Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard, the longest-tenured active AD among the Power 4 conferences, announced Friday he plans to retire next year. Pollard, who has led the Cyclones for 21 years, plans to retire effective June 30, 2027, or when a new athletic director is in place.
A national search for his successor will begin this fall, according to the school. Pollard was hired in 2005 and became the longest-tenured AD in school history while overseeing a historic period for Iowa State athletics.
The Cyclones have won 24 Big 12 team titles in eight different sports under his leadership with program-best finishes in nine different sports and 24 NCAA individual champions. "My wife, Ellen, and I look forward to the next chapter in our life's journey, and it is important to us that we transition now, while we are both healthy and young, so we can fully enjoy our retirement years," Pollard said in a statement.
"I am grateful to President [David] Cook for allowing me to share this news now and hopefully it will allow the university plenty of time to properly transition new leadership to our department during a transformational time in college athletics. "When we moved to Ames in 2005, we did not anticipate the impact being a Cyclone would have on our family.
The personal and professional opportunities our family has experienced during the past 21 years have been truly amazing." Pollard's hiring of football coach Matt Campbell in 2016 led to a decade-long run of sustained success. Campbell became the winningest coach in program history and achieved the school's first-ever 11-win season in 2024.
Pollard hired Jimmy Rogers from Washington State in December after Campbell departed for the head job at Penn State. T.J.
Otzelberger has restored Iowa State's status as a Big 12 contender in men's basketball, earning NCAA tournament bids in each of his first five seasons and making three trips to the Sweet 16. In March, Iowa State ended its women's gymnastics program after canceling the remainder of its 2026 season due to what Pollard called "unresolvable" issues within the program.
Pollard said finances weren't a factor in the decision, and the school is replacing gymnastics by launching a women's wrestling program. During Pollard's tenure, Iowa State's athletics fundraising has climbed from just over $9 million to $53 million in 2025-26, the most raised by Iowa State athletics in a single year.
His administration has overseen more than $400 million in new facility construction and renovations as well as CyTown, a 40-acre mixed-used entertainment district on campus that's still under construction. Pollard earned FBS Athletics Director of the Year honors from NACDA in 2019 and 2023.
He became the longest-tenured athletic director among the Power 4 after the recent retirements of Oklahoma's Joe Castiglione and Kentucky's Mitch Barnhart. Oregon AD Rob Mullens will become the longest-tenured AD upon Pollard's retirement and has led the Ducks since 2010.