Lorenzo Romar added an assistant from Iowa State, T.J. Otzelberger, to replace Lamont Smith, who spent a year at Washington and left for New Mexico. Otzelberger has been at Iowa State seven years, and has been an associate head coach for the Cyclones since 2010.
“T.J. has earned a reputation as a tenacious recruiter, and his depth of experience will benefit our program immediately,” Romar said in a release from Washington. “We are excited to welcome him to the Husky family.”
Otzelberger, a Milwaukee native, wants to become a head coach and told the Associated Press he took the UW job because Romar has a track record helping assistants become head coaches.
“As a coach, there are few chances you get to have the opportunity to work for someone whom you look up to as a coach, a mentor, and a man of great character,” Otzelberger said in a statement from UW. “I feel like coach Romar embodies all of those qualities, and I’m excited to be a part of the Husky program and compete on the national level each year.”
The Cyclones made back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances. They were 23-12 overall and 11-7 in league play in 2013, the second time in school history they recorded 10 wins in Big 12 play in consecutive years. ISU also extended its home win streak to 22 games and defeated three ranked opponents.
They were a No. 10 seed in the NCAA tournament and beat Notre Dame in the second round before falling to Ohio State. ISU led all “power-six” conferences and ranked third nationally in scoring at 79.4 ppg and led the nation with 9.9 3-point makes per game.