AMES — With T.J. Otzelberger officially on his way to Washington, expect Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg to act quickly in hiring a replacement as his top assistant.
Here are four names to keep an eye on.
Bobby Lutz, N.C. State assistant/former Iowa State assistant – Lutz helped Hoiberg transition from being a NBA front office man to a division one head coach during the 2010-11 campaign. He is a man that Hoiberg greatly respects and I would be surprised if he doesn’t at least get a call.
But keep in mind that Lutz left for N.C. State two years ago to be closer to his family, which is still located in that area of the country. This one seems like a long shot to me but would be a home run if Hoiberg could make it happen.
Doc Sadler, Kansas operations director, former Nebraska head coach – To me, this one makes a ton of sense. Sadler, who was the head coach at Nebraska from 2006-2012, knows the Big 12 well. After being fired in Lincoln (a place where NOBODY can win keep in mind), he immediately found work under Bill Self at Kansas last season as the Director of Basketball Operations. He too is a close friend of Hoiberg’s.
Sadler is best known for being a defensive guru and if you’ve watched Iowa State play the past couple of seasons, adding a guy like that to the staff makes a lot of sense.
*** 2014 commit Clayton Custer still 100 percent committed to Iowa State ***
Sadler was the head coach at UTEP from 2004-2006 where he led the Miners to one NCAA Tournament. Because of that and three seasons as an assistant at Texas Tech from 1991-1994, Sadler has recruiting ties in the recruiting rich state of Texas that could be beneficial.
This would be a positive move for Sadler too, as I assume that he wants to be a head coach again someday. Being Fred Hoiberg’s right-hand-man serves him better in that regard than being an ops man in Lawrence in my opinion.
Stay tuned.
Micah Byars, current operations director at Iowa State – This is a bit of a long shot but should Hoiberg decide to promote Matt Abdelmassih or Cornell Mann to associate head coach from within, maybe Byars would be next in line?
Byars, a former football player at Florida, spent the last two seasons as Iowa State’s Director of Player Development. When Jeff Rutter took a job as an assistant at Drake earlier this spring, Hoiberg promoted Byars to Director of Basketball Operations.
Is Byars ready for that next step?
Barret Peery, Indian Hills Community College head coach – When you factor in that two of his players from Indian Hills have signed and will play for Iowa State next season, this one makes some sense.
Peery was an assistant on Jim Boylen’s staff at Utah from 2008-2011.
