page_title: Paul Rhoads
section_title: Iowa State
hierarchical_section_title: Paul Rhoads / Coaching career / Iowa State
caption_attribution_description: English: Paul Rhoads during an Iowa State Football game against Oklahoma State in Ames, IA, on Saturday, November 7, 2009.
context_page_description: Paul Robert Rhoads is an American college football coach. He is currently the defensive coordinator at Arizona. A long-time major conference assistant coach and head coach, he is best-known for his seven-year tenure as head coach at Iowa State.
  Rhoads played defensive back at Missouri Western State University.
context_section_description: Following the departure of Tommy Tuberville at Auburn, Gene Chizik (then head coach at Iowa State) returned to Auburn as head coach. Rhoads was not retained by the new head coach and was subsequently chosen to replace Chizik as head coach at Iowa State. Rhoads was introduced as the 31st head coach of the Iowa State Cyclones on December 20, 2008. Rhoads had previously spent time at Iowa State as an assistant coach in the late nineties and was raised only 20 miles from the school's football facilities. His father, Cecil, was one of the winningest coaches in Iowa history, coaching high school for more than three decades and has been inducted into the Iowa High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame. Rhoads' contract was reported to be a 5-year deal worth $5.75 million and included incentives that could increase the total compensation. Rhoads opened his ISU career with a win over FCS North Dakota State. He also led Iowa State to a victory at Kent State in his first year, ending a 17-game road losing streak. On October 17, 2009, Rhoads and the Cyclones defeated Baylor to end an 11-game losing stretch against conference opponents. On October 24, 2009, the Cyclones defeated the University of Nebraska on the road for the first time since 1977, inciting his post game speech which became nationally recognized. Paul Rhoads is the first Iowa State coach to win six games in his initial season since 1915, when Charles Mayser coached the Cyclones to a 6–2–1 record.
  On December 31, 2009, Paul Rhoads and the Cyclones capped off their season with an Insight Bowl victory over the University of Minnesota.
  In 2010, Rhoads captured a milestone win over the #22 Texas Longhorns by a 28–21 margin. It was only the fourth ever road win over a ranked team in Iowa State history, and the first occurrence since a 33–31 victory over Oklahoma in 1990. It was also the first ever win by an Iowa State football team over Texas.
  In 2011, Iowa State started off the season 3–0 including a triple overtime win over Iowa in Ames, and a win over Connecticut in East Hartford.  The Cyclones would drop the next four games, starting out 0–4 in conference play but quickly bounced back.  The Cyclones rebounded with a 41–7 win on October 29 at No. 19 Texas Tech.  In the process of that game, Iowa State managed to rack up 512 total yards, the most since the Nov. 22nd, 2008 game at Kansas State (626 yards at KSU). Several other school records were broken, including first-ever win in Lubbock, Texas (1–5 all-time), largest margin of victory against a ranked opponent (previous: 22-point margin of victory against No. 20 Nebraska, 2002), largest margin of victory against a ranked opponent as an unranked team (previous: 21-point margin of victory against No. 8 Missouri, 1981), largest margin of victory against a ranked opponent on the road (previous: 7-point margin of victory at No. 22 Texas, 2010), and most points scored against a ranked opponent since Nov. 9, 1996 (42 at No. 7 Colorado).
  On November 18, Iowa State faced off against undefeated No. 2 Oklahoma State, Brandon Weeden, and star wide receiver Justin Blackmon in Ames.  Down 24–7 early in the second half, Iowa State scored 17 unanswered points to force overtime.  In overtime, Iowa State scored on its first play from scrimmage, but Oklahoma State answered back with a touchdown.  In the second overtime, Iowa State forced an interception and ran three run plays to beat Oklahoma State 37–31, taking away Oklahoma State's chances of playing for a national championship.  Iowa State became bowl eligible with the win and improved to 6–4. The win over Oklahoma State marks Iowa State's first ever win against an opponent in the top 6. (AP polls). On December 16, 2011, the school announced a 10-year contract worth $20 million.
  While Rhoads was able to lead the 2012 team to the Liberty Bowl, where the Cyclones lost 31–17 to Tulsa to cap a 6–7 season, his 2013, 2014 and 2015 teams were unable to recapture the success of his earlier teams, winning just four Big 12 games (including a winless conference record in 2014) and going 8–27 over
caption: Rhoads as the head coach of Iowa State during a home game against Oklahoma State
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