ISU men’s basketball associate head coach T.J. Otzelberger is leaving for a similar position at Washington after spending the last eight years in Ames.

With hopes of becoming a head coach at the Division I level, Otzelberger felt the chance to work with a new program might help him move in that direction.

“For me, having been at Iowa State for eight years has been a great experience and opportunity,” Otzelberger said in a phone interview Tuesday. “But I think in my quest to become a head coach I felt like it’d probably be good for me to have another experience as an assistant coach working in a different environment.”

Otzelberger originally arrived at Iowa State with Greg McDermott in 2006 and was retained when ISU coach Fred Hoiberg was hired to replace McDermott in April 2010. Hoiberg made a concerted effort to retain Otzelberger despite outside interest.

“I’ve known T.J. for several years and it was my top priority to keep him at Iowa State,” Hoiberg said at his introductory news conference in 2010. “As a talent evaluator and recruiter, there aren’t many people in his class.”

Since then, Otzelberger has been Hoiberg’s primary recruiter. He has previously brought in players including Craig Brackins, who was selected in the 2010 NBA Draft, and current forward Melvin Ejim.

When McDermott left for Creighton, and before Hoiberg arrived, Otzelberger received interest from other schools. His relationship with Hoiberg, he said, is what kept him in Ames.

“I love Iowa State and had a lot of pride in what we had done and what we had started there and I wanted to see us finish the job,” Otzelberger said. “We had developed a friendship, so it was a chance for me to work for a guy I really looked up to and respected a lot and still kind of see through the job I didn’t feel like we necessarily completed under coach McDermott.”

Otzelberger will marry former ISU women’s basketball player Alison Lacey on June 1. Lacey, who is from Australia, played for Seattle during her time in the WNBA, which helped make Otzelberger’s decision easier.

“I felt like from a geographic standpoint it was a place where her family probably could come visit us some more and spend some more time with us,” Otzelberger said. “Which I think is certainly attractive as we look to hopefully start a family.”

Hoiberg will now face the task of replacing his top recruiter, but Otzelberger said he doesn’t think his leaving will affect the Cyclones’ current recruits moving forward.

“I don’t think that will be an issue at all,” Otzelberger said. “Coach Hoiberg does a great job as a head coach building relationships with players. We’ve reached out and had communication with a lot of those guys, I know coach Hoiberg has with all of them.

“I don’t think there will be any changes with the recruiting moving forward, I think it’ll be a fairly seamless transition that way.”