AMES, Iowa -- Times certainly have changed for Iowa State football coach Dan McCarney.

He has gone from having a fan spit in his face after a lopsided loss to having fans mob his Cyclones (No. 13 ESPN/USA Today, No. 9 AP) in adoration.

"It's amazing," McCarney said Tuesday. "We came over there across the street the other day and we literally almost can't even get to the building now, there's so many people out there."

That was the scene before Iowa State's 31-17 victory over Texas Tech last Saturday. It reminded McCarney of a scene at another game in 1997, a 56-10 loss at Wyoming.

"We were so bad," said McCarney, whose team was 1-10 that season. "The game was delayed because of the weather. It should have been canceled because of the weather the way we played. I started coming off the field afterward and this guy got right in my face.

"He was screaming. He was spitting in my face with his screaming. He yelled, 'Don't you know anything?' The old Yogi Berra thing popped in my head. 'Sir, I'll be honest with you, I don't even suspect anything.' "

McCarney admitted it looked as if he didn't know anything that day. It certainly doesn't look that way anymore.

The Cyclones (6-1, 3-0 Big 12) are ranked in the AP's top 10 for the first time, their confidence grows with each victory and they have a chance for a huge win when they play at No. 2 Oklahoma on Saturday.

Getting to this point hasn't been easy. McCarney was 13-42 in his first five seasons and even he wasn't entirely sure if he'd keep his job.

"I didn't come into the office feeling threatened about my job," he said. "But to sit here and say I felt 100 percent that they were going to stick with me, I don't know if that's very accurate."

Now the question is whether Iowa State can keep him. If Iowa State keeps winning -- that will be difficult facing four ranked teams on the road in the next five weeks -- McCarney is sure to attract the attention of any big-time school looking for a coach.

McCarney insisted he doesn't think about that possibility.

"I don't address it. I don't go to bed at night talking to my wife about it," he said. "I'm just real honest with you, I don't. I love this place."

McCarney is paid $625,000 annually and is under contract through Dec. 31, 2006. An Iowa native, McCarney's parents are two hours away in Iowa City, his three children are 4½ hours away in Madison, Wis., and he has friends all over the state.

But what if a school offered him $2 million to coach its team?

"I do have a family to take care of, obviously," McCarney said. "But I'm not out looking. I've told you this many times and I will never change. I never ever, ever, ever worry about the next job. I always try to do the best job I could with the one I have."

McCarney said a major concern is seeing that his staff is well compensated.

"That's top to bottom, head coach to graduate assistant," he said.

Athletics director Bruce Van De Velde said he would talk to McCarney about his contract after the season. He said it was too early to get into any details about those talks, but did say that pay for assistant coaches was important.

"That's something that will be addressed at the appropriate time," he said. "We are looking at our future and we want coach McCarney and his staff to be with us. So we're trying to improve the program and give them a great opportunity to be successful."