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Iowa State AD shuts down TJ Otzelberger rumors about North Carolina, other coaching jobs

Danby: Daniel Hager03/25/26DanielHagerOn3

Just hours after the Iowa State head coach denied rumors that he was connected to any head coaching vacancy, the Iowa State AD has reaffirmed faith that the program doesn’t expect to lose TJ Otzelberger to the coaching carousel.

Wednesday night, Jamie Pollard took to X/Twitter to claim that Otzelberger will be the coach at Iowa State for ‘a long time’.

“Excited for Cyclone Nation that TJ is not going anywhere – he will be our basketball coach for a long time!” Pollard tweeted. “Now let’s have an exciting and successful time this weekend in Chicago.”

Otzelberger currently has Iowa State in the Sweet Sixteen for the third time in five seasons following wins over No. 15 seed Tennessee Tech and No. 7 seed Kentucky. The Cyclones will battle against No. 6 seed Tennessee spot for a spot in the Elite Eight (a destination Iowa State has not reached since 2000) on Friday.

TJ Otzelberger shuts down rumors, linking him to other jobs, on Wednesday

Thanks to his renowned success across his five seasons in Ames, Otzelberger has been floated as a potential candidate for the North Carolina opening. He was even name dropped as a candidate by St. John’s Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, who will also be coaching in the Sweet Sixteen this weekend. He, however, shut these rumors down on Wednesday.

“Any speculation with me and any other jobs or opportunities is not true,” Otzelberger told reporters. “I’m the coach of the Cyclones, thrilled to be the coach of the Cyclones. And what I can say to you even more, as we move forward together, is the alignment on our campus – with Dr. Cook, Jamie Pollard – is amazing. We’re thrilled and excited about our future together.

“Really appreciative and grateful for Jamie Pollard and David Cook and the conversations we’ve had. Just excited about our future. That’s topic No. 1. There’s no questions about it, there’s nothing to talk about, there’s nothing else to answer. That’s the truth.”

For the first time since 2003, North Carolina is conducting a national search for a head coach. The program parted ways with Hubert Davis on Tuesday, after five seasons at the helm. The Tar Heels made a run to the National Championship under Davis in 2022, but have been knocked out of the Round of 64 in back-to-back seasons.