The 2019 coaching carousel continues for teams looking to make changes with their staff. The UNLV Rebels have announced that they are hiring South Dakota State head coach TJ Otzelberger for their head coaching vacancy. The move comes after the program fired head coach Marvin Menzies after three years.
UNLV is expected to hire South Dakota State’s T.J. Otzelberger, multiple sources told @Stadium. Has recruited at a high level and gone to two NCAA Tournaments in three seasons.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 27, 2019
The former Jackrabbits head coach has seen some success in three seasons with the team. Otzelberger made the NCAA Tournament two out of three seasons and coached NCAA scoring phenom, Mike Daum. The head coach touts a 70-33 record along with two regular season and two tournament championships.
South Dakota State University made the NIT Tournament this year and lost in the first round to the Texas Longhorns. Otzelberger became the leading candidate for the job quickly after the vacancy became official and the head coach would later delete his Twitter account. He will be faced with the task of bringing the Running Rebels back to national relevancy.
TJ Otzelberger is rumored to be a finalist for the head coach position at UNLV. TJ appears to have deactivated his Twitter account, fwiw.
— Matt Zimmer (@argusmattz) March 26, 2019
The situation becomes difficult for schools like South Dakota State who only had the coach for three years and were just beginning to establish a recruiting base and winning program. South Dakota State will have to begin their coaching search and hope they can continue their momentum in the NCAA.
UNLV expects success out of their program, so the turnaround will need to happen fairly quickly for the Rebels. TJ Otzelberger will need to find success and sign top recruits within a couple of years to win over the fanbase.
