No one has a better championship resume than the Big 12

Not everyone gets to be a champion. But, for student-athletes seeking to reach the pinnacle of college team sports there isn’t a surer path to championship status than the Big 12.

 The NCAA sponsors 39 team championships each year and the 2012-13 results are in for all of the sports except baseball. Eight different conferences – ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big West, Big Ten, Ivy, Pac-12 and SEC – have been represented on the championship podium this year.

 The Big 12 won six championships: men’s cross country (Oklahoma State), men’s rifle (West Virginia), women’s rifle (West Virginia), softball (Oklahoma), women’s outdoor track (Kansas) and volleyball (Texas).

 The Big 12 sponsors 181 sports among its membership, which means that 1-in-every-30.1 teams won a national title last season. That team championship ratio in the Big 12 is best in the nation (with just the baseball championship still up for grabs).

 Here are the ratios for the other leagues boasting at least one championship team:

• Big 12: 30.17 (six championships for 181 teams)
• Pac-12: 33.875 (eight championships)
• Big Ten: 42.26 (seven championships)
• SEC: 45.67 (six championships)
• ACC: 65.75 (four championships)
• Ivy: 71.25 (four championships)
• Big East: 86.0 (two championships)
• Big West: 193.0 (one championship)

The Big 12 may be a smaller league than most of its peers, but it doesn’t take a back seat to anyone in competition. Its championship tradition is truly worth touting.

Former teammates spurred dramatic turn-around for Cyclone runners

There probably isn’t an athletics program at Iowa State that has improved its league performance more than women’s track & field and cross country since 2010.

 In the last four the years, the Cyclones have averaged fifth-place league finishes in both indoor and outdoor track & field and second in cross country. In the prior four years, their Big 12 averages were ninth (outdoor), 10^th (indoor) and eighth (cross country).

 Lisa Koll (2012 U.S. Olympian) and Betsy Saina were two of the stars, who spurred the team’s improvement in this timeframe.

 Saina will be competing this week at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. It will be the closing act for her stellar collegiate career. Saina will run the 5,000 and 10,000 meters.

 Saina will come to the starting line this week as a nine-time All-American. Koll crossed the finish line for the last time as a collegian (winning the 5k in 2010 at Eugene) as an 11-time All-American.

 Koll won four NCAA Championships at Iowa State and Saina has two. One of Saina’s came last fall at the national cross country championships. She beat a field of the nation’s 253 best runners.

 Saina and Koll were teammates for a couple of seasons at Iowa State, so their careers are somewhat linked. Beyond their personal achievements, however, they also share in restoring a proud tradition of Cyclone long-distance running dating back to the 1970s.

Continuity on Rhoads’ staff is a bonus

If continuity and familiarity on a coaching staff breeds success, the Iowa State football team is positioned nicely going into the fall.

 The Cyclone football office gathered information on coaching staffs around the nation and six members of Coach Paul Rhoads’ initial staff are still at Iowa State. That is tied for the fifth-most in the nation for head coaches, who have been at the same school since 2009.

 There must be a longevity clause for the service academies as Navy (all nine assistants have remained with Coach Ken Niumatalolo), Army (eight have stayed with Coach Rich Ellerson) and Air Force (six have been with Troy Calhoun) are towards the top of the list.

 Northwestern (eight) and UCF (seven) are the other two schools with more assistants remaining from the ‘09 staff than the Cyclones.

 Of the 21 Division 1A head coaches hired in 2001 (the year Rhoads came to ISU), eight are still serving those schools. Here is the number of assistants still on staff for those programs:

 Army (Rich Ellerson) – 8

Iowa State (Paul Rhoads) – 6

Bowling Green (Dave Clawson) – 5

Kansas State (Bill Snyder) – 5

Mississippi State (Dan Mullen) – 5

Washington (Steve Sarkisian) – 2

Wyoming (Dave Christensen) – 2

Eastern Michigan (Ron English) – 1

Rhoads has shifted some of his coaches to different positions over the years, but he’ll be greeting Wally and Shane Burnham, Courtney Messingham, Bill Bleil, Ken Pope and Curtis Bray for the fifth consecutive fall camp in a few months.

That familiarity will be a bonus for both the staff and, most importantly, the student-athletes when camp opens this fall.

 

Ten teams make Big 12′s first division, a record for Cyclones!

At the macro level, the Iowa State athletics department took another step forward competitively in 2012-13.

 The championship season in the Big 12 recently concluded and the Cyclones placed seventh in the league all-sports race. That is ISU’s best finish since the conference formed in 1996 (although the school did finish eighth in a 12-team conference the first year and again in 2010).

 Like most prior seasons, schools from the south led the all-sports standings as Texas (which won the title for the 15^th straight year), Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor finished 1-2-3-4.

 What stands out more than anything from 2012-13 is that 10 of the Cyclones’ 18 sports finished in the upper division of the conference. That’s an all-time high for one season at Iowa State.

 To put that accomplishment into proper perspective, consider this:

 One decade ago (2004), the Iowa State gymnastics program (placing 2^nd of four teams) was the one and only sport that finished in the first division of the Big 12 standings. That was the second year in succession that only one sport (in 2003, it was men’s cross country) finished above the mid-point in the Big 12.

 The record-breaking total of first-division programs in 2012-13 is a sign of total department progress. It’s proof positive that the Cyclones are trending in the right direction. Finally, it’s a reflection that some of the investments made in prior seasons are paying dividends.

 

Big, athletic Bykowski gets special call from 49ers Saturday

 

 

Although the San Francisco 49ers seventh round pick of Carter Bykowski might have surprised some, maybe it shouldn’t have.

Bykowski was a part of Iowa State’s 2008 recruiting class. He was listed as a 6-foot-7, 245-pound tight end on signing day. He played that position (catching three passes) for a bit but soon outgrew the position and moved to tackle.

Jim Harbaugh, the 49ers head coach, likes tight ends or at least big, athletic players.

As Stanford’s coach, Harbaugh gave scholarships to six tight ends in four seasons. All of them were between 6-4 and 6-8 and weighed roughly 235 pounds.

“I didn’t think I would be drafted,” Bykowski said. “The phone rang and I talked to Jim Harbaugh and (line coach) Mike Solari. It was a short conversation but they were very positive and I am looking forward to working in their system.”

Big guys, who can move, are desired by everyone in the NFL. That’s how Bykowski earned his shot.

In 25 years in the sports publicity business, I worked with three recruited college tight ends that had pro careers on the offensive line.

The most noteworthy was John Alt, a 12-year veteran and two-time Pro Bowl pick for the Chiefs. Chris Gambol (Iowa) and Mike Verstegen (Wisconsin) both played four years in the National Football League for multiple teams after beginning college careers at TEs.

Bykowski’s pick might have caught a few folks off guard. But, when you study his profile and potential – along with the desires of his new head coach – it’s clear he has a great opportunity in the coming months.

Who are the richest college athletics departments in the NCAA? How are they using those riches?

 Per the most-recent data available according to the Department of Education, there were 15 schools with annual athletics budgets above $90 million. Iowa State was 61^st on the budget list with revenue of $55.2 million.

 Last week, the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA) released current all-sports rankings for schools across the nation.

 Iowa State was 27^th on the list. Placing 34 spots higher competitively than financially means the Cyclones are using their dollars pretty wisely. ISU’s spot in the all-sports standings is third-best among Big 12 schools (trailing only Texas, 13^th and Oklahoma State, 18^th).

 After a strong fall in which Iowa State scored Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup points in football, women’s cross country and volleyball, the Cyclones added points from men’s & women’s basketball, wrestling and women’s track & field during the winter campaign.

 The schools with the most resources don’t always accomplish the most.

 Here is a list of those schools with annual budgets above $90 million and their current Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup rank:  Michigan (2^nd), Penn State (3^rd), Notre Dame (4^th), Florida (6^th), Georgia (12^th), Texas (13^th), Ohio State (19^th), Wisconsin (23^rd), Oklahoma (28^th), Arkansas (29^th), LSU (32^nd), Tennessee (42^nd), Auburn (47^th), Alabama (64^th) and Iowa (66^th).

Northern climate and course familiarity boost Cyclone chances

The Iowa State women’s golf team will be trying to do something it’s never done before. Win a Big 12 championship.

 The Cyclones will host the conference championship – for the first time since 2001 – at The Harvester in Rhodes, Iowa this weekend.

 Six of the NCAA’s Top 30 schools are in the field.

 Oklahoma (#4) is followed by a quintet of schools (Oklahoma State, 17^th; Texas Tech 20^th; Texas, 21^st; Baylor, 23^rd; and Iowa State, 28^th) in a tightly bunched cluster.

 Along with the home course familiarity (ISU practices at The Harvester on occasion), the Cyclones boast a talented and deep team.

 Five different ISU players – Sasikarn On-iam (three times), Punpaka Phuntumabamrung (twice), Prima Thammaraks (once), Chonlada Chayanun (once) and freshman Cajsa Persson (once) –  have posted the team’s lowest score in a tournament this year. That kind of balance can play large in a tight race.

 Four of the Cyclones are natives of Thailand. That country also produced Oklahoma’s Chirapat Jao-Janavil, the reigning NCAA champion, who is in the field.

 Iowa State’s only league championship in women’s golf came at Lincoln, Neb., in 1993.

 Maybe, a little home cooking, course familiarity and northern climate can be deciding factors as the Cyclones embark on trying to win their first Big 12 title this weekend in Central Iowa.