Gene Chizik left Iowa State three weeks ago for Auburn, but Cyclone fans — one in particular — remain furious.
Ben Bruns, who holds a degree in construction engineering from Iowa State, was a starter on the Cyclone offensive line in 2000 and a third-team All-American. He remains close to the program as president of the Iowa State Letterwinners Club board of directors. He has also been a sideline reporter for Cyclone radio broadcasts the last few years and is a project manager with Weitz, a construction company overseeing the renovation of Jack Trice Stadium in Ames.
Bruns just started a blog. It has only one entry, but it's a doozy.
On Chizik telling Cyclone players he was leaving, Bruns writes: "Accounts say it was a 90 second to 3 minute session where the 'CEO' coach told his guys it was something he had to do for his family and that it was his dream job. By all accounts, he didn't look one person in the eye. By a number of other accounts, he didn't talk to his old staff in the time leading up to the meeting and in the time immediately after."
Later, he writes: "Gene Chizik might have gotten it done at ISU. He might have brought in the best and the brightest — heck, Dyron Dye was on campus for a visit. He might have gone out and gotten the best coordinators in the market at the time. He might have proved he is a military man 'CEO' coach he sells himself as, but I bet if you ask a couple of his former players, coaches and recruits, they’ll tell you he proved himself to be a mercenary. They’re the ones that got the shaft in this deal.
"The fact that Gene Chizik could only muster at most 3 minutes for his two years’ worth of connection with a team, not answering any questions, he might as well have walked in, peed on the floor and walked out. Why waste your time with people you obviously care so little about? To satisfy his own guilty conscience is my only speculation. Gene Chizik was never connected with Iowa State, and I guess that’s why I never connected with him."
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