Life is full of those creepy coincidences. Last night I found myself eating at Old Chicago in Ames. Off in the corner, my eyes were going back and forth between the Indians and Red Sox baseball game and the South Florida and Rutgers game. When I really started thinking about it, I remembered just less than a year ago when I was sitting in almost the same spot at the restaurant watching Dan McCarney resign as the Cyclone’s coach. This time I was watching the former Iowa State coach lead the Bulls defensive line to an almost perfect season.
Sure the Bull’s 30-27 loss for their first defeat on the season was depressing for them. Through the course of the season I’ve talked to McCarney numerous times. From topics ranging from the annual Iowa/Iowa State game to when the Bulls first put themselves on the map when they upset Auburn on the road, I’ve learned he’s a glass is half full kind of guy. He’s always made himself available to Iowa media whether it’s about current coach Gene Chizik or former players like Troy Davis or Todd Blythe.
It’s not easy asking someone about their old job, let alone listening to them talk about it but McCarney has never been someone to shy away from it.
So when people ask me if I think he’s going to be ok after a loss like that, I always think back to what he’s finished up saying to me after just about every conversation I’ve had with him.
“I sure do miss Iowa State,” he says. “I had a great time there and I’ll never forget it.”
After how he left Ames, it sounds like he’s doing fine no matter what he does.
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I"ll be blogging from the press box during the Oklahoma vs. Iowa State game tomorrow so check it out.
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