A CBSSports.com report posted this afternoon tabbed ISU assistant coach T.J. Otzelberger as the likely successor to Fred Hoiberg should Hoiberg leave for the NBA.

Multiple media reports citing anonymous sources have Hoiberg accepting the recently vacant Chicago Bulls job within the coming days following the Thursday firing of former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.

Recent rumors have claimed that a “gentlemen’s agreement” between Hoiberg and the Bulls has been in place for quite sometime, but Chris Williams of Cyclonefanatic.com reported today that a source of his has refuted those claims, saying they were “100 percent false” and “not even close to being true.”

Regardless of Hoiberg’s unclear status, the rumor mill surrounding Iowa State has continued to churn.

The latest, according to CBSSports.com’s Gary Parrish, is that ISU athletic director Jamie Pollard has been informally in touch with a search firm to begin identifying potential replacements for Hoiberg should he leave.

CBSSport’s Jon Rothstein reported on Friday that ISU assistant coach T.J. Otzelberger has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Hoiberg. According to anonymous sources cited by Rothstein, Otzelberger has the “full support” of Pollard to become the next coach of the Cyclones if Hoiberg decides to bolt.

Two of Rothstein’s sources went as far as saying Otzelberger has already reached out to people about joining his staff should he become Iowa State’s next head coach.

Even though sources claimed Otzelberger had Pollard’s full support, they cautioned that other ISU administration members still needed to sign off on Otzelberger.

Otzelberger rejoined Iowa State staff earlier this year after spending the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Washington. Previously, Otzelberger was an assistant coach at Iowa State from 2006-2013.

It should be noted that all of this is according to anonymous sources cited in various media reports and as of 4:45 on Friday afternoon Fred Hoiberg is still the head coach of ISU men’s basketball team.

Whether that changes in the coming days – as it is widely speculated to – or not is still up in the air at this time.