Can Iowa State football's 'five-star culture' sustain it through scandal and setbacks?

Des Moines Register
AMES – Breece Hall sat in front of a computer screen somewhere deep inside Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium and delivered a line that became a motto for Iowa State football.
“It’s five-star culture,” the future NFL running back said in November 2020, “versus five-star players.”
Hall’s words came over Zoom amid the COVID-19 pandemic after beating mighty Texas near the end of a season that would be the best in program history. Iowa State football had never been better, and Hall credited the Cyclone culture for the rise.
"Five-star culture” would go on to become an integral part of Iowa State’s identity under coach Matt Campbell, repeated often and held as a differentiation for a program without a tradition of success but with an aspiration of creating plenty. It was a phrase that planted a stake in the ground that elite talent may not call Ames home, but a different sort of commitment, work ethic and determination did. And that could be enough to take Iowa State to new heights.
Now, though, with the on-field momentum stifled by two lackluster seasons and the off-field controversy building over a sports gambling investigation, there is a question to what extent Iowa State was living its five-star culture and if it will be able to fortify the Cyclones against the adversity that is not only coming but has already arrived on their doorstep.
“The issue at hand is a society issue,” Campbell said Friday at the team’s annual media day event, “and the reality of it is society issues are always going to challenge the culture, whether it’s your family culture or your football culture.”
The most pressing issue at hand for Iowa State football is the gambling probe that led to criminal complaints Tuesday against two current players and one former player, all of whom are accused by authorities of placing wagers on Iowa State football games.
Returning starting quarterback Hunter Dekkers was among those charged with tampering with records. Dekkers has publicly denied the charge via his attorneys, but he has stepped away from the team and his return is uncertain if not unlikely. Another player charged, reserve offensive lineman Dodge Sauser, has left the team, according to Iowa State.
Additionally, last year's leading rusher, Jirehl Brock, is not practicing for an undisclosed reason.
It’s unclear if other Iowa State players will face legal ramifications, and it seems likely that additional Cyclone players will face NCAA eligibility issues due to the probe, whether or not they face criminal complaints.
“With some of the news that broke (this week), we didn’t know some of that news,” Campbell said. “You always have concern (about additional issues), especially with how things have evolved over the course of the summer. What you try to do is continue to evaluate the situation for what it is.
“You’ve got to protect the team, and every decision you make has got to be for the betterment of the team.”
Iowa State has counted on its culture to protect it. This time, even if it is being questioned from the outside, is no different.
“We take it pretty seriously as a team,” star cornerback T.J. Tampa said. “Keep positivity in the team, in our locker room. Uphold that every day.
“It keeps you together. It keeps no negativity within the group, keeps everybody positive and ready to keep working hard for the betterment of the team.”
It’s a culture that, amid a 4-8 campaign last year, did, to a degree, lose its North Star.
“At the end of last season,” senior tight end Easton Dean said, “there were different cultures to that team."
That led to a recommitment this winter.
“Understanding the value of one football culture within our walls,” said Campbell, whose team is picked to finished 10th in the Big 12 this year. “Tying in all the pieces that touch our team and touch our program and aligning our football team to one football culture.
“Do I think we were drastically off culturally? No.”
When the standard, though, is five-star, anything else becomes a problem.
“We had a bad season last year,” Dean said. “We’re looked at bad this year. Inside the organization, we don’t care about that. We’re growing together. There's a different edge we’ve got going this year. We're a really hungry team.”
Hall – and that Fiesta Bowl-winning 2020 team – showed what success can look like at Iowa State, and he told the world, along with every Cyclone to come after, how they got there and what it would take to stay there.
“It’s five-star culture vs. five-star players,” Hall declared into that computer screen. “We don’t always get the best players, but all we do is grind away and keep picking at it.”
The grind – or, perhaps more accurately, the grinder – has arrived at Iowa State.
Can its culture sustain it through the storm and see things through to the other side?
“Suffering, when you go through hard times, if you can persevere through it,” Campbell said Friday, “it brings endurance, and I think the one thing endurance reveals is character. All of the things going on outside of our walls are things that are going to test our endurance and character of guys inside our walls.
“There’s no group and no young men and no coaching staff I’d rather be with going into the 2023 season than what resides here right now.”