The newly anointed 3-seed Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball team rarely loses on the court this year. However, the might be losing an important piece of the coaching staff if recent rumors are to believed.
According to Husker Hoops Central, a Twitter account who closely follows Nebraska basketball and college basketbal happenings in general, Ernie Zeigler could be a target for Detroit Mercy to fill their head newly open head coach spot. Detroit Mercy fired head coach Mike Davis earlier this week after they finished an abysmal 1-31 on the season.
Zeigler has been with the Huskers since August of 2022 and was hired shortly after Armon Gates left to take an assistant coaching job with Oregon. At the time, Gates likely felt as though he was leaving a sinking ship.
Since that time, Nebraska basketball head coach Fred Hoiberg, with the help of Zeigler has turned the program around. After finishing at .500 for the first time in his tenure last season, Hoiberg guided the Cornhuskers to a 22-9 record so far this year as well as a regular season third place finish in the Big Ten.
One name being floated for the Detroit Mercy job is Nebraska Assistant Ernie Zeigler. The Detroit native was an assistant at Detroit Mercy from 2013–2015 as well as the head coach at Central Michigan from 2006–2012.
— Husker Hoops Central (@HuskerHC) March 8, 2024
Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball assistant has a decision to make
The question that literally everyone is probably asking is why would Ernie Zeigler want to leave a program that appears on the rise, in order to lead one that is at rock bottom? The Husker coach does have ties with the program, having once been an assistant there.
From 2007 to 2012 he was also the head coach of the Central Michigan Chippewas. It’s possible he’d like to be the man in charge again. Certainly if he was able to make Detroit Mercy respectable, it would be quite a personal accomplishment.
There is of course, also the fact that he’s from Detroit. Perhaps a homecoming has a strong appeal at this point in his career.
This will certainly be a story to watch for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. It seems extremely unlikely we’ll know anything definitive until NU finishes its season. Which hopefully won’t be for quite a while. Their next game is this Friday in the third round of the Big Ten Tournament thanks to their double-bye status. Then they’ll likely be playing at least one and hopefully many NCAA Tournament games.