Report: T.J. Otzelberger headed for Iowa State

[madguy30]

I was pretty lukewarm on Campbell, but I straight up wanted him fired after the UNI game. We all have bad takes on here at some point. At least you aren't holding on to it like some people.

I like to think after his first two games at ISU, CMC had to sit in a dark room and watch film of some of ISU's historical 'achievements' in football and fully realize what he had signed up for.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I'll be the first to admit I was somewhat disappointed that we didn't cast a bigger net in our search when we hired TJ as I felt we could bring in someone with some proven head coaching experience and I was skeptical about the results TJ was getting at UNLV. I have been pleasantly surprised and am glad we hired TJ after what we saw on the court last season minus a few really awful scoring games at Hilton but the change in culture and vision TJ has brought in has been nothing short of amazing. I figured it would take him a few years to turn this around after a 2 win season and basically gutting the roster but the Sweet 16 run and now this 2023 recruiting class has erased any doubts I had when we first hired him.

I do think we are getting a better version of TJ than we would have had we hired him instead of Prohm. I think TJ going out and getting the experience as a head coach at 2 other schools before he came to ISU allowed him to come back to ISU as a better coach than he probably would have been taking the ISU job as his first head coaching job. He took this job not only with more experience but those years at SDSU and UNLV probably allowed him to figure out what kind of vision and program he wanted to run if he got the opportunity to come back to ISU and boy has he hit the ground running here and got this program back on track faster than anyone could have imagined! Really excited to see where he can take us in the coming years as the turnaround last year and now this top 3 recruiting class is going to build a lot of momentum going forward.

Are you saying "If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were.”

 

[quasistellar]

Yes, his recruiting ability was a known, but in your wildest dreams did anyone think we'd be looking at a top 5-10 recruiting class in his first full cycle? TJ has vastly over performed by any standard you want to throw at him.

Honestly he vastly overperformed from day 1 by managing to keep Hunter last year. People (me included at times) thought he was messing up by living and dying on defense and certain players last year, but as it turns out that's what was necessary to win with that team. Shockingly, he knew more about his players and their capabilities than we did. Weird!

 

[iastatefan1]

Hiring Blount and Green were also good choices. No reason to think he won't be spot on for any further hires.

 

[Drew0311]

If it works we hit gold. Guy wants to be here, his wife is a Cyclone. If it does not work, we wasted another four or five years. I’m all in with TJ now if this report is true. Let’s get behind him and support him like we always do

Damn I’m glad I said something smart when he was first hired

 

[20eyes]

Damn I’m glad I said something smart when he was first hired

Well done, Devil Dog.

 

[Gomer80]

Just curious how to act about getting Omaha. Blame Pollard? Blame Prohm and High-5? Or dow we blame TJ? I haven't seen this much of a disaster, and my name is Gomer....

 

[spitfyr36]

Hiring Blount and Green were also good choices. No reason to think he won't be spot on for any further hires.

I remember there being a lot of rumors about the staff TJ was going to bring in back before Prohm was announced. It was never listed who, but makes a guy wonder what that staff would have been

 

[mb7299]

To me its bound to work well mostly because he predominantly recruits the midwest, atleast for the high school students. Looking around our conference it feels like everyone has crushed it in the portal, kids want to play in the best conference in the country, ISU has taken advantage of that as well.

 

[isutrevman]

Is there a CF podcast about what it is that TJ does to get the buy in or get good players?

He recruited Niang correct? Iirc Matt Thomas had a strong connection to him but I'd like to hear what got them hooked.

He seems like more of a meat and potatoes type and maybe it's just the straightforwardness?

I'd like a podcast explaining exactly how recruiting works. Football and basketball. How do they find out about a player? How do they get in touch with them? What kinds of things do they tell them/promise them? How often do they talk to them?

 

[CycloneErik]

Don't need to waste time with this sport anymore, I guess.

Oh, yeah. Nailed this one.

 

[nfrine]

Oh, yeah. Nailed this one.

You are not alone...

 

[cycloneworld]

Turns out…fit is REALLY important.

 

[MLawrence]

Turns out…fit is REALLY important.

You talking about TJ’s shirts?

 

[ISUcyclones11]

Jamie Pollard is the best Athletics Director in the country, and **** anyone on this forum who disagrees.

Who cares what we think, I'm riding with him on this hire, let's give our new coach a chance and hope for a great 2021-22 season.

I guess I'll take the W on this one?

 

[cyfanatic13]

If it is TJ, I am going to be supportive as I think he has the potential to be a great fit. Some of you pouting like little babies is a tough look

This guy gets it

 

[jdoggivjc]

I personally don't remember having a take at the time. I figured it was going to be an okay hire, but nothing that made my needle move one way or the other. Even having no take sounds foolish at this point.

 

[Dr.bannedman]

I was very wrong I think. It’s nice. Can’t always be right

 

[simply1]

Glad I mostly don’t comment in these types of threads.

 

[Drew0311]

If it works we hit gold. Guy wants to be here, his wife is a Cyclone. If it does not work, we wasted another four or five years. I’m all in with TJ now if this report is true. Let’s get behind him and support him like we always do

I could have stopped after my first sentence a few years ago