The Nebraska basketball team has been short an assistant coach since Armon Gates left the program to join the Oregon Ducks. Now it appears Fred Hoiberg has zeroed in on Gates’ replacement.
According to Huskers Illustrated writer Jacob Bigelow, the Huskers are getting ready to announce former Mississippi State assistant coach Ernie Zeigler as the newest addition to the Nebrasketball staff.
Zeigler has been a long-time confidant of Ben Howland at Mississippi State, working for the Bulldogs from 2015 until last year.
Before joining the SEC squad, Zeigler served as the head coach of Central Michigan. His best record at the MAC school was 15-15 during the 2009-2010 season which saw the Chippewas actually win their regular season divisional crown.
A #source tells me that a name to keep an eye on for #Nebrasketball to possibly hire to fill the open assistant coaching spot on Fred Hoiberg’s staff is former Mississippi State assistant coach Ernie Zeigler
— Jacob Bigelow (@JacobABigelow) August 12, 2022
He would replace Armon Gates who departed for Oregon last month.
Overall he compiled a 75-111 and was fired following an 11-21 record in 2011-12. He then spent three seasons as an assistant at the University of Detroit before being hired by Howland at MSU.
The rumored newest Nebraska basketball assistant is apparently making his way to Lincoln thanks in large part to his reputation as someone who has deep recruiting roots in Big Ten country, especially in the talent-rich state of Michigan.
While Bigelow said that there wasn’t a timetable for the Nebraska basketball team to announce the new hire, other reports indicate that the official word could come as soon as Wednesday.
Should this hire come to pass it would indeed end several weeks of wondering just why it took so long for Hoiberg to fill the final spot on his coaching roster.
Much like Scott Frost, Hoiberg was retained after a horrendous previous season in large part because he agreed to restructure his staff. The former Iowa State Cyclones and Chicago Bulls coach let two of his top assistants in Doc Sadler and Matt Abdelmassih go. Ironically, Gates was retained but decided to move on in July.
While Scott Frost and company are getting all the headlines right now, the announcement of a new assistant coach would certainly seem to keep the good mojo going for Hoiberg’s group. Last week, the Nebraska basketball team landed the commitment of one shooting guard while landing in the Final Five schools of another.