebrations once the temperature hits 40...
It's the way businesses close early on a Friday night for high school football...
It's all of the people who thank a veteran and shake their hand when they see them at HyVee...
It's the sound of a pep band inside a packed high school gym...
It's the feeling of walking through a local farmer's market on that first spring day...
It's the way communities rally around one of their own...
It's a college kid jokingly tweeting he needs beer money and ends up raising $3.15 million for children and families...
It's casseroles showing up on your front door when you're in the hospital...
It's strangers throwing you up in prayer during your dark times...
It's the old school goodness of taking your family to a state fair...
It's the entire church congregation showering your kiddo with gifts and prayers the day they receive their First Communion...
It's showing up for strangers to rebuild towns when a natural disaster strikes...
It's a packed Village Inn on a Sunday after church where you will run into one of our US Senators...
It's family dinners where everyone talks about their day...
It's the weekend trip to a beautiful lake or the mighty Mississippi...
It's the friendly banter whether it's a Hawks, Cyclones or Panthers' state....
It's the summer night by the firepit toasting s'mores...
It's the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets...
It's the people who rise to the occasion every time you ask for help...
It's people allowing an outspoken, loudmouth, former news lady outsider from PA to advocate for their children.
This is Iowa.
Do we have things to work on? ABSOLUTELY.
Every day is a chance to do better.
I get pretty defensive when people want to throw shade on a state and people who have been so good to an "outsider."
When I left TV news, everyone assumed I would leave Iowa.
Nah.
This big city girl and her big city husband could not think of a better place to raise our family.
All of the good parts of my childhood, all of the nostalgia...it's alive and well in Iowa.
I wasn't born in Iowa.
But I got here as fast as I could.

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Canadian. 17 years old. 6-2. Dunks two-handed. Going to Duke.