After an early exit in March Madness, North Carolina decided to fire Hubert Davis. This led to speculation about who would replace him at North Carolina, and Iowa State's TJ Otzelberger was one of the names commonly mentioned.
As Otzelberger is preparing his team for a Sweet 16 clash against Tennessee, the Iowa State AD, Jamie Pollard, is shooting down the rumors of his coach leaving, according to Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.
“Excited for Cyclone Nation that TJ is not going anywhere — he will be our basketball coach for a long time! Now let's have an exciting and successful time this weekend in Chicago.” Pollard wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Otzelberger joined the Cyclones as the head coach for the 2021-22 season. He had been an assistant with the program from 2006 through 2013, and again in 2015-16, before landing his first head coaching job at South Dakota State. He would then spend time at UNLV before coming back to Iowa State, this time as the head coach.
He has reached the NCAA tournament in all five years with the Cyclones, and this is the third time he has made it to the Sweet 16. Still, he has not advanced past the Sweet 16 with the team.
Still, Otzelberger has decided that Ames is home.
“As we move forward together, the alignment on our campus with [university president David] Cook, [athletic director] Jamie Pollard is amazing, and we're thrilled and excited about our future together,” Otzelberger said. “There's no questions about it, there's nothing to talk about, there's nothing else to answer. That's the truth.”
Iowa State will face off against Tennessee on Friday night, with a chance to advance to the Elite Eight.
