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Hoiberg Earns Big 12 Co-Coach Of The Year Honors

Sports

March 5th, 2012 by Jim Field

IRVING, Texas – Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg orchestrated the greatest turnaround in Big 12 history in his second season at the helm. The Big 12 coaches recognized the extraordinary efforts of Hoiberg during the 2012 season, selecting him as the Big 12 Co-Coach of the Year, announced today by the league office.

Hoiberg shared the award with Kansas head coach Bill Self, who led the Jayhawks to their eighth-straight Big 12 regular-season title.

“I am humbled to be recognized as the co-coach of the year in a league with outstanding head coaches,” Hoiberg said. “This award is a credit to our players and coaching staff, who worked tirelessly throughout the season to improve each day. I can’t thank them enough for their hard work.”

The Cyclones were predicted to finish eighth in the preseason Big 12 Coaches poll, but Hoiberg and Cyclones earned the No. 3 seed at the Big 12 Championship, tying for third in the Big 12 with a 12-6 record. Iowa State’s 12 wins in league play is the third-best total in school history.

After finishing last in the Big 12 at 3-13 a year ago, Iowa State improved its conference win total by nine (12-6). It is the largest turnaround by any team in all-time Big 12 play. The Cyclones also finished the regular-season with 22 victories, the third-best total in Iowa State history.

The Mayor, who has a 38-25 overall record at ISU, led the Cyclones to a pair home wins over top-10 teams (Kansas, Baylor) for the first time since 1992. He also energized the Iowa State fan-base, as the Cyclones finished second in the league in attendance (13,015), selling out four of their last six home games.

Hoiberg joins former Iowa State head coaches Tim Floyd (1996-Big Eight) and Larry Eustachy (2000, 2001- Big 12) as coach of the year award winners.