Otzelberger has been viewed as a possible candidate to be North Carolina’s next head coach after the Tar Heels fired Hubert Davis on Tuesday night. No. 2 Iowa State plays No. 6 Tennessee in the Sweet 16 on Friday night and it is the school’s third Sweet 16 appearance in his five seasons in charge.
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“Any speculation about me or other jobs or opportunities is not true,” Otzelberger said. “I’m the coach of the Cyclones, I’m excited to be the coach of the Cyclones and what I can tell you even more as we move forward together is the alignment on our campus with Dr. Cook, Jamie Pollard is incredible and we’re excited and excited about our future together.”
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Otzelberger, 48, took over as Iowa State’s coach in 2021 after the school went 2-22 during the 2020-21 season. The Cyclones reached the Sweet 16 as the No. 11 seed in 2022, and have been in the top three in each of the previous NCAA tournaments.Advertisement
Although Iowa State hasn’t made it past the Sweet 16 (yet) during Otzelberger’s tenure, he has turned around a program that had three losing seasons in the four years before he took over. After serving as an Iowa State assistant for two different stints, Otzelberger was the head coach at South Dakota State for three seasons before succeeding Steve Prohm in Ames.
Otzelberger’s team lost in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament to regular-season champion Arizona before the NCAA tournament and Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd has also been mentioned as a possible candidate to be the Tar Heels’ next coach.
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Lloyd was asked about the opening in Chapel Hill during his pre-Sweet 16 press conference on Thursday and said his current focus was entirely on Arizona.
“I already have one of the best jobs in the country,” Lloyd said. “One thing we talk about in our program all the time, and I think I’ve gotten better at it, and I think our team has gotten better at it this year, is just the ability to have complete focus and be present in the moment.
“So I think we have a great team. I think we have a chance to advance in this tournament game by game. But I’m not kidding myself, I know we could lose tomorrow.”
“But this team deserves my full attention, so there’s nothing that’s going to throw me off my path. I’m 100% focused on Arizona basketball and this program, and I can’t wait until they throw the ball (Thursday), and then I can’t wait to try to find a way to come out on top.”