logo The "Cyclones" name dates back to 1895. That year, Iowa suffered an unusually high number of devastating cyclones (as
tornadoes were called at the time). In September, Iowa Agricultural College's football team traveled to
Northwestern University and defeated that team by a score of 36–0. The next day, the
Chicago Tribune's headline read "Struck by a Cyclone: It Comes from Iowa and Devastates Evanston Town." The article began, "Northwestern might as well have tried to play football with an Iowa cyclone as with the Iowa team it met yesterday." The nickname stuck. The school colors are
cardinal and
gold. The mascot is
Cy the Cardinal, introduced in 1954. Since a cyclone was determined to be difficult to depict in costume, the cardinal was chosen in reference to the school colors. A contest was held to select a name for the mascot, with the name Cy being chosen as the winner. The Iowa State Cyclones are a member of the
Big 12 Conference and compete in
NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), fielding 16 varsity teams in 12 sports. The Cyclones also compete in and are a founding member of the
Central States Collegiate Hockey League of the
American Collegiate Hockey Association. Iowa State's intrastate
archrival is the
University of Iowa with whom it competes annually for the
Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series trophy, an annual athletic competition between the two schools. Sponsored by the Iowa Corn Growers Association, the competition includes all head-to-head regular season competitions between the two rival universities in all sports.
Football Football first made its way onto the Iowa State campus in 1878 as a recreational sport, but it was not until 1892 that Iowa State organized its first team to represent the school in football. In 1894, college president William M. Beardshear spearheaded the foundation of an athletic association to officially sanction Iowa State football teams. The 1894 team finished with a 6–1 mark. The Cyclones compete each year for traveling trophies. Since 1977, Iowa State and Iowa compete annually for the
Cy-Hawk Trophy. Iowa State competes in an
annual rivalry game against
Kansas State known as Farmageddon and against former conference foe
Missouri for the
Telephone Trophy. The Cyclones also compete against the
Iowa Hawkeyes, their in-state rival. The Cyclones play their home games at
Jack Trice Stadium, named after
Jack Trice, ISU's first
African-American athlete and also the first and only Iowa State athlete to die from injuries sustained during athletic competition. Trice died three days after his first game playing for Iowa State against
Minnesota in
Minneapolis on October 6, 1923. Suffering from a broken collarbone early in the game, he continued to play until he was trampled by a group of Minnesota players. It is disputed whether he was trampled purposely or if it was by accident. The stadium was named in his honor in 1997 and is the only NCAA Division I-A stadium named after an African-American. Jack Trice Stadium, formerly known as Cyclone Stadium, opened on September 20, 1975, with a win against the
United States Air Force Academy.
Men's basketball Hopes of "Hilton Magic" returning took a boost with the hiring of ISU alum, Ames native, and fan favorite
Fred Hoiberg as coach of the men's basketball team in April 2010. Hoiberg ("The Mayor") played three seasons under legendary coach
Johnny Orr and one season under future
Chicago Bulls coach
Tim Floyd during his standout collegiate career as a Cyclone (1991–95). Orr laid the foundation of success in men's basketball upon his arrival from
Michigan in 1980 and is credited with building Hilton Magic. Besides Hoiberg, other Cyclone greats played for Orr and brought winning seasons, including
Jeff Grayer,
Barry Stevens, and walk-on
Jeff Hornacek. The 1985-86 Cyclones were one of the most memorable. Orr coached the team to second place in the
Big Eight and produced one of his greatest career wins, a victory over his former team and No. 2 seed
Michigan in the second round of the
NCAA tournament. Under coaches Floyd (1995–98) and
Larry Eustachy (1998–2003), Iowa State achieved even greater success. Floyd took the Cyclones to the Sweet Sixteen in 1997 and Eustachy led ISU to two consecutive
Big 12 regular season conference titles in 1999-2000 and 2000–01, plus the conference tournament title in 2000. Seeded No. 2 in the 2000 NCAA tournament, Eustachy and the Cyclones defeated
UCLA in the Sweet Sixteen before falling to
Michigan State, the eventual NCAA Champion, in the regional finals by a score of 75–64 (the differential representing the
Spartans' narrowest margin of victory in the tournament). Standout
Marcus Fizer and
Jamaal Tinsley were scoring leaders for the Cyclones who finished the season 32–5. Tinsley returned to lead the Cyclones the following year with another conference title and No. 2 seed, but ISU finished the season with a 25–6 overall record after a stunning loss to No. 15 seed
Hampton in the first round. In 2011–12, Hoiberg's Cyclones finished third in the Big 12 and returned to the NCAA tournament, dethroning defending national champion
Connecticut, 77–64, in the second round before losing in the Round of 32 to top-seeded
Kentucky. All-Big 12 First Team selection
Royce White led the Cyclones with 38 points and 22 rebounds in the two contests, ending the season at 23–11. The 2013-14 campaign turned out to be another highly successful season. Iowa State went 28–8, won the Big 12 Tournament, and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen by beating
North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Cyclones finished 11–7 in Big 12 play, finishing in a tie for third in the league standings, and beat a school-record nine teams (9–3) that were ranked in the Associated Press top 25. The Cyclones opened the season 14–0, breaking the school record for consecutive wins.
Melvin Ejim was named the Big 12 Player of the Year and an All-American by five organizations. Deandre Kane was named the Big 12 Tournament's most valuable player. On June 8, 2015, Steve Prohm took over as head basketball coach replacing Hoiberg who left to take the head coaching position with the Chicago Bulls. In his first season with the Cyclones, Prohm secured a #4 seed in the Midwest region where the Cyclones advanced to the Sweet Sixteen before falling to top-seeded
Virginia, 84–71. In 2017, Iowa State stunned 3rd ranked
Kansas, 92–89, in overtime, snapping KU's 54-game home winning streak, before winning the
2017 Big 12 men's basketball tournament, its third conference championship in four years, defeating
West Virginia in the final. Of Iowa State's 19 NCAA tournament appearances, the Cyclones have reached the Sweet Sixteen eight times (1986, 1997, 2000, 2014, 2016, 2022, 2024, 2026), made two appearances in the Elite Eight (1944, 2000), and reached the Final Four once in 1944.
Women's basketball Iowa State is known for having one of the most successful women's basketball programs in the nation. Since the founding of the Big 12, Coach
Bill Fennelly and the Cyclones have won three conference titles (one regular season, two tournament), and have advanced to the Sweet Sixteen five times (1999–2001, 2009, 2010) and the Elite Eight twice (1999, 2009) in the NCAA tournament. The team has one of the largest fan bases in the nation with attendance figures ranked third in the nation in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2017, and 2020 and second in the nation in 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Volleyball Coach Christy Johnson-Lynch led the 2012 Cyclones team to a fifth straight 20-win season and fifth NCAA regional semifinal appearance in six seasons, and leading Iowa State to a 22–8 (13–3 Big 12) overall record and second-place finish in the conference. The Cyclones finished the season with seven wins over top-25 teams, including a victory over No. 1
Nebraska Cornhuskers in Iowa State's first-ever win over a top-ranked opponent in addition to providing the only Big 12 Conference loss to the 2012 conference and NCAA champion
Texas Longhorns. In 2011, Iowa State finished the season 25–6 (13–3 Big 12), placing second in the league, as well as a final national ranking of eighth. 2011 is only the second season in which an Iowa State volleyball team has ever recorded 25 wins. The Cyclones beat No. 9
Florida during the season in
Gainesville, its sixth win over a top-10 team in Cyclone history. In 2009, Iowa State finished the season second in the Big 12 behind Texas with a 27–5 record and ranked No. 6, its highest ever national finish. Johnson-Lynch is the fastest Iowa State coach to clinch 100 victories. In 2011, she became the school's winningest volleyball coach when her team defeated the
Texas Tech Red Raiders, her 136th coaching victory, in straight sets.
Wrestling The ISU wrestling program has captured the NCAA wrestling tournament title eight times between 1928 and 1987, and won the Big 12 Conference Tournament three consecutive years, 2007–2009. On February 7, 2010, the Cyclones became the first collegiate wrestling program to record its 1,000th dual win in program history by defeating the
Arizona State Sun Devils, 30–10, in Tempe, Arizona. In 2002, under former NCAA champion & Olympian Coach
Bobby Douglas, Iowa State became the first school to produce a four-time,
undefeated NCAA Division I champion,
Cael Sanderson (considered by the majority of the wrestling community to be the best college wrestler ever), who also took the gold medal at the 2004
Olympic Games in
Athens,
Greece.
Dan Gable, another legendary ISU wrestler, is famous for having lost only one match in his entire Iowa State collegiate career - his last - and winning gold at the 1972 Olympics in
Munich,
Germany, while not giving up a single point. In 2013, Iowa State hosted its eighth NCAA Wrestling Championships. The Cyclones hosted the first NCAA championships in 1928. In February 2017, former
Virginia Tech coach and 2016 NWCA Coach of the Year
Kevin Dresser was introduced as the new Cyclone wrestling coach, replacing
Kevin Jackson. == Notable alumni and faculty ==