Hlas: Calling Cyclones’ coaching search critical is correct

Take much of what you read or hear with a shaker of salt when it comes to Iowa State's search for a new men's head basketball coach.

Even the most-connected media types won't know everyone who will interview for the job Fred Hoiberg left behind, or to what degree of seriousness the school or applicant is bringing to any particular interview.

This deal is going through Parker Executive Search in Atlanta. Parker has been used by many a university, including Iowa when it hired Todd Lickliter and then Fran McCaffery. Parker keeps the lid on things.

Candidates who are the most serious about jobs are the least likely to leak anything to the media. Those who let it be known they've interviewed or are interviewing for jobs often are just trying to elevate their profile, both with their current employer and to potential future bosses.

(As an aside, my opinion is that professional agents generally are savvier than the average athletic director or school president when it comes to the art of negotiation.)

When I read on ESPN.com that Valparaiso's Bryce Drew, Stephen F. Austin's Brad Underwood and Murray State's Steve Prohm are all scheduled for interviews (as well as ISU assistant T.J. Otzelberger), it made me wonder how seriously to take any of them as candidates.

That could very easily just be me being overly skeptical. But it wouldn't hurt any of the three mid-major coaches to be called a candidate at Iowa State, whether they are or aren't.

Not that any of the three wouldn't or couldn't be a suitable replacement. They've all done very well lately. But there's a big talent pool out there. Or so one would assume.

The Gazette's Scott Dochterman, who was in Ames Thursday for the state Board of Regents meeting, heard ISU President Steven Leath say this about the coaching search:

'I will interview all finalists. Some people seem a little surprised, but this is exactly the same process provosts use when they hire deans. It's a provost's search, but I interviewed all the finalists for deans' positions, and then I weighed in.

'I'll weigh in with my opinion to Jamie.”

Scuttlebutt says ISU Athletic Director Jamie Pollard leans toward promoting Otzelberger, Hoiberg's former top assistant, Otzelberger was an ISU assistant for seven years and Hoiberg's top lieutenant for three before he spent the last two season in a similar role at the University of Washington.

Otzelberger, 37, rejoined the Cyclones' staff shortly after last season ended. He knows most of the current ISU players and recruited several of them. Did he return to Ames with the understanding a path might be clear to the head coach's chair with Hoiberg on his way to Chicago? If so, he didn't get that from Leath.

The only wise approach is to find out who is interested before paring down the field. If a brand-name coach with a tendency to win big said 'Sure, I'd like to be handed a roster with Top Ten talent at a place where basketball isn't in football's shadow,” you listen.

But no matter who you choose, it's a gamble. Do you go with someone who has never been a head coach, like Otzelberger? Do you pass on him even though he is the one candidate who would keep continuity in the program and has relationships with many of the current players?

Do you roll the bones on a highly successful mid-major coach, knowing no two jobs are the same? Greg McDermott's success at Northern Iowa didn't translate to Iowa State. But some coaches win wherever they go.

It goes without saying that this is a critical hire. Men's basketball, for now, is the linchpin of Cyclone athletics. The school needs someone it's not just confident can take the current roster to where it's been the last few years, but can keep the program humming after that.

For all the 'Hilton Magic” talk of the last 30-plus years, the magic hasn't been a constant and neither have sellouts. When Iowa State fans love their coach, they love him truly, madly, deeply. They may not do that with Hoiberg's replacement this June and July, or even next January. But it needs to be someone they end up loving for winters and summers to come.