​Jamie Pollard is about to step back from his duties as athletics director at Iowa State University after guiding the program for more than two decades. As the longest-serving AD in the school’s history, Pollard announced on Friday, July 10, that he will retire, with plans to depart on June 30, 2027, or sooner if the university hires his successor before then.
The Oshkosh, Wisconsin native’s tenure in Ames featured a series of transformative achievements for Iowa State’s athletic department, though it also included notable missteps along the way. Pollard became Iowa State’s athletics director on September 19, 2005, taking over from Bruce Van De Velde. Before arriving in Ames, Pollard had built a career in college athletics with positions at Saint Louis, Maryland and Wisconsin.
In November 2006, Pollard hired highly regarded Texas assistant Gene Chizik as the Cyclones’ head football coach. Although the team finished the season 3-9, Iowa State set a school record by selling roughly 35,000 season tickets for 2007. By May 2007, Pollard earned a contract extension, and around that period the Big 12 secured an eight-year extension of its ABC/ESPN television package. That deal helped underpin one of the most successful on‑field stretches in the school’s history during the 2010s, with football and men’s basketball programs enjoying considerable progress.
A major milestone of Pollard’s plan to modernize Iowa State’s athletics was the Sukup Basketball Complex, a cornerstone component of the facilities master plan he presented to the Iowa Board of Regents in June 2006. Construction began in 2008, and the facility opened in 2009, providing the basketball programs with dedicated practice courts, training spaces, locker rooms, coaches’ offices and more.
Facility upgrades and construction projects became a hallmark of Pollard’s leadership, as his administration invested more than $400 million in new construction and renovations in Ames. Notable projects included improvements to Jack Trice Stadium, highlighted by the $60 million south end-zone project completed in 2015, and the $98 million Stark Performance Center, which opened in 2021.
Pollard also oversaw a pivotal coaching change in men’s basketball. After a disappointing four-year run under Greg McDermott, Pollard hired former Cyclone star Fred Hoiberg in the spring of 2010 to lead the program, despite Hoiberg’s lack of prior head-coaching experience. Hoiberg guided the Cyclones for five seasons, delivering more than 20 wins in multiple campaigns and taking the team to the NCAA Tournament in four of those years.
Pollard faced the challenges of navigating the first wave of Big 12 realignment, a period during which Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri and Texas A&M departed the conference. Throughout these upheavals, Pollard’s leadership helped maintain stability and ongoing progress for Iowa State’s athletic programs, even as the landscape around them continued to shift.
As Pollard officially steps back, Iowa State will look to maintain the momentum he helped build, balancing ambitious facility improvements and competitive success across its sports programs while ensuring a smooth transition to the next leader of the university’s athletics department.