Audi Crooks on Why She Left Iowa State for Oklahoma State Cowgirls

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One of the biggest names at Big 12 media days was Oklahoma State center Audi Crooks.

She’s used to being the center of attention. It’s been that way since she was a freshman at Iowa State. But Wednesday was a different animal.

For the first time she wore an Oklahoma State uniform in front of the Big 12 media. For the past two seasons at T-Mobile Center, she’s worn an Iowa State uniform. So the natural question — why did she transfer? She talked about that on Wednesday.

Audi Crooks on Her Transfer Thought Process

Crooks said she was one of the last players to decide she was transferring from Iowa State. So it gave her an opportunity think about and discuss with the program what was next.

She said it was not an easy decision to leave, no matter what anyone thinks.

“It’s never easy to make those types of decisions,” Crooks said. “I was there for three years so I'm not going to sit around and be callous about that. I have a lot of love and care for those people and I always will.”

The Iowa native said many of the discussions was about what Iowa State would be able to surround her with in her fourth collegiate season. She indicated it became clear she needed to explore her options. Once she was in the portal, she noticed what Oklahoma State had already done in the transfer portal and remembered something else — how the Cowgirls and head coach Jacie Hoyt had repeatedly frustrated her in Big 12 play.

“I played against coach Jacie for the past three years and lost quite a few of those matchups so I just loved her competitive spirit and nature,” Crooks said.

Hoyt and Crooks had a previous recruiting relationship. Hoyt joked that Crooks “took her phone call” when she was the head coach at UMKC, even though it was clear the center was heading for a high-major program. Hoyt even has the note that Crooks posted about her scholarship offer from UMKC and Hoyt said she remembered just about everything from their conversation several years ago.

For Hoyt, it was an easy decision to take in Crooks — and not just because she was considered the top player in the transfer portal.

“When you have a really great player that’s as talented as she is, you need them to be likable,” Hoyt said. “You need them to be accepted by their teammates. Everybody loves Audi.”

We’ll see what Iowa State fans think on Jan. 9. That’s when Crooks and the Cowgirls head to Ames to face her former team. Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly was asked about Crooks’ return on Tuesday and said he was unsure what the reception would be for the second-leading scorer in ISU history.

“I can’t control the reception,” Fennelly said. “I don’t know what it’s going to be. It’ll be mixed, probably.”