AMES - Football is a contact sport.

Maintaining a friendship is all about keeping in touch.

This week, Gene Chizik is connecting with both worlds.

Saturday at 11:30 a.m., Chizik and his Iowa State Cyclones host No. 23 Texas at Jack Trice Stadium. It'll be a reunion of sorts for ISU's head coach. On the other sideline will be Mack Brown, the leader of the Longhorns and his boss for two seasons.

Chizik left his post as co-defensive coordinator to replace Dan McCarney at Iowa State. Over the past year, Brown and his former assistant have talked regularly.

"Absolutely," said Chizik Monday. "I mean (Brown) is a great friend of mine. I mean, when you leave, you don't break contact with good friends. You always keep those going. He's a great mentor of mine. I just look upon him as a great friend.

"We'll talk after the game, then for every week after that, I'm sure. But we spend a lot of time talking and texting, and he helps me out a lot."

During Chizik's days in Austin, when Texas won the 2005 national championship, he worked side-by-side with Brown. He watched how the Longhorns' head coach treated his family, coaches and players. He saw him recruit some of the nation's best athletes. He observed Brown deal with good times and tough days.

"He's a great manager of people, and I think that's why he's been so successful over the years," said Chizik. "On top of that, it doesn't need to be said that he's a great coach. I mean, he understands the Xs and Os of the game on both sides of the ball."

Yet Brown has been hit hard at times over his career. The knock has been simple: great recruiter, not necessarily a great on-field coach.

Chizik helped Brown build a defense at Texas. Monday, he defended the Texas coach. He pointed to Brown's record, a mark that includes six consecutive seasons with double-digit victory totals.

"I hope one day they're saying that about me if I win 10 a year for 10 years," said Chizik.

He added, "I think he's a great coach. He's won a national championship, and he's won conference championships and he's turned programs around that have never been the same since he left. So I don't know what a great coach is, but I know that that's pretty doggone close to being one."

When the college football world assesses Saturday's Texas-ISU matchup, the feeling is the Cyclones' chances at victory are far from great. The Longhorns, who are off to a rare 0-2 start in Big 12 Conference play, are listed as 16-point favorites over the Cyclones (0-2, 1-5).

Chizik, of course, will be trying to defy conventional wisdom. To get the upset, he'll try to tap his own experience at Texas.

"I really know the personnel very well," he said. "Obviously, I would hope I could bring a little more insight than someone who hadn't been there for two previous years. I give myself a little bit of credit. Again, I know the players and who's capable of doing what. That's a little bit of something we can give to our players."

At least one Cyclone is ready to absorb those lessons.

"Because (Chizik) has been there, he knows how they act and how they react," said middle linebacker Jesse Smith. "We have to step on him for that."

Contact Jim Sullivan at (319) 291-1434 or jim.sullivan@wcfcourier.com