While some people wonder how men’s basketball head coach Larry Eustachy will replace the players he lost from last season’s basketball team, others might think of how he can replace two of his assistant coaches.

Earlier this week, the Iowa State coach took one step toward restocking his coaching arsenal by hiring experienced head and assistant coach Bob Sundvold.

Sundvold’s most recent coaching position was as head coach at Missouri-Kansas City. In his four years there, his teams went 43-70, including a 16-13 record in 1999-2000. Despite improvement, he was dismissed from the program following the 2000 season.

After taking a year away from the sideline, Sundvold now fills a void left by Terry Carroll who left to take over the head coaching position at Denver and Leonard Perry who will be the new head coach at Idaho.

“It feels real good,” he said. “The year I was out, I was in television and radio, so I was still around the action.”

Assistant coach Randy Brown is excited about the addition of the newest assistant.

“We’re losing two high quality assistant coaches,” he said. “The idea here is to rebuild this new staff and have the same kind of qualities. Hiring Bob is a step in the right direction.”

Sundvold got his start in coaching under former Missouri head coach Norm Stewart in 1978. In 13 years, he helped Stewart lead the Tigers to nine NCAA tournament appearances, six Big 8 conference championships, and more than 275 wins.

After spending a year as an assistant coach under Charlie Spoonhour at Southwest Missouri State, Sundvold received his first head coaching position with Central Missouri State University, a NCAA Division II program located in Warrensburg, Mo. During his time at CMSU, the Mules went 82-38 and made it to the Elite Eight in 1994-1995.

Even with eight years of experience as a head coach, Sundvold wasn’t necessarily looking to jump back into the head coaching profession.

“I think you look for every opportunity you can, even though they’re not all the same level,” he said. “I was actually interested in being an assistant, trying to do some different things, and learning under a coach like Larry Eustachy.”

Sundvold said that the type of program has a lot to do with choosing a job.

“What you do is look at the totality of the program,” he said. “Once you’re a head coach, you see those decisions will affect the whole program. Being a coach for over 20 years, you develop contacts that can help your head coach.”

Brown said that gaining recruits and becoming more comfortable with existing players are the first things Sundvold will need to focus on during his tenure at Iowa State.

“It’s [about] blending Bob’s talents into our staff and taking advantages of the strengths of everyone,” he said. “It won’t take long for him to begin forming relationships with the players because he’s a very personable guy.”

Sundvold said that he is excited about the opportunity to work under a coach like Eustachy.

Sundvold’s new head coach provides one reason for an enthusiasm he feels towards his new position. “I’m thrilled to be working here for one of the best coaches in the country and at a great institution,” he said. “He has a great passion for the game, great work ethic, and works with a high level of integrity. Those are three attributes that are pretty important and that’s the kind of coach I want to work under.”

Another reason for his excitement is the ability to be back in a large school setting such as Ames.

“Here, you have the level of interest by fans, faculty, and staff that you don’t have at smaller school,” he said. “Iowa State has a great fan base.”