Michigan State’s Jack Hoiberg is in the Final Four. Next season he’ll play his dad
It’s one thing to have a coach’s son on your roster. That’s pretty common for a college basketball coach. Sometimes the son is your own, like KU’s Bill Self coaching Tyler Self two seasons ago.
But did Michigan State coach Tom Izzo ever expect he’d be coaching against the father of Spartans walk-on Jack Hoiberg?
“No, especially when he was sitting in my office a couple weeks ago,” Izzo said of Fred Hoiberg, introduced on Tuesday as the next Nebraska coach.
“I’m going to take back everything I told him, but I love Fred. Not as much as I love Jack.”
Jack Hoiberg joined the Spartans before the 2017-18 season, after his dad had left the head coaching job at Iowa State to take over the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, who fired him after a 5-19 start this season. His sister Paige is a student assistant in the KU basketball office. And his cousin Emma is a student assistant in the Nebraska basketball office.
Hoiberg picked Michigan State because he could be part of a major Division I program under a coach like Izzo. Coincidentally, Izzo’s 2000 Michigan State team ended Iowa State’s last chance to reach the Final Four and won the Spartans’ last NCAA championship.
That bit of history never came up when Hoiberg was talking with his dad — “The Mayor” of Ames, who earned that nickname as a fan favorite for the Cyclones from 1991-95 before coaching Iowa State to two Big 12 Tournament championships during 2010-15.
“I think it would be different if my dad was on the team at the time,” Jack Hoiberg said, adding that he often sees highlights of the Spartans’ 75-64 Elite Eight victory over the Cyclones on a videoboard in a tunnel at the Breslin Center.
“Sometimes it’s playing in the hallway we walk in,” he said. “It’s kinda funny seeing that, having grown up as an Iowa State fan.”
Before playing high school basketball at Hinsdale Central outside Chicago while his dad coached the Bulls, Jack Hoiberg grew up in Ames and made the trip to Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament.
“That was so much fun being able to celebrate with the team and my family,” he said. “That was cool. Really great atmosphere from the Cyclones fans when they go down to Kansas City.”
Hoiberg said he found out about his dad’s hiring at Nebraska a few days before it was announced and watched his news conference. Fred Hoiberg was born in Lincoln and his grandfather Jerry Bush coached the Cornhuskers in the 1950s.
“I’m really excited for him,” said Jack Hoiberg, who was kept in the loop by his family but added they were sensitive to the fact Jack has “a lot of stuff going on.”
That “stuff” is the Final Four. Michigan State faces Texas Tech in the second semifinal, scheduled to tip off 40 minutes after Auburn and Virginia play at 5:09 p.m. Central time Saturday. Fred Hoiberg is expected to attend.
“He did such a great job at Iowa State and under a tough situation at Chicago, hung in there,” Izzo said. “He’s kind of had all sides of basketball, and I think he’s going to be a great addition (to the Big Ten). I was a big (former Nebraska coach) Tim Miles fan too. I don’t mind saying that. Love Tim, but I think Fred will be a great addition and bring a lot to the table.
“It’s going to be a little harder on Jack than it is on me, but I think Fred will do well. Yet I think Jack will do well too.”
As for Jack Hoiberg, basketball is the plan for now. He’s a redshirt freshman who’s played 18 minutes, making 2 of 3 three-pointers. But he says coaching could be in his future, just like his dad.
“He’s a walk-on that he is getting better and better,” Izzo said. “I love the competitiveness and who he is and his intelligence.”
This story was originally published April 4, 2019 at 5:25 PM.