After spending the last five seasons as the head coach of Iowa State, Fred Hoiberg is headed to the NBA, accepting an offer to coach the Chicago Bulls. Whotv.com, an Iowa affiliate of NBC first broke the news.
Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Hoiberg’s deal is for five years and pays him nearly $25 million.
The Bulls released a statement saying there will be a “major announcement” scheduled for Tuesday at 2pm local time, where Hoiberg will be announced as the teams’ new head coach.
“It’s been extremely tough. I want to apologize to everybody for just kind of the way it has all gone down at this point,” Hoiberg said in a statement. “With everything that’s been reported out there, all the rumors, and the speculation that’s been thrown around, it’s been very difficult to deal with that. I have not been able to comment on anything because there hadn’t been anything firm out there.”
“I understand when you’re going through these types of things, even if you don’t take a position, there’s still disappointment because, well, is the loyalty there? I get the passion of this place, I grew up here, I understand all that,” Hoiberg said. “It is such a tough decision and that’s why I have passed up on great opportunities here the past couple years. I think the big thing is, you know the way we structured my contract, I would never have left Iowa State for another college job. It wouldn’t have happened and it wouldn’t have mattered which program would have called, this is where I wanted to be.”
Hoiberg grew up in Ames, where Iowa State’s campus is located, and played for the Cyclones in the early 90’s. Regarded as one of the Iowa State’s best players, Hoiberg had his number 32 retired by the school.
Following his collegiate career, Hoiberg was drafted 52nd overall by the Indiana Pacers in the 1995 NBA Draft. The shooting guard played 10 seasons in the NBA for three different teams, the Pacers, Bulls and Timberwolves.
Hoiberg has a career coaching record of 155-56, all of which took place at Iowa State. He replaces Tom Thibodeau, who was fired after five seasons with the team.
