Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

[Kemo]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

I have hired or chaired selection committees for a number oppositions in higher education at approximately this level but not in athletics as well as having been on the other end of the process.. Although coaching positions get some special treatment with respect to the process in terms of time line and advertising processes due to the urgency of such hires, they still have to meet the same principles as other hires with respect to fairness and confidentiality and other aspects. This usually does include making contacts with people you respect who may know of strong contacts or potential candidates themselves as a part of the process to develop a pool of candidates.. I personally had no favorites in this hiring as am not in a position to evaluate the apparent qualifications of the candidates. Having said this i will make some observations based on what has been said and inferred recognizing that much of that is far more speculation than known to be fact. First, it is very common to conduct an initial round of telephone interviews once the list of candidates has been narrowed to 5-10 candidates. Following those telephone interviews, the list is further narrowed to typically 2-3 candidates. Although references may be called earlier, they typically are not called until after the telephone interviews. And the only references called are those for candidates that are still truly under consideration. To call other references raises false hopes and wastes time. From what is know, it would seem that this is basically what was done. In these processes, one of the biggest of all possible red flags is when a candidate or family member of a candidate or even a reference tries to interject themselves into a process inappropriately. A "campaign" for a candidate is usually more harmful to an application then helpful. I recognize that the visibility of a position like this brings in a lot of unique issues, but even so, there is a fine line between what is appropriate and helpful and what is over the line and raises the question of trying to use ones influence inappropriately. Just my two cents worth. From what has been reported, it would appear that the process followed the expected/required procedures.

I have been part of 2 hiring committees for higher education positions (granted, not for a position as high profile as a D1 head coach) and what you describe is very similar to what I experienced in both. Thanks for chiming in.

[JackJD]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

... There likely isnt one person thats been posting in this thread that is privy to enough info to make a sound decision on this hire.

That is so true. But I bet there are one or two posters who happen to be new members, that appear ready to claim they had more or better information which would have resulted in a different decision.

[Rabbit_Alum2003]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

I would just like to congratulate Coach Otz on a job well done, and be the first to welcome him to the Jackrabbit Family with open arms!

WELCOME COACH OTZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Big things ahead for Jackrabbit Nation!!

[SDSUAlum08]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

OK, I've been reading this thread for days, and here is my somewhat limited take.

I had never heard of TJ Otzelberger until he was mentioned as a possible candidate.

I read his Bio, it looked pretty good.

I had heard of Ryan Miller, I read his Bio, it also looked pretty good.

I had never heard of Devries, I read his Bio, it looked pretty good.

I have no idea what the process was, if it was fair, who got asked what questions or what significance the phone interviews played.

I do know that I just went to the Iowa State board, and there is a 14 page thread there discussing the "South Dakota State Job" and TJ possibly landing it.

Which makes me think a couple things. 14 pages for an assistant coach leaving? That's something.
-Now there is the requisite talk of the "bigger schools" of whether SDSU is a good move for him, is SDSU a midmajor or low major...why would TJ leave for less money, etc, etc, etc...

But it is evident that pretty much everyone there wanted to keep him. Gives him credit as their best recruiter (by far). And some actually think staying as an Assistant coach at ISU is better than being a HC at SDSU.

He's young. (38) He has put in the time as an assistant at two P5 conference schools, and is by all counts, an excellent recruiter.

I know that there were alot of people excited about Ryan Miller. I understand it. I even fell into it a little bit, myself. He is a very promising young coach with a great resume. (I even allowed myself to daydream of a retired Mike Miller on the bench, as an assistant...what could that have been?)

But, just because "your guy" didn't get the job, it doesn't mean that the Jacks didn't just hire a very good coach. He certainly seems to check all the boxes you would be looking for in a first time head coach.

In the end, this will be decided by wins and losses. I wish him well. (and I hope, like I hope with all our coaches... that he avoids message boards).

This is really good.

[JackJD]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

... A "campaign" for a candidate is usually more harmful to an application then helpful. I recognize that the visibility of a position like this brings in a lot of unique issues, but even so, there is a fine line between what is appropriate and helpful and what is over the line and raises the question of trying to use ones influence inappropriately. Just my two cents worth. From what has been reported, it would appear that the process followed the expected/required procedures.

Good description: a “campaign”. Did those who ran the campaign in this thread take the campaign to Justin Sell’s office? That would have been a dumb move --: more harmful than helpful like Rabbit74 wrote. And if the campaign was limited to this message board, what did they hope to accomplish? Let’s face it, this message board has no –and should have no – influence in the athletic administration office and that’s the way it should be.

The moderators noticed an uptick in new member signups starting about a week ago. Those who have read the entire thread noticed that new members seemed to either be campaigning for Miller or had strong opinions for or against Coach Otzelberger. I’ll bet that in the next few weeks, maybe sooner, some of our new members will fade away.

I have been impressed that almost to a person, the “regulars”on this message board recognized (1) we actually don’t know squat; (2) we have opinions -- often not well-supported in fact but fun to express; and (3) there’s a lot of trust displayed for Justin Sell. Even those who may have opted for another candidate if given the choice to vote, recognize the decision is one for the AD.

Some boards totally melt down under such circumstances. This one didn’t.

It’s been fun. After tomorrow’s announcement at 3:00, a process we haven’t seen in 21 years in men's basketball -- will start anew.

I hope Coach Otz has had some time to visit with the team and they're fired up.

Next question: What about Coach Klink? A favorite of the team and an important part of the Jacks' success. Will he stay on? I hope so but that's up to the new coach and possibly coach Klink.

[joeboo22]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

I'm still pissed off that I didn't get an interview, not even a phone one. As for the hiring again he is solid I feel any of the 5-6 names thrown around would have been fine.

[mitchellrabbit]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

Geez because Ryun Miller didnt get the job are we gonna have to worry about Macy leaving in anger.

uh, no

[JackJD]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

I'm still pissed off that I didn't get an interview, not even a phone one. As for the hiring again he is solid I feel any of the 5-6 names thrown around would have been fine.

LOL. Joe, if there were awards for message board "most improved", you'd be in the running. A lot of us have watched you grow up on this message board. You started as a student at Black Hills State with a propensity to post after a hard night in downtown Spearfish (I'd guess too many of Spearfish's own Crow Peak Cream Ales -- or maybe you're a Crow Creek Pile-o-dirt Porter guy...good stuff that can sneak up on you). Readers had to not only deal with your impaired keyboard skills but also your often off-the-wall reasoning.

But you turned out okay. Sounds like you're gainfully employed. You post at reasonable hours which suggests you're getting some sleep. And you make good contributions to the board ......almost all of the time.

But on getting an interview? No. Just no. Don't ask again.

[FarmerClone]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

Iowa State fan here stopping by to tell you a little more about your new coach. Otz came to ISU fairly young. He had been a high school coach and a JC coach before coming to Ames. He had also been an AAU coach where he had coached Craig Brackins. Brackins became part of the first class he helped sign for McDermott it Ames. From there, it kind of snowballed. TJ was the lead recruiter on:
-Mike Taylor - played a little in the NBA
-Diante Garrett- played in the NBA
-Craig Brackins - drafted by NBA
-Justin Hamilton - played in NBA
-Scott Christopherson - All Big 12
-Jake Anderson - All Big 12
-Melvin Ejim - Big 12 POY, hopeful NBA player
-Chris Allen - honrable mention All Big 12
-Chris Babb - played in NBA
-Will Clyburn - All Big 12
-Georges Niang - All American
-Korie Lucious - honorable mention All Big 12
-Matt Thomas - honorable mention All Big 12
-Naz Long - honorable mention All Big 12

Nearly every high level player that has played at ISU since Otz's first year was his recruit. We have had other solid players like Abdel Nader, Monte Morris, Wes Johnson, etc that were recruited by other coaches, but Otz did a huge share of the work for the overall program.

That is his recruiting record at ISU. I have seen mention of how terrible the record of the teams he has been part of are. It is true that the McDermott teams were terrible. it is mind blowing how bad they were given how much talent those teams had. Nearly every year McDermott was here, he had at least two future NBA players on his roster. But his teams could never perform. Greg struggled to interact with these players for some reason and during Greg's time here, something like 40 kids left the program. As fast as the assistants could recruit new kids, others left. McDermott has now figured out at Creighton how to fix that issue by recruiting a bunch of transfers to Creighton and thus these guys on their "second chance" do not seem to leave. Working well for him, but those terrible records had nothing to do with Otz.

When Fred Hoiberg was hired, his FIRST action was to make sure he retained Otz. Otz had an offer from McDermott on the table to go to Omaha, but Fred upped the ante and made Otz the Associate Head Coach and bumped his pay. He knew if he was going to succeed he needed talent. During one of their first sessions of planning, Otz discussed with Fred the idea of taking transfers. He had grown weary of signing kids in the spring just to fill roster spots only to watch them leave so he wanted to chase true Big 12 level talent via the transfer route. Fred liked the idea and they took a huge transfer class of Anthony Booker, Royce White, Chris Babb and Chris Allen that spring. It left Fred's first team with only 8 scholarship players available to play, but they fought hard. The second year though Fred and Otz's gamble paid off. White stayed out of trouble and the four transfers led ISU to the NCAA tournament. White won Big 12 Newcomer of the year, an award than an ISU player would win, I believe, 4 of the last 5 years as Hoiberg continued to take in talented transfers. Will Clyburn transferred in from Utah and won the next year. Deandre Kane won the following year after transferring from Marshall. Jameel McKay just missed winning the award in 2014, but in 2015, ISU reclaimed the award with Deonte Burton winning the award. McKay and Burton were recruited to ISU out of JC and high school respectively by Otz to ISU but both opted to go to hometown Marquette instead. Once they decided to leave Marquette though, both transferred to ISU because the relationship had been established with Fred and ISU by Otz prior to leaving for Washington.

Otz left ISU to go to Washington right as the fruits of he and Fred's labor were being realized. He had applied for the Drake job and had not gotten it and I think he felt that maybe he needed a change of scenery to add to his resume to make the next step and become a head coach. His wife played basketball at ISU but is from Australia and flights from Seattle to Australia were easier to get. Otz helped Washington sign a top 10 class while there and the team is starting to trend upwards, again, after he left due to the talent he helped bring in. Otz and his wife had twins and they wanted to get back closer to Otz's parents in Milwaukee and friends in the Midwest. His relationship with ISU AD Jamie Pollard was a great one and when Hoiberg's lead recruiter took a job on the St Johns staff to get back to his native NYC, Pollard and Hoiberg contacted Otz about coming back to Ames. He did and he had hoped to be the ISU head coach some day. He thought that day may have come as he was a finalist for the job when Hoiberg left, but the President of the University had a lot of pressure to not turn the program over to a rookie coach when we had a top 10 team returning. Steve Prohm was hired instead and Prohm made a point of retaining Otzelberger and even hired a second assistant, Danyial Robinson, at Otz's suggestion. Otz had worked at ISU with Danyial before under McDermott.

In regards to the players at ISU that got in trouble, Matt Thomas was recruited by Otz and he was on the list, otherwise, not sure any of the others were recruited by him. Going off memory, the others were Kourtlin Jackson (walk on), Abdel Nader (recruited by Matt Abdelmassih), Bryce Dejean Jones (Matt A recruit), Dustin Hogue (Matt A recruit).

Otz is approachable, he is genuine and he is a master networker. There may be valid concerns about his ability to X and O as no one really knows if he will be good, bad or otherwise at it, but I do know that Hoiberg was working him more into that role and I think he is a smart person and if he feels it is something that is not his strength he will hire a solid X and O guy to help him. I would not be surprised at all if he hires a former head coach as an assistant. I know he would have had he gotten the Iowa State job.

The bottom line is I wish Otz all the best and will now follow the Jackrabbits closely. I would love to see him do well for years at SDSU and then come back to ISU down the road as a head coach.

[jacks1]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

That. Was. Good.

[filbert]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

The bottom line is I wish Otz all the best and will now follow the Jackrabbits closely. I would love to see him do well for years at SDSU and then come back to ISU down the road as a head coach.

We will do our best to send him back to you with a few NCAA tournament wins on his CV.

[Jacked_Up]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

As da Coach notes earlier in this thread, Cyclone fans are sorry to lose Coach Otz. They talk very highly of his recruiting ability. Some posters, of course, question why he'd want to leave ISU for SDSU. Some see him as a future ISU head coach. It's an interesting 15-page thread.

http://cyclonefanatic.com/forum/show...217146&page=15

[bigticket1]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

I was initially in the Miller camp. He was my first choice for the job (based on limited research gleaned mostly from this board). Coach Otz was my second or third choice, but I'm not disappointed with him getting the job. He seems highly qualified and has great experience to build upon. He has a lot more experience than Coach Nagy had when he came aboard. I also hope Coach Klink stays on staff. Despite our quibbling, the future of men's basketball looks bright!

If Klink is willing to stay, it would be one of the best moves Coach Otz could make. He knows the players, he has a relationship with the recruits we are trying to bring in, and maybe most important, he knows the rest of the Summit. Keeping him in Brookings would allow him to hit the ground running.

[wcbsas]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

Iowa State fan here stopping by to tell you a little more about your new coach. Otz came to ISU fairly young. He had been a high school coach and a JC coach before coming to Ames. He had also been an AAU coach where he had coached Craig Brackins. Brackins became part of the first class he helped sign for McDermott it Ames. From there, it kind of snowballed.

Nearly every high level player that has played at ISU since Otz's first year was his recruit. We have had other solid players like Abdel Nader, Monte Morris, Wes Johnson, etc that were recruited by other coaches, but Otz did a huge share of the work for the overall program.

That is his recruiting record at ISU. I have seen mention of how terrible the record of the teams he has been part of are. It is true that the McDermott teams were terrible. it is mind blowing how bad they were given how much talent those teams had. Nearly every year McDermott was here, he had at least two future NBA players on his roster. But his teams could never perform. Greg struggled to interact with these players for some reason and during Greg's time here, something like 40 kids left the program. As fast as the assistants could recruit new kids, others left. McDermott has now figured out at Creighton how to fix that issue by recruiting a bunch of transfers to Creighton and thus these guys on their "second chance" do not seem to leave. Working well for him, but those terrible records had nothing to do with Otz.

When Fred Hoiberg was hired, his FIRST action was to make sure he retained Otz. Otz had an offer from McDermott on the table to go to Omaha, but Fred upped the ante and made Otz the Associate Head Coach and bumped his pay. He knew if he was going to succeed he needed talent. During one of their first sessions of planning, Otz discussed with Fred the idea of taking transfers. He had grown weary of signing kids in the spring just to fill roster spots only to watch them leave so he wanted to chase true Big 12 level talent via the transfer route. Fred liked the idea and they took a huge transfer class of Anthony Booker, Royce White, Chris Babb and Chris Allen that spring. It left Fred's first team with only 8 scholarship players available to play, but they fought hard. The second year though Fred and Otz's gamble paid off. White stayed out of trouble and the four transfers led ISU to the NCAA tournament. White won Big 12 Newcomer of the year, an award than an ISU player would win, I believe, 4 of the last 5 years as Hoiberg continued to take in talented transfers. Will Clyburn transferred in from Utah and won the next year. Deandre Kane won the following year after transferring from Marshall. Jameel McKay just missed winning the award in 2014, but in 2015, ISU reclaimed the award with Deonte Burton winning the award. McKay and Burton were recruited to ISU out of JC and high school respectively by Otz to ISU but both opted to go to hometown Marquette instead. Once they decided to leave Marquette though, both transferred to ISU because the relationship had been established with Fred and ISU by Otz prior to leaving for Washington.

Otz left ISU to go to Washington right as the fruits of he and Fred's labor were being realized. He had applied for the Drake job and had not gotten it and I think he felt that maybe he needed a change of scenery to add to his resume to make the next step and become a head coach. His wife played basketball at ISU but is from Australia and flights from Seattle to Australia were easier to get. Otz helped Washington sign a top 10 class while there and the team is starting to trend upwards, again, after he left due to the talent he helped bring in. Otz and his wife had twins and they wanted to get back closer to Otz's parents in Milwaukee and friends in the Midwest. His relationship with ISU AD Jamie Pollard was a great one and when Hoiberg's lead recruiter took a job on the St Johns staff to get back to his native NYC, Pollard and Hoiberg contacted Otz about coming back to Ames. He did and he had hoped to be the ISU head coach some day. He thought that day may have come as he was a finalist for the job when Hoiberg left, but the President of the University had a lot of pressure to not turn the program over to a rookie coach when we had a top 10 team returning. Steve Prohm was hired instead and Prohm made a point of retaining Otzelberger and even hired a second assistant, Danyial Robinson, at Otz's suggestion. Otz had worked at ISU with Danyial before under McDermott.

In regards to the players at ISU that got in trouble, Matt Thomas was recruited by Otz and he was on the list, otherwise, not sure any of the others were recruited by him. Going off memory, the others were Kourtlin Jackson (walk on), Abdel Nader (recruited by Matt Abdelmassih), Bryce Dejean Jones (Matt A recruit), Dustin Hogue (Matt A recruit).

Otz is approachable, he is genuine and he is a master networker. There may be valid concerns about his ability to X and O as no one really knows if he will be good, bad or otherwise at it, but I do know that Hoiberg was working him more into that role and I think he is a smart person and if he feels it is something that is not his strength he will hire a solid X and O guy to help him. I would not be surprised at all if he hires a former head coach as an assistant. I know he would have had he gotten the Iowa State job.

The bottom line is I wish Otz all the best and will now follow the Jackrabbits closely. I would love to see him do well for years at SDSU and then come back to ISU down the road as a head coach.

Excellent summary ... as most already know on this board, I'm a fan of Coach Otz.

It is very telling in my opinion that:

1. Coach Otz was retained at ISU not by one but by two new coaches. This does not happen in the coaching fraternity all that often. To go from McDermott to Hoiberg (and back to Hoiberg) and then to Prohm is remarkable. Underscores his special talent for networking/recruiting.

2. He left ISU ... for Washington ... having been in Ames for the majority of his basketball career to expand his resume. Not only did he not get the Drake job, he didn't even get an interview. That was a bit shocking to the soul.

3. Look at Iowa State historically ... very up and down record wise. From Johnny Orr to Larry Eustachy to McDermott to Hoiberg and now Prohm. Expecting consistent 20 wins seasons at a place competing against Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas ... yet the last 7 years, with recruits Coach Otz has brought in ... the record consistency has been remarkable. Sure you can hang your hat on the up and down McDermott years but ... Ames is not Lawrence or Austin or Norman. The success especially the recent consistent success at that school is remarkable. A tribute in large part to the recruits Coach Otz brought in.

[mango4]

Re: Replacing Nagy: Who Ya Got?

uh, no

I believe there was a hint of sarcasm to his post