Cody Scanlan/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Every college basketball team in the country will have to deal with some turnover after the current season. That’s especially true for a women’s squad at Iowa State that will lose the vast majority of its players (and its biggest star) to the transfer portal, and the school’s athletic director has scrambled to do some damage control while attempting to reassure fans in a lengthy video addressing that situation.
The women’s basketball team at Iowa State entered the 2025-26 season ranked at #14 thanks in no small part to the dynamic duo of Audi Crooks and Addy Brown, and they got as high as #10 after getting off to a 14-0 start.
However, things started to fall apart when the new year rolled around, as the Cyclones kicked off 2026 with a five-game skid and fell out of the Top 25 altogether by the time they snapped it with a win that kicked off a winning streak of the same length.
Iowa State headed into the NCAA Tournament as an eight-seed with a 22-9 record, and the team that had a one-and-done showing in the Big 12 tournament saw its season come to an end in the same manner with a loss to Syracuse in the first round.
The transfer portal won’t officially open up until April 7th, but the program will be dealing with a mass exodus thanks to the players who’ve announced their intentions to take their talents elsewhere. That has understandably given plenty of fans some cause for concern, and the man who oversees the university’s athletic department went out of his way to try to assuage them.
Iowa State athletic director posted a lengthy video defending women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly after nine players decided to enter the transfer portal
Bill Fennelly has served as the head coach of the women’s basketball team at Iowa State since 1995, and he’s led them to the NCAA Tournament in 24 of his 31 seasons at the helm. However, they’ve been eliminated in the first round on nine of those occasions and lost in the second seven times while peaking with two appearances in the Elite Eight (1999 and 2009).
This year ended with yet another disappointing finish, and as things currently stand, nine players have announced their plans to transfer once the portal opens. That includes four starters in the form of Crooks, Brown, Jada Williams, and Kenzie Hare, and Arianna Jackson, Evangelia Paulk, and Freya Jensen (the last of whom initially said she was leaving before changing her mind) are the only three who’ve confirmed they’re coming back.
None of those players pointed to Fennelly’s coaching as the main reason they’re going elsewhere, but plenty of Iowa State fans have called for a changing of the guard as the man who’s spent more than three decades falling short of a national championship was once again unable to get things done with a fairly stacked roster.
However, it does not sound like they’ll be getting their wish based on what athletic director Jamie Pollard had to say in the nearly seven-minute State of the Basketball Program address that was posted on Thursday morning.
A message from ISU endowed Athletics Director Jamie Pollard in regard to Men’s Basketball & Women’s Basketball 🌪️ pic.twitter.com/QLc8q40jtb
— Iowa State Athletics (@CycloneATH) April 2, 2026
Pollard attempted to downplay the transfers while noting other schools have been forced to deal with similar issues before turning his attention to the head coach, saying, “We’ve chosen to continue to support coach Fennelly’s desire to finish what he’s started the right way.”
The 68-year-old skipper’s contract will expire after next season, and while it seems like there’s a very good chance the school will end up going in another direction if they fall short yet again, Pollard noted “he’s been loyal to our program the last 31 years” while asserting he’s earned the opportunity to attempt to stage a rebuild.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see how that goes for them.