Paul Rhoads
Defensive coordinator across 2 programs, 2 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.
Paul Rhoads
Followed Gene Chizik. Paul Rhoads moved Iowa State from Regional Program III to Regional Program I in 7 seasons.
In his own words
There is a short list for you
We are diligently working to find some answers for open week preparation
and the wait and see piece is how we can motivate them, how we can prepare them and coach them up and get them to play their tails off against the Red Raiders.
This was a bad loss
The first five games that he played, since he didn’t play (the week before), he never had very much space to run in and credit to our guys blocking and what they created
Career arc
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Regional Program in his 1st career season — faster than 20% of the 925 FBS coaches who have ever reached Regional Program (rank #1 of 925 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
3–4 against his rivals. Winless in 7 tries against Bill Snyder.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
8th-best Iowa State tenure of 19 by the numbers.
Underperforms his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Followed Gene Chizik (2007–2008) · succeeded by Matt Campbell (2016–2025).
| Season | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||
| Record | 7–5 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 3–9 | 2–10 | 3–9 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | — | — | — | — | — | #59 | #64 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||||||
| Pass rate | — | — | — | — | — | 55.9 | 45.2 | |
| Coordinators | ||||||||
| OC | — | — | — | — | — | Mark Mangino | Mark Mangino | |
| DC | — | — | — | — | — | Wally Burnham | Wally Burnham | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||||||
| Offense | — | — | — | — | — | 19 | 38 | |
| Defense | — | — | — | — | — | 4 | 32 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | — | — | — | — | 48.5 | 35.7 | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | — | — | — | — | 52.0 | 41.5 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | — | — | — | — | 26.5 | 30.8 | |
5 NFL Draft picks: Reginald Stephens (2010), Kelechi Osemele (2012), A.J. Klein (2013), Carter Bykowski (2013), Jeremiah George (2014)