Otz Appreciation Thread

[Cyhig]

SIAP

Hearing the players talk about the program and Otz makes me feel lucky we have this guy. Otz demands a lot from his players, but he respects them as a person first. Heise even said he and Otz had weekly lunches together.

Players seem to love Otz even with the 6:00 AM military style workouts. Opposing coaches all rave about Otz. Otz also conducts himself very professionally on the court. I can only think of a few instances where he truly lost his temper on the court.

With Otz leading the program, I have no doubt he will continue to lead the team to great success, both on and off the court. We are truly blessed to have him as our head coach. The season just ended, but I already can’t wait for November

 

[LindenCy]

I stand by my statement that there would be a ton less disappointment on the board if Iowa left the NCAAs early. We did really well considering we were dealt a horrible hand with the Jefferson injury. Three Sweet Sixteens in five years is amazing work for us, and it feels like the norm.

Great job starting a thread that can focus on the positive.

 

[shadow]

I also like that he has raised the floor of the program with his emphasis on defense. It also seems like we can play multiple styles and still win games so we are less likely to have match up problems. Plus his guys all seem like good guys which is not always the easiest thing to do.

 

[fsanford]

When you hear legendary coaches like Pitino say this, you know you got a special coach.


“Yeah, if I was the North Carolina AD and I’m not, he’s far better at his job than I am, I would hire without question T.J. [Otzelberger] from Iowa State,” Pitino said

 

[shadow]

When you hear legendary coaches like Pitino say this, you know you got a special coach.


“Yeah, if I was the North Carolina AD and I’m not, he’s far better at his job than I am, I would hire without question T.J. [Otzelberger] from Iowa State,” Pitino said

Do you know what game this was of? Last game press conference? I would like to find the video of it. Enormously high praise from a all time great coach.

 

[fsanford]

Do you know what game this was of? Last game press conference? I would like to find the video of it. Enormously high praise from a all time great coach.

Think it was this past Wednesday presser

 

[riceville98]

I believe Mark Pope from UK had a high praise quote of TJ as well. Something about TJ picking 5 guys off the street, practicing them for a week and being able to make them a top 10 defensive group.

Love hearing the comments of other coaches about TJ

 

[Erik4Cy]

TJ is so well respected nationally. Players love him and love playing for him. We're very lucky to have him.

My only on court criticism: can he please please please find a way to get his team to be at least middle of the road/average at FT shooting? I swear we're rated somewhere in the high 200s if not 300s every season he's been here.

 

[lakeliving]

Guy is a winner. We are extremely lucky.

 

[Kettes]

I know he sounded pretty emphatic about it in his interview, but I will still breath a sigh of relief once the UNC position is filled.

 

[fsanford]

TJ is so well respected nationally. Players love him and love playing for him. We're very lucky to have him.

My only on court criticism: can he please please please find a way to get his team to be at least middle of the road/average at FT shooting? I swear we're rated somewhere in the high 200s if not 300s every season he's been here.

Coincidence Lipsey has been one of your worst on the team, so 4 years of that probably affects overall numbers.

Also our bigs like Big Rob Energy, Buchanan etc not good at all

 

[GoSTATE71]

Otz is great. If he can’t figure out how to get Iowa state past a sweet 16 I’m not sure anyone will. He deserves a few lucky bounces at some point but he’s gotten them to a point where S16 is becoming the standard

 

[stuclone]

S16
R64
S16
R32
S16

Next 5 years:
S16
S16
E8
S16
F4

Yeah, we’ll be just fine with Otz. He’s an elite coach

 

[joefrog]

TJ after an offseason of training as a way to get through the letdown of losing JJ for the tournament:

 

[joefrog]

Otz is great. If he can’t figure out how to get Iowa state past a sweet 16 I’m not sure anyone will. He deserves a few lucky bounces at some point but he’s gotten them to a point where S16 is becoming the standard

Beyond great. It also appears he has developed true friendships with some of the deepest pocketed fans ISU has. Given the right financial support, his ceiling is unlimited.

He wasn't my first choice, but man is he the best choice to lead ISU basketball. Ever.

 

[FerShizzle]

I know he sounded pretty emphatic about it in his interview, but I will still breath a sigh of relief once the UNC position is filled.

The UNC position may open up the Michigan or Arizona jobs…

Or the Bulls job.

 

[MeowingCows]

Coincidence Lipsey has been one of your worst on the team, so 4 years of that probably affects overall numbers.

Also our bigs like Big Rob Energy, Buchanan etc not good at all

It's a bit of consequence of system. Over the years, think of who gets to the line a lot on TJ teams. Tamin does because he drives and takes contact a lot, but isn't a great free throw shooter. Another guy who shot them fairly often was Gilbert -- not great at the stripe. Our 4s and 5s tended to shoot them a lot, none of the centers were great at them and neither were most of the stretch guys.

The style we play, with the players we have recently had, has led to low-percentage guys shooting a huge share of the free throws. We've had guys on the teams who were good at the stripe, but their roles often resulted in them not getting to it very often.

The ask for coaching here is to figure out how to get some percentage points improvements from the guys who are shooting the volume of them. For the most part, they stay at the same make rates during their playing careers at ISU. We haven't developed better free throw shooting on top of who is doing the shooting in games.

Admittedly, I didn't fret too much about it this season because we just don't shoot that many free throws. Our FTR is slightly below average. We rarely depended on them to win games for us.

 

[ChickenNuggetMan]

TJ after an offseason of training as a way to get through the letdown of losing JJ for the tournament:View attachment 169813

Polo too loose

 

[FarmerCy1]

The UNC position may open up the Michigan or Arizona jobs…

Or the Bulls job.

Bulls fans would riot if they hired another ISU coach.

 

[pourcyne]

My stand-by AI was too choked up to do a good likeness of Coach, so I settled for a modified version of the pic from KCCI...along with the verbal tribute the stand-by site. Thanks, Otz. You're a dinger.

He’s built something pretty special in Ames: toughness, defense, belief, and that unmistakable sideline intensity. A tribute well-deserved.​