Iowa State University Athletics
Cyclones Gather At Meet The Coaches Night
08.16.2016 | Athletics
DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa State fans gathered in Des Moines Tuesday night to kickoff of the 2016-17 season at the annual Meet The Coaches Night at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center.
Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell made his debut at the Cyclone fundraiser. He laid out his vision for the future of Cyclone football.
"We have 41 new faces going through fall camp for the first time as a Cyclone," Campbell said. "It's been amazing to see the transformation of our guys. The credit goes to the kids. It's been fun to watch these kids buy in. We have come a long way in a short amount of time."
Iowa State Athletics Director Jamie Pollard addressed the crowd first. He cited the recent success of the athletics program. Five-straight NCAA appearances for men's basketball, 10-straight NCAA berths in volleyball and retaining the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series trophy for a record-setting third-straight season were just a few of the accomplishments Pollard noted.
"I don't think we fully appreciated what a phenomenal job Coach (Steve) Prohm did this last year," Pollard said. "You are dealing with 18 to 20-year olds and there are a lot of factors that go into that. I thought Coach did a great job instilling the right amount of discipline. To get that team to achieve what they did was outstanding."
Prohm also made his first appearance at the event (he missed last year's program while taking his Cyclone team to Spain on a summer tour). With one of the best returning backcourts in basketball, he's optimistic for 2016-17 campaign.
The 2016-17 Iowa Farm Bureau Federation Farm Strong Team was also announced tonight. The following Cyclone athletes made the third annual squad.
2016-17 Iowa Farm Bureau Federation Iowa State University Farm Strong Team
Nattapan (New) Siritrai – Women's Golf
Koree Willer – Soccer
Kane Seeley – Football
Matt Thomas – Men's Basketball
Sami Budai – Tennis
Hope Scheffert – Softball
Savanna Townsend – Swimming & Diving
Suzanne Horner – Volleyball
Ruben Sondjaja – Men's Golf
Hilary Green – Gymnastics
Meredith Burkhall – Women's Basketball
Gabe Moreno – Wrestling
Kaci Storm – Women's Track & Field
Derek Jones – Men's Track & Field
Erin Hooker – Women's Cross Country
Nate Rodriguez – Men's Cross Country
