NBA may lure Hoiberg away from Iowa State

There are many reasons for Fred Hoiberg to remain the coach at Iowa State, maybe more than any college basketball coach in the nation would have.

Not only are the Cyclones poised for another big year in 2015-16, perhaps a preseason top-10 ranking, but the deep-rooted connection between coach and school is a sports rarity.

Hoiberg is as Iowa State as any coach can be to a school: Ballboy for the Cyclones as a sixth grader, local high school hero as a quarterback and basketball captain, All-Big Eight guard who energized Hilton Coliseum, and the best winning percentage by a coach in program history.

And there's the nickname. None better defines a relationship between coach and community like "The Mayor."

No doubt these will be talking points if Hoiberg is introduced as the Chicago Bulls coach this week.

The deal appears all but done, media outlets in Iowa and Chicago report. Hoiberg hasn't spoken publicly but others have. Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard said last month that coaching in the NBA was Hoiberg's "lifelong goal" and "it's a matter of when he wants to do it."

Now appears to be the time because of the favorable conditions. Bulls General Manager Gar Forman was an Iowa State assistant when Hoiberg was a senior. Hoiberg knows his way around town, having spent four of his 10 NBA seasons with the Bulls.

Although he's never coached at the NBA level, Hoiberg, 42, has run a pro-style offense and dealt with NBA-like roster turnover. Iowa State attracted more transfers than most and none worked as effectively with new faces as the Cyclones.

Every year, it seemed Iowa State introduced an experienced newcomer who made an immediate impact, from Royce White to Korie Lucious to DeAndre Kane to Jameel McKay and many in between. The Cyclones won with all of them, and their four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances is a school record.

A Hoiberg departure would reverberate throughout the Big 12. Iowa State has emerged as the current top challenger to Kansas' supremacy. The Cyclones beat the Jayhawks twice last season, including overcoming a 17-point second half deficit to win their second straight Big 12 Tournament.

A new coach would inherit a terrific roster led by McKay, Georges Niang and Monte Morris, an enviable situation but not a team of his creation. Shaka Smart faces the same challenge at Texas.

Outside of Ames and the region, Kansas City would be the saddest to see Hoiberg leave, if there's any slippage in the program. Having the Cyclones treat the Big 12 Tournament as a vacation, filling hotels, restaurants and bars, helped create the atmosphere that made it a slam-dunk for the conference to last week award the event to Sprint Center through 2020.

But others have left a situation similar to Hoiberg's. Lon Kruger was every bit the local youth sports star who attended the nearby college and became one of its greatest athletes. Kruger went on to coach that school, Kansas State, but left after four years.