College Athletics: “Hilton Magic,” fan support the talk of Cyclone Tour stop in Waterloo (2024)

WATERLOO — So called “Hilton Magic” and the abundance of support for Iowa State athletics made for the talk of the 2024 Cyclone Tour stop in Waterloo on Wednesday.

Iowa State Director of Broadcasting braggadociously shared that 483,871 Cyclone fans made their way through the doors at Hilton Coliseum for volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, wrestling and gymnastics during the 2023-24 athletic season.

According to Cyclones Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard, those 400,000-plus fans helped to expedite the cold Iowa winter.

“Hilton Coliseum makes the winters warm,” Pollard said. “Hilton Coliseum melts a little snow … Hilton Coliseum makes the winters a lot shorter. When we are really good in the sports that compete there … it makes the winters go by a lot quicker.

“Thank you for coming and filling up that place. Hilton Magic is real.”

A throughline throughout Wednesday’s activities, head women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly highlighted his squad’s support from Cyclone fans which again ranked in the top 20 nationally in attendance.

“I get a lot of questions now, rightly so, about the growth of women’s basketball and the attention that it is getting,” Fennelly said. “I think you guys were all ahead of the curve. We were doing it before it was fashionable to do it. You were showing up and doing the things. Hilton magic is real. It is not a phrase … it is something in the portal world it is going to help keep our players and it is going to help us attract players.

“When you guys make that trip and you come support us, no one wants to come to Hilton … Last year, we went to Big 12 media day … they asked [play representatives], ‘What is the one place you do not want to play?’ Every single kid said Hilton.”

Fennelly’s men’s basketball counterpart for the evening, assistant coach Kyle Green, shared in the gratitude for fan support during the Cyclones’ run to the Sweet 16.

“It means a lot to us,” Green said. “Coach (T.J. Otzelberger) talks about it all the time that ‘You are not just playing for the guys in this room. You are not just playing for the 14,500 that are in Hilton. You are playing for Cyclone Nation. The guys embraced that with how they approach things.

“We would not been Big 12 champs and had Hilton South in Kansas City [without fan support] and we would not have won the first two rounds in Omaha at Hilton West.”

Green’s only complaint, which he laid at the feet of Walters, was that they were not able to get more fans to Boston for their Sweet 16 matchup against Illinois.

Looking ahead, Green emphasized the importance of continued support from Cyclone fans in the expanded Big 12 which features five teams that finished in the Top 25 in 2023-24.

“We went 18-0 in Hilton last year,” Green said. “I do not know if it matters who we bring. We could bring in the Lakers, Nuggets — it does not matter — our guys believe they can win in there. We are looking forward to the challenge of taking on the Arizona and Arizona State and Utah and Colorado along with Houston and Kansas and whoever they want to throw in front of us. It is a lot of fun and a great challenge.

“It truly does equate to victory on the floor — the energy and enthusiasm of the people in the arena. It is a lot of fun. I am glad I am on this side of it.”

The Iowa State wrestling program averaged 6,690 in attendance for home wrestling duals in 2023-24.

According to head coach Kevin Dresser, the Cyclones aggressive style of grappling helped to improve the product for the viewing public.

“One thing I liked about our product this year is … we scored a lot of bonus points,” Dresser said. “We pinned a lot of people, we tech fall-ed a lot of people, we major decision-ed a lot of people and that is what we have to keep on doing.”

He also encouraged the Waterloo audience to make the trip to Ames next season.

“We have a great home schedule,” Dresser said. “Last time I checked, we are only an hour and a half away … We would love to have you.”

Additionally, Waterloo natives Rich Binek and Mike VanArsdale will be inducted into the Iowa State Hall of Fame during the 2024-25 athletic season.

Volleyball coach Christy Johnson-Lynch made a similar appeal as Dresser to the Waterloo crowd and also pointed to the expanded Big 12 as a reason to make it to Cyclone volleyball in 2024.

“We will miss that Texas, who competes at that high level, and that rivalry,” Johnson-Lynch said. “But, we are bringing in some great teams, some teams that just made the Sweet 16, teams that go to the tournament. The Big 12 in volleyball is probably the deepest conference top to bottom. There is really no bad teams. There are a lot of good teams and a lot of really great teams.”

Johnson-Lynch also praised 2022 Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier Female Athlete of the Year Morgan Brandt, who just wrapped up her second year as a member of the Iowa State volleyball program.

“Morgan is the dream,” Johnson-Lynch said. “You hope you get to coach young women like her. She is, of course, super talented and super athletic, but an awesome person, awesome teammate, exceptional student, hard worker — all the things you would hope to have.

“She is the pinnacle of all of those. We have had her for two years, we get her for two more. I think she is going to be one of the best setters in the conference next year.”