With rumors of Fred Hoiberg taking over the open head coaching job at Nebraska, one former Iowa State staff member has been overshadowed.

That changed Wednesday when T.J. Otzelberger was named head coach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV).

Otzelberger coached eight total seasons in Ames after he first joined the Iowa State staff in 2006 under head coach Greg McDermott. He stayed at Iowa State when Hoiberg was hired in 2010-11 and was promoted to associate head coach.

Otzelberger took an assistant coaching job at Washington beginning in 2013 before returning to Ames in 2015. He stayed one season under current head coach Steve Prohm before taking his first Division I head coaching job at South Dakota State, where he spent three seasons.

Otzelberger led the Jackrabbits to back-to-back NCAA Tournament bids in his first two seasons. This season, South Dakota State went 14-2 to win the Summit League regular season title before losing in the conference tournament.

South Dakota State lost in the first round of the NIT to Texas to end its season.

“I sought a hard-working, laser-focused head coach who personifies our core values … who is passionately committed to winning and who is at ease with being the face of our storied basketball program,” said UNLV athletics director Desiree Reed-Francois in a press release. “T.J. exemplifies these attributes. I am confident he is the right coach to bring the Runnin’ Rebels into a new era of preeminence.”

Otzelberger had previously signed an extension to stay at South Dakota State in December 2018.