Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg reportedly a candidate for Ohio State job
Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg has reportedly “emerged as a real candidate” to be the next head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Well, this is a surprising tidbit on a Wednesday evening. According to Gary Parrish of CBS Sports, Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg is a candidate to head back to college to coach the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Chicago Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg has emerged as a real candidate at Ohio State, a source told @CBSSports.
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) June 8, 2017
Ohio State fired men’s basketball coach Thad Matta on Monday. Matta had been the coach of the Buckeyes for 13 seasons and battled with many health issues over the years. During his 13 years, Matta had a 460-337 record at Ohio State. The Buckeyes were only 17-15 last season.
Hoiberg’s time with the Bulls has not exactly been great. He has spent the last two seasons in Chicago, his first NBA coach coaching job. Under Hoiberg, the Bulls are 83-81 in the regular season.
However, it is hard to blame Hoiberg too much for the Bulls’ lack of success. As the head coach at Iowa State, Hoiberg ran a wide-open offensive system built on dribble-drive action and outside shooting. His offensive system is seemingly a great fit for the modern NBA game.
However, the Bulls’ front office has not been able to get him the right kind of players to run his system. The Bulls desperately lack adequate outside shooting and it has killed Hoiberg during his first two seasons. Simply put, it has not been a great marriage.
Hoiberg had a ton of success at Iowa State, going 115-56 through his five seasons coaching his alma mater. Hoiberg also led Iowa State to back-to-back Big 12 Conference Tournament Championships during his last two years with the school. “The Mayor” is an absolute legend in Ames, Iowa and a fantastic college basketball coach.
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While I personally do not believe that Hoiberg has gotten a fair shake with the Chicago Bulls, it is possible that he is just best suited for the college game. Regardless, Ohio State showing interest is extremely smart on their part. Stay tuned. This could get interesting soon as both sides are going to need to get this done quickly.