Fred Hoiberg, who played two seasons for the Timberwolves and then served in the NBA team's front office for five years, has accepted the head coaching job at Iowa State, his alma mater, Des Moines television station WOI is reporting.

Hoiberg, the Wolves' vice president for basketball operations for the past year, succeeded Greg McDermott, who resigned this week to become the head coach at Creighton.

Hoiberg, an Ames, Iowa, native nicknamed "The Mayor" after an All-Big 8 career for the Cyclones, averaged 6.3 points in two seasons with the Timberwolves, but his 10-year NBA career was cut short in 2005 when he underwent surgery to repair an enlarged aortic root in his heart. Hoiberg finished the 2005-06 season as an assistant to Wolves coach Dwane Casey -- his only coaching experience -- then joined the front office as assistant general manager to Kevin McHale.

The 6-foot-4 shooting guard had once been considered McHale's likely heir, but owner Glen Taylor passed over the 37-year-old Hoiberg when McHale was fired, installing David Kahn as president of basketball operations instead.