Fred Hoiberg Inherits Championship-Level Expectations as Bulls' New Head Coach

CHICAGO — The Bulls got their man, and Fred Hoiberg is getting the NBA coaching opportunity he’s dreamed about for years. Now the real work begins.

It’s been an open secret around the league for the better part of a year that Hoiberg was Bulls general manager Gar Forman’s first choice to ultimately replace Tom Thibodeau, and Chicago made the partnership official on Tuesday afternoon. The introductory press conference at the team’s practice facility was largely a feel-good affair, which was to be expected given Forman’s ties to Hoiberg at Iowa State. There was a lot of talk about championship potential, about how great Hoiberg’s fast-paced system is going to be for Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler and Joakim Noah.

It was in everybody’s best interests to keep the mood light and optimistic on the heels of the ugly, public split with Thibodeau that finally reached its conclusion last week. Thibodeau’s name didn’t come up much on Tuesday, but Hoiberg made sure to single him out as laying the foundation he hopes to build on.

“I absolutely love this roster,” Hoiberg said. “I love the versatility of the players. The different lineups that we’re going to be able to play can play small, can play big. You’ve got lineups that I really think can get out and play with pace. You’ve got a great group of veteran players that know how to play.”

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However controversial Thibodeau’s tenure with the Bulls was, his success and consistency speak volumes, and Hoiberg has a tough act to follow in his first crack at an NBA head coaching gig. This isn’t Brad Stevens leaving Butler to take on a long rebuilding project in Boston. The roster Hoiberg is inheriting from Thibodeau is one that’s designed, and expected, to contend right now.

“A lot of coaches don't walk into this,” Hoiberg admitted. “You don't walk into a roster that has championship potential, that absolutely can compete at that level.”

That’s exactly the situation he’s chosen in making the jump to the pros. It’s not too different from the position Noah’s former college coach, Billy Donovan, is inheriting in Oklahoma City. After a season torn apart by injuries, Donovan has been tasked with returning the Thunder to contender status before Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook potentially leave in free agency in the next two offseasons.

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The Bulls have a similar timeline. Noah is a free agent next summer. Rose, Taj Gibson and Nikola Mirotic are up for new contracts the following year. Except for Mirotic and Butler, none of the Bulls’ core players can exactly be described as “young.” The future is now for this team, and Hoiberg won’t have much margin for error in his transition.

Not that he’s worried about that.

“I think the big thing for me is I’ve always run an NBA-type system,” Hoiberg said. “I’m not coming into this never having experienced NBA basketball. We had the second-fastest pace of play in all of college basketball last year.”

Now, he hopes that style will translate seamlessly to this veteran roster that has known only Thibodeau’s grind-it-out offense and hard-nosed defense the last five years. And he knows that, in being given a lucrative five-year contract (Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that his salary approaches $5 million annually, almost double what he was making at Iowa State), he will be expected to do what Thibodeau’s teams were unable to do in his five years in Chicago: get past LeBron James in the playoffs. Like everyone else, he’s still trying to figure out the answer to that riddle.

“LeBron’s the best player in the game right now,” Hoiberg said. “He does so many things. He gets in the paint, he’s such a great passer. He’s a great rebounder, offensively and defensively. I don’t think I can answer right now, but when I watch all the games, you try to beat the best. You put a game plan together, and we’ll try to accomplish that. It’ll be a big focus of what we do this offseason. Not just them, but compete against everybody in this league. Then try to go out there, get a great regular-season record, get home-court advantage—that’s so important when playoff time rolls around.”

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There won’t be much roster turnover for the Bulls this summer, outside of the addition of a first-round draft pick. For now, the core is locked in, barring the Gibson trade rumors that seem to come up every six months. The best-case scenario for Hoiberg, however much of a long shot, is the kind of first-year success Steve Kerr has had with the Golden State Warriors. Kerr’s roster was also largely unchanged from last season’s Mark Jackson-coached 51-win team, but a change in culture, demeanor and system led to a 16-win jump and a trip to the Finals, which begin Thursday.

If Hoiberg can take these Bulls from very good to great in the same way, he’ll break a long streak of disappointment at the United Center between the end of the Michael Jordan/Phil Jackson era and Thibodeau’s unceremonious dismissal.

It won’t be easy, and he knows it.

“I'm confident in my abilities to do a great job here,” said Hoiberg. “I think we can put an exciting style of play out there, to be able to put our players in position to utilize their skill sets to the best of their abilities. Hopefully we do that and give ourselves a chance to win and again, be in a position at this time of year to where we're playing our best and can compete for that championship. That's always going to be our goal here.”

Sean Highkin covers the Chicago Bulls for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @highkin