University of Texas assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Gene Chizik speaks at a Rose Bowl news conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., in this Jan. 1 , 2006 file photo. Chizik has been hired as Iowa State's coach, a newspaper reported Monday Nov. 27, 2006. (AP Photo/Phil McCarten)

AMES, Iowa (AP) -- Texas assistant Gene Chizik was hired as Iowa State's football coach and will try to revive a team that finished 4-8 this season.

Chizik will replace Dan McCarney, who resigned this month after 12 seasons, Cyclones associate athletic director Steve Malchow told The Associated Press.

A news conference was scheduled for Monday evening to introduce Chizik, who arrived in Ames earlier in the day.

"We were challenged to get him," Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard told The Des Moines Register. "We were told we wouldn't be able to get him by a lot of people. He's the real deal."

Chizik, the defensive co-coordinator at Texas, came to the Longhorns before the 2005 season, and the school won a national championship in his first season. By the end of the 2005 season, Chizik's teams had won 28 straight games dating to his years in Auburn, where he was defensive coordinator for three seasons.

In 2004, the Tigers went 13-0 and finished the season ranked No. 2. The Tigers had the nation's top scoring defense and ranked fifth in total defense that season, and Chizik won the Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant coach.

Iowa State was 56-84 under McCarney.

AP Sports Writer Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed to this story.