I used to cover the Cyclones when T.J. was an assistant and I spoke to him hundreds of times and he's a really good guy but more importantly he loves ISU and will make this a destination job. I don't think people are factoring this aspect in when criticizing the hire.
What others might not also understand is just how much the players loved him. When I would talk to Melvin Ejim, Naz Long, Georges Niang, Diante Garrett, Matt Thomas, they all swore by him (this is why Hoiberg had to have T.J. on his staff).......he relates incredibly well to young players and really believes in his guys which I think is very important......there's nothing phony about T.J. Otzelberger....
While everyone mentions that T.J. will lock down Wisconsin, they also forget that he will likely hit up Canadian recruits pretty hard......he has lots of connections in Canada and right now Canada is exploding with talent.
Some people are also talking about a rebuild but that's not the way T.J. thinks. I feel he will recruit as hard as possible from day one and try to add the pieces to make the 2021 team highly competitive. Guards are extremely important and if we have a starting backcourt of Tyrese Hunter and Rasir Bolton that would be a great start. With all the grad transfers and the JC market, I feel he could strengthen the frontcourt also.
Either way, I personally feel he's the right guy for the job.
What others might not also understand is just how much the players loved him. When I would talk to Melvin Ejim, Naz Long, Georges Niang, Diante Garrett, Matt Thomas, they all swore by him (this is why Hoiberg had to have T.J. on his staff).......he relates incredibly well to young players and really believes in his guys which I think is very important......there's nothing phony about T.J. Otzelberger....
While everyone mentions that T.J. will lock down Wisconsin, they also forget that he will likely hit up Canadian recruits pretty hard......he has lots of connections in Canada and right now Canada is exploding with talent.
Some people are also talking about a rebuild but that's not the way T.J. thinks. I feel he will recruit as hard as possible from day one and try to add the pieces to make the 2021 team highly competitive. Guards are extremely important and if we have a starting backcourt of Tyrese Hunter and Rasir Bolton that would be a great start. With all the grad transfers and the JC market, I feel he could strengthen the frontcourt also.
Either way, I personally feel he's the right guy for the job.
