It is simply a fact that experienced well rated coaches that have been hired as HC at ISU have had great difficulty at turning the program into a winning one. However, is that not perhaps the strongest argument to not even consider hiring a coach with no substantial experience? (Nor one without a pattern of winning experience as a coach?)
NCAA Division 1 is incredibly competitive, as is the Big 12. To suggest that hiring coaching novices, just because they were great college players, is preferable to hiring experienced coaches is ridiculous. And forget that it is Hoiberg for a minute (I know that is the main factor though, for the hire.) This is a person who has only coached for a couple months as an assistant in the NBA and then was moved out of the hands-on position to the front office. In June of 2009, the Timberwolves got a new President of Basketball Operations. In September the Timberwolves, who "are rebuilding", (better translated - "have been losing and getting worse" - 44w-38l in 2004-05, 32w-50l in 2006-07, 22w-60l in 2007-08, 24w-58l in 2008-09 and 15w-67l in 2009-10) promoted Hoiberg to the position of VP of Basketball Operations. And it is in the front office of this particular franchise that he has worked for the last 4+ years.
<pause to ponder that>
Look, I hope Fred Hoiberg is the most successful coach in ISU MBB history. But the known facts of his resume scream "very inexperienced!" and that he will need an unusually high level of mentoring to help him to succeed. And that's what is really strange here. It’s not like this is hiring to head a JuCo program, a Div 3 program or even a mid major Div 1 program. It’s a hire to head a Division 1 program in the Big 12. Who would advocate hiring someone who had zero head coaching experience – zero - not even at a high school? The (across town) coach of Ames High, Vance Downs, the USA Today HS Coach of the Year, has a way better coaching resume than Fred from a coaching hire perspective - not to mention a winning record. But Downs shouldn’t have been strongly considered, for the simple reason - that he lacked higher level sucessful coaching experience.
That having been said, it is Fred Hoiberg we are taking about, and he is fan-beloved and, from what we know of him, (which is, unfortunately, not related to actual coaching), he is top notch in many areas both as a person as well as an intelligent, highly capable, basketball player. From a personal perspective, he is definitely made of the right stuff.
But while having played the game at a high level and desiring to be head coach at ISU is something, it does not add to a person’s coaching experience. And there is a lot of evidence around the country in all kinds of college and pro sports that shows that great past players do not always translate well into head coaching success. I hope JP takes the hiring of his assistants seriously and FH realizes that despite the positives of his background, he is coming into this thing pretty cold - from front office of a losing NBA franchise to a first time head coach - a NCAA Div 1, Big 12 coach.
He will need all the support we can give him, and probably a lot of patience too as not only is the program kind of a mess, but it will take Coach Hoiberg some time to figure out how the program is all going to work together successfully. And then, perhaps, some more time to have that restructured program translate into winning seasons. But honestly, that's to be expected. What's important is that things get moving in the right direction.
I truly hope it will be a lot of fun to watch both Coach Hoiberg and the program grow, improve and succeed.
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