Iowa State has wasted little time in replacing head coach Greg McDermott, who left to take the job at Creighton on Monday. According to ABC5 in Ames, Fred Hoiberg will be named the next head coach of the Iowa State Cyclones men’s basketball team.
Homecoming? Iowa State Reportedly Set To Name Fred Hoiberg Head Basketball Coach
Hoiberg is an Ames native, winning a state title in 1991 at Ames High School before going on to Iowa State, where he started all four years.
Currently, the thirty-seven year-old Hoiberg is the Vice President of Basketball Operations with the Minnesota Timberwolves. While he has no previous head coaching experience, Hoiberg spent eleven years playing for the Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, and the Timberwolves.
Our Iowa State blog, Clone Chornicles, offers their immediate reaction on a reported move that, if accurate, “will get the fanbase excited, but could potentially backfire.”
I am suprised a guy with such a legacy in Ames will risk tarnishing that, if this doesn’t work out.
While Hoiberg does not have head coaching experience, he has been working in the Minnesota Timberwolves front office, and knows a lot about evaluating talent. Perhaps with Nurse’s head coaching experience, something can work out here for ISU.
This needed to be a hire to rally a very divided fanbase, and I think that will do the trick in the short term. ISU fans like to relive the glory years, and having Hoiberg and (likely) Grayer involved with the program will do just that.
For more analysis on the hire, check out SB Nation’s Iowa State blog, Clone Chronicles.
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