Iowa State football news: Cyclones AD calls Big Ten, SEC’s bluff on possible NCAA defection

Iowa State Athletic Director Jamie Pollard didn’t mince words when addressing the Big Ten and the SEC. Pollard spoke with the media during the Cyclones’ tailgate tour stop in Des Moines, Iowa, and had harsh words for the SEC and the Big Ten.

Pollard believes that the two conferences aren’t, quote, “adhering to the college sports commission,” which was created after the House v. NCAA settlement in 2025. He floated that the SEC and the Big Ten should break away from the NCAA if they don’t want to adhere to the CSC.

Jamie Pollard expresses his frustration with the Big Ten and SEC for not adhering to the rules of the College Sports Commission. He adds he would be okay with the two conferences splitting from the NCAA.

“The four commissioners spent a lot of money creating the CSC. Then to have… pic.twitter.com/99sxDi89oQ

— Cyclone Fanatic (@cyclonefanatic) May 19, 2026

“The four commissioners spent a lot of money creating the CSC. Then to have two of the conferences not want to adhere to it is perplexing to me, because then, why did we spend the money? If you didn’t want rules, then why did you create this entity? That’s what’s frustrating to me, the same people that say they want rules only want rules if they don’t apply to them… I said it three years ago, let em break away. I would turn it around and say we should break away from them.

He added, “Let them go, but they have to go in all their sports and see how fun it is to play baseball and softball and track when it’s just the 20 of you. That’s what I think we should do, but I’m one person, and you know that’s probably a little more draconian, but that’s how I feel about it. Let’s quit talking about it, quit threatening, go do it. But if you’re going to do it, you don’t get to just do it in football and then keep all your other sports with us. No, take them all, see how fun it is.”