The Latest on Fred Hoiberg and the Chicago Bulls

Fred Hoiberg climbed on a plane in Ames yesterday afternoon and headed to Chicago to finalize the details of his 5-year, $25M contract with the Chicago Bulls.  The man we call Dreamy will be introduced at 2:00 PM CT in Chicago according to CBS Sports.

Before Hoiberg departed Ames he met with local media and had this to say on WHO-TV, in part:

"The last two years there's been a lot of rumors out there and I have talked to teams," Hoiberg said. "That has been out there. But there's been nothing even close to have happened over the last few years. this year, when this opportunity came about, it is something that interested me greatly and (ISU AD) Jamie Pollard is absolutely right: This is one of my life goals, is to coach in that league. ... This year, things are a little bit different .And obviously all of us when we have life changes that can potentially happen, you sit down with your family and you weigh everything and you make the best decision you possibly can."

This is a man who sounds like he's out the door, and we'll know for sure in a few short hours. In the meantime, Athletic Director Jamie Pollard sets his sights on a replacement, and contrary to earlier reports, assistant coach T.J. Otzelberger is not the clubhouse leader for the pending vacancy. Pollard has reached out to multiple coaches who have shared mutual interest, but contract details have slowed during the talks.

It's easy to speculate that these slow downs are due in part to salary, but another theory exists: Pollard's desire to keep the current core of players intact and the need to keep assistants to do that. When Hoiberg took over the program five years ago he retained Otzelberger to aid in the transition, and it's no secret that Otz was responsible for getting some of Iowa State's most significant contributors to the school. If Pollard is playing a game of staff dictation to a potential new head coach then the process is going to take some time.

We'll have more as the story develops, and keep an eye on @WideRtNattyLt & @WRNLKnowDan for updates about today's press conference and how to watch.

Update, 8:24 AM

Jeff Rothstein just dropped this tweet/article:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Iowa State&#39;s AD and administration is split over Fred Hoiberg&#39;s replacement, multiple sources told <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSSports">@CBSSports</a>. Story: <a href="http://t.co/WZ1ov5seyN">http://t.co/WZ1ov5seyN</a></p>&mdash; Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/605721010147598336">June 2, 2015</a></blockquote>

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