Official Announcement of TJ as the New Iowa State Mens BBall Coach

[Dingus]

So, like most things ISU BB this year, missed this until now. Were there other known candidates; was anyone interviewed? There’s like 45 threads on this here so don’t know where to look to catch up.

 

[Rabbuk]

So, like most things ISU BB this year, missed this until now. Were there other known candidates; was anyone interviewed? There’s like 45 threads on this here so don’t know where to look to catch up.

Sounds like 1 formal interview

 

[cyfan92]

Anyone else notice TJ commented about luring already committed/signed players away from schools that have coaching changges.???

Come on down Arthur Kaluma!!

Arthur Kaluma, Texas Longhorns, Small Forward

Arthur Kaluma is a Power Forward from Irving, TX.

247sports.com

 

[joefrog]

Why?

Better track record, especially at rebuilding jobs in difficult places. Like his focus on rebounding, knows how to utilize a post, and his teams are fun to watch. Good blend of Orr and Floyd. 73 pts per this year, opponents 63. 40.8 rebounds per game! 10.3 margin.

 

[Cyched]

Looks like the new Twitter account is up and running

https://twitter.com/coachotz

 

[isucy86]

Anyone else notice TJ commented about luring already committed/signed players away from schools that have coaching changges.???

Come on down Arthur Kaluma!!

Arthur Kaluma, Texas Longhorns, Small Forward

Arthur Kaluma is a Power Forward from Irving, TX.

247sports.com

I might have misunderstood. But I took in context of the transfer portal.

The other thing. Not sure if the new transfer rules will apply to HS kids who just signed a LOI. If they could back out of their LOI unrestricted, it would be a free for all. It would make signing day meaningless.

Not saying that Kaluma has to go to UNLV. But the NCAA might require him to sit out a year or maybe there is a blanket rule if a head or assistant coach leaves, LOI signees can't follow.

 

[isucy86]

Looks like the new Twitter account is up and running

https://twitter.com/coachotz

Is it too early to make a request that men's basketball never wear black uniforms?

 

[IASTATE07]

Is it too early to make a request that men's basketball never wear black uniforms?

Someone on one of the boards hinted that we'll see black uniforms next year.

 

[Cyched]

Is it too early to make a request that men's basketball never wear black uniforms?

Black, or the grayish ones we've seen?

 

[AuH2O]

This thread is a debacle. So let me contribute to it.

1. TJ wasnt the best available, imho. He wasnt my first choice. But some of the names discussed were never candidates either. E.g. Altman wasnt leaving his pac12 champs, infinite nike money job because he misses midwest winters ffs. The overall grasp on reality here was... low.

2. Ive hired dozens of people in my career. In hiring, one of the most important factors to consider is "does the guy want the job? Does he want to be here?" If some of those other candidates answer to that was "i guess so", "if the money is right", "well it would be a promotion" - those are not great answers. At least with TJ, he wants the job, wants to be here, wants to succeed. Thats literally half the battle. Ive hired a lot of smart people who didnt pan out because they just werent that into the job.

3. Unless you work in the AD, stop making claims about JPs process. He didnt interview anyone, TJ was the only candidate, etc etc. You are talking out of your ass. You dont know anything (neither do i). So stop making things up.

4. People hating on JP are idiots. He hasnt been perfect on everything, he has made some mistakes and i bet he is well aware of them. But he has sure af got the big things right. He increased FB attendance and revenue when we sucked and nationwide trends were down, that was a very clever but of work. He has managed the budget very well, built significant new facilities. He has really built the AD up from where it was. Not all of his hires have worked out, but that is the rule in hiring. He isnt above criticism, but overall the guy is one of the best anywhere.

5. I think joefrog is Bruce Van de Velde.

#3- Pollard literally said there were two activities going on in parallel - a deep dive into what it would look like to hire TJ while also vetting other candidates. So yes - he decided it was TJ and while figuring out the details looked into, and I'm sure talked to other coaches. So he was pretty clear in a general sense how the process worked. It wasn't like he interviewed some guys, TJ being one of them, then opted to go with TJ.

#2 - Not very relevant. You get an everyday joe type of job and "aren't into it" and fail, you go get another job that's in the same ballpark as your current job. If a guy doesn't really want the ISU job but takes it and fails because he's looking for the next move, he is going to probably ruin a career with a multi-million dollar per year pay-day. Besides, this idea that we have to get a guy that wants to be here is dumb. A lot of coaches here had no connections and they either left for the NBA, would've probably stayed here forever but got fired, or left when they were on their way to getting fired. The closest anyone came to bolting for another college job was the one guy with deep ties to ISU.

But in regards to your other points I agree. It could be when all is said and done we had the choice between getting into a bidding war for who I think are better coaches, but still uncertain, or TJ, I'm fine with the selection.

If JP reached out to guys like Smith and they said no thanks, or it was clear they were going to demand $4 M or something, then fine. If JP didn't reach out because he thought TJ was a better candidate out of the gate, then he deserves criticism.

 

[CYEATHAWK]

Bilieu is only a sophomore, so he has a couple years of HS yet. But he is a very good player and already has a Big12 body.

Not sure if it is still the case but his AAU coach used to be John Lamb, who played for ISU around the time Hoiberg was hired. So John would know TJ pretty well.

Might play with the guards if they both come and stay. Foster said two years of school and that's it. And it's a good thing his AAU coach is familiar with our head coach so when the time comes if this guy blows up he won't have a big get together at Hilton to announce the school of his choice only to skype another coach.

 

[scyclonekid]

Unbelievable the amount of ******** on this site about the hiring of our new coach. Good grief.

 

[isucy86]

Black, or the grayish ones we've seen?

Both! TJ talked about creating a brand. Stick to Cardinal or Gold uniforms.

I can understand FB a little bit because using a lot of gold on a football jersey/pants is ugly IMO. But for some reason, I have no issue with all gold basketball jersey/short. Maybe I'm just used to it with Lakers, LSU and other teams.

 

[CyCloned]

On UNLV's Covid Pause

UNLV's problems started before Covid hit the program, they were 1-4 at the time. They beat K-State and lost to Montana State, North Carolina, Bama and Davidson before their shutdown. I would say they were 1-2 against teams they should have beat.
*****

IMO the TJ justifiers need to stop. Whether by the ISU Athletic Department or individual fans the excuses just doesn't look good.

All Jamie needed to say was: TJ was my guy from the start. I have worked closely with TJ for close to 10 years. I witnessed firsthand his ability to recruit, coach and lead a group of young men. He is a coach with passion and integrity. He's a Cyclone through & through. I realize that TJ's record this past season at UNLV might underwhelm some Cyclone fans, but after working in college athletics for over 25 years, I am confident TJ has what it takes to make ISU one of the premier Big12 basketball programs.

I might not have agreed with the hire, but AD's hire coaches they are familiar with all the time, whether it be at their current school or a previous school (Gard, Izzo, Painter, Boynton, Beard, etc.).

The excuses don't resound with the ISU fanbase, because all the excuses that TJ justifiers have been using, are issues that all 365 D1 basketball programs dealt with this season and most season. It doesn't create confidence that TJ can rise above adversity!!

Excuse 1 - Covid shutdown for over 30 days. A lot of schools were shutdown for an extended period: Baylor (multiple times), Drake (1 Month), Michigan, Iowa State (16 days). UNLV missed 30 days, but when they came back there weren't missing any players due to Covid. Iowa State had 4 key contributors miss a total of 8 games.

Excuse 2 - UNLV's walk-on starting PG Coleman went down with an injury and missed entire MWC schedule. Xaiver Foster ISU's 4 star freshman PF missed 17 games, Rasir Bolton missed 3 games and Tre Jackson missed 8 games due to injuries.

Injuries are part of the game, and lacking depth at a key position falls on the head coach.

Excuse 3 - UNLV's roster included 10 new players this season. This included 6 freshman, 2 immediate eligible transfer and 2 sit-out transfers. But as shown below returning players, sit-out transfers and immediately eligible transfers scored 84% of UNLV's points. Freshman only scored 16% of UNLV's points. Having freshman score more would be great, but TJ had 7 guys who were returning players or transfers who played significant minutes. Five of those guys practiced last year.

UNLV Breakdown of Points Scored:
Returning Players (3) -38%
Sit Out Tfr (2) -30%
Immediate Elig. Tfr/JUCO (2) - 16%
Freshman (6)- 16%

I would think most coaches would expect sit-out transfers to have a big impact since they have already adjusted to school and practiced a year. I know ISU expected guys like Shayok, Jacobson and Nixon to contribute immediately. Same goes for immediately eligible transfers.

By comparison, ISU freshman only scored 6% of our points. Again, I feel there were a lot times during the last 4 years that ISU was relying on transfers and freshman to be impactful. Seems like the TJ justifiers have a double standard- OK for TJ, Failing of Prohm.

No matter how you want to slice it 10 new players is not a good situation. In 2020 it is a disaster. Sure there were some transfers, but even those guy are rarely ready to go immediately, and Covid restricted how much he could work with all those new guys. In the end, no matter what you do, someone has to score a certain percentage of your points, and most of the time it is not going to be true freshman or immediate transfers. If he can get some decent players, hold on to some decent players, and get a couple decent transfers, I think he will do fine. We will know a lot more about the next season in a month.

 

[Rabbuk]

Looks like the new Twitter account is up and running

https://twitter.com/coachotz

I think in another thread someone said this is fake

 

[isutrevman]

I've been searching out various reactions from college basketball people and I think it reflects CF - very "meh". No one is saying its a terrible hire. No one is saying its a great hire. In fact, most national people were like "ISU hired TJ Otzelberger as expected" and moved on. We are a bit more passionate here on CF but that's pretty close to the average reaction.

I don't know why the pro-TJ people are pissed at the anti-TJ people, and vice versa. It wasn't an exciting hire. It was rushed and seemed wired to TJ the entire time. It may work out, it may not. But I think most fans DO have a problem with how Pollard conducted the search. But he's the AD and we are fans, so he gets to do things his way.

But he's the coach now and we'll all support him and hope he succeeds. We won't know if its a great hire or an epic failure for a few years so let's enjoy the ride and cheer like hell for him.

If people have a problem with how this search was done, they should also have a problem with how the searches were done for Rhodes, Hoiberg and Campbell.

 

[IASTATE07]

If people have a problem with how this search was done, they should also have a problem with how the searches were done for Rhodes, Hoiberg and Campbell.

Slightly different unless those three were friends with Jamie prior to their hires.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Slightly different unless those three were friends with Jamie prior to their hires.

I would say Rhoads and Fred, yes.

 

[jsb]

I would say Rhoads and Fred, yes.

I just want to note that I've accepted this. TJ will probably be fine. I'm over being upset about it.

But was Jamie traveling all over to hang out with Hoiberg and Rhoads like he did with TJ? Hoiberg and Rhoads both made contact with Jamie and told him about their interest in the job, but I never got the idea that they were tight before he hired them.

 

[cycloneworld]

I do not have any problem with the way Pollard conducted his search. I don't remember anyone saying anything about process when Campbell or Dresser was hired. Suddenly everyone is butthurt over the hiring process when it's TJ.

The fact is no one on here knows what avenues Pollard explored, but the idea that you hold some kind of open process where everyone knows who is interviewing is ridiculous. That hardly ever happens anymore because anyone with a high major or even most mid-major jobs can't afford to openly be a part of that process. They would get killed in recruiting. Who knows who Pollard had communications with, but most of that would have been through back channels that few would know about. Pollard will, and should, be judged on TJs performance.

Matr Campbell and Dresser’s resumes pre-ISU were quite a bit better than TJ.