My take on Hoiberg is neither infallibility nor hatred:
-Central Iowa legendary HS player that I loved watching even as he beat my HS teams
-One of the best (and one of my favorite) ISU players in history
-Represented ISU well as a solid, long-term NBA player
-Great coach at ISU first time around employing an innovative approach that was ahead of its time, but had a ceiling (admittedly one that is very high and likely acceptable to the vast majority of our fanbase) due to NBA-style defense/rebounding schemes that aren't as effective in the NCAA
-He saw the ISU gig as an opportunity to build his resume for his true dream job of coaching in the NBA
-Disappointed ISU wasn't his true dream job and that he couldn't commit to us long term as it hurt his recruiting and therefore the long term sustainability of success at ISU after he left (he left Prohm with a great upperclass roster, but very little talent for development)
-Appreciate that he encouraged his returners to stay at ISU (different than some past coaches)
-Made a poor choice in which NBA opportunity / dream job to pursue
-Was not innovative enough to succeed at a bad NBA opportunity
-Has brought in some great talent to Nebraska the last two years, and I think his teams will be better in the future as a result (in particular when both McGowens are on the court)
-Has struggled to win in a very tough conference and his teams seem to lack the toughness and grit necessary to win when you don't have as good of talent as your opponents
-Is seeing that NE will be a hard place to sustainably win
-Would find it harder to replicate his past success at ISU than it was to create it in the first place
-Is a good enough x's and o's coach and recruiter that he could be very successful a second time around at ISU, but it likely would require two key things:
(1) Consistently getting elite talent to ISU (doing it pretty well at NE, and I think it'll be even easier at ISU if he treats this more like his end game rather than another stepping stone); and
(2) Hiring a defensive/rebounding minded / disciplinarian top assistant to be the bad cop so he can remain the good cop to the players (not sure if he'd do this).
His problem in the NBA was that he was hired to coach Hoiball then handed a Thibs roster. Almost none of the free agent signings made any sense, and they were still arguably a Rondo injury away from an8-1 upset of the Celtics in 2017. As Zach Lowe wrote when he was fired, there is no way to tell for sure if he’s a good NBA coach.
Defensive coach is Doc Sadler.
I’m not an anti-Fred guy, I just think it would be much tougher sledding if he were to come back.