UNLV's T.J. Otzelberger Reportedly to Be Named Iowa State HC
March 17, 2021
The Iowa State men's basketball program has reportedly found its next head coach.
According to Sam Gordon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Big 12 school will hire T.J. Otzelberger after it parted ways with Steve Prohm on Monday.
Otzelberger was the head coach for UNLV for the last two seasons.
Prohm coached the Cyclones for six seasons and finished with a 97-95 record. The team made the NCAA men's tournament in three of his first four years and won the Big 12 tournament twice.
However, Iowa State went 12-20 last season and an abysmal 2-22 this year.
According to Gordon, Otzelberger has strong connections to the Cyclones. He was an assistant coach for the program on two different occasions for eight seasons under Greg McDermott, Fred Hoiberg and Prohm.
He is also friends with athletic director Jamie Pollard. His wife, Alison Otzelberger, whose maiden name was Lacey, played basketball at Iowa State.
Otzelberger went 70-33 with South Dakota State in three seasons before taking over for the Runnin' Rebels prior to the 2019-20 campaign. He was 29-30 with UNLV in two seasons and did not provide much stability for a program that has not made the Big Dance since 2013.
UNLV will have to find its sixth head coach in 10 years.
Otzelberger takes over a Cyclones program that struggled mightily this season but posted six straight seasons of 23 or more wins and made the NCAA tournament every year from 2011-12 through 2016-17.