The 43-year-old agreed to a five-year contract this past spring after recently coaching at South Dakota State and UNLV. He served two stints as an Iowa State assistant under all three of the past head coaches before him. He has made his return to Iowa State and is looking to right the ship in the coming years.

“Iowa State means the world to me, my wife played here, we even met at Iowa State,” Otzelberger said to Rothstein. “I was certainly excited to get the call. There are certain places that are special to you.”

Otzelberger will face six coaches in the Big 12 who have appeared in a Final Four in the coming season.

“It’s an honor, you know, there’s a lot of Hall of Famers in this league,” Otzelberger said. “Some I have respect for, some I have learned from, and I couldn’t have a higher opinion of those coaches. You want to compete against the best, and doing that will make you work harder.”

The Cyclones returned six players from their roster last year and added highly talented freshman Tyrese Hunter. Iowa State has six transfers coming in as well.

Otzelberger went out and made moves to bring in some of these transfers, including some defensive-minded players like Gabe Kalscheur from Minnesota, Izaiah Brockington from Penn State and Robert Jones from Denver.

“I really like the group we assembled,” Otzelberger said. “You gotta have depth, compete on the glass and a physical mentality to win in the Big 12. Gabe Kalscheur and Izaiah Brockington, those two guys have already proven that they can be production guys.”

The last three champions have all had great defenses and could switch one through five. Villanova, Virginia and Baylor were great defensive teams, and it seems Otzelberger is pursuing that same play style. Iowa State will face Creighton on Dec. 4, which is where Otzelberger will face good friend and mentor Greg McDermott.