Nebraska's Fred Hoiberg on his quest to give the Huskers their FIRST NCAA Tournament win

Summary

Eye On College Basketball Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Nebraska's Fred Hoiberg on his quest to give the Huskers their FIRST NCAA Tournament win
Date: October 10, 2025
Host: Gary Parrish
Guest: Fred Hoiberg, Head Coach, Nebraska Men’s Basketball

Overview

In this interview recorded at Big Ten Media Day, Gary Parrish sits down with Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg to discuss the state of his program, the complexities of modern college basketball, roster building amidst NCAA uncertainty, and his pursuit of delivering Nebraska its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory. The conversation provides insight into the unique challenges Nebraska faces, Hoiberg’s strategic mindset, and the evolving landscape of college basketball recruiting and program management.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reflections on Last Season and Carryover into This Year (02:37 – 04:00)

• Season Recap: Hoiberg describes 2024-25 as a “strange season,” citing the early loss of key player Rink Mast to injury, a strong start, a subsequent losing streak, and an eventual surge to win a postseason tournament in Vegas.
  • Quote: “It was a very strange season, Gary…getting the news that we weren’t going to have Rink Mast, who was as important as anybody on our team the year before...that’s a hard thing to replace.” (02:58 – 03:16)
• Momentum & Transfer Portal: Closing the season with momentum, including four commitments from transfers during the postseason run—a new norm in the transfer portal era.
  • Quote: “While we were still playing, we got four commitments in that time, which is very weird.” (03:48 – 03:52)
• Optimism: Hoiberg expresses excitement about the group assembled for the new season.

2. Navigating Modern College Basketball: Confusion, Change, and Honesty (04:00 – 06:29)

• Constant Change: Parrish brings up Tom Izzo’s attitude about only controlling what he can, highlighting the uncertainty around rules (e.g., fifth-year eligibility, NIL policies, transfer portal timelines).
  • Quote (Hoiberg): “There’s just so many unanswered questions for our future. Is there going to be a fifth year?...It’s almost whatever direction the wind’s blowing.” (04:43 – 05:06)
• Widespread Confusion: Coaches nationwide are struggling with unclear rules—how many scholarships and how much NIL money are available, and what can be promised to recruits.
  • Quote (Hoiberg): “It’s very confusing…we know what we’re going to get from a revenue share standpoint…But then…what’s going to get through the clearinghouse, what’s not. So it’s hard to promise right now to anybody or talk to a kid about what they’re going to get because we just don’t know.” (05:43 – 06:00)
• Ethics of Recruiting: Hoiberg stresses the importance of honesty with recruits, even if it means losing out.
  • Quote: “That’s always something we’ve tried to do, is be honest and be up front…You can’t lie. And then they get there and say, you’ll figure it out. That’s one thing I really don’t like about our business.” (06:10 – 06:29)

3. Roster Building and Retention (06:29 – 08:31)

• Returning Talent: Hoiberg details the unique situation of Jamarcus Lawrence transferring back to Nebraska after a year away, and discusses the value of continuity.
  • Quote: “It’s one of our biggest offseason wins was getting Jamarcus back in a Husker uniform…from a retention standpoint we were second in the league.” (06:47 – 07:23)
• Rink Mast’s Comeback: Mast is back after a severe injury, showing good progress in preseason but still regaining full fitness.
  • Memorable Analogy: Hoiberg compares Mast’s rehab journey to his own post-surgery NBA comeback attempt.
  • Quote: “Is he back to 100%? Asking him, probably not, but he’s getting close and he’s out there right now with no restrictions.” (07:44 – 08:30)

4. Hoiberg’s Early Embrace of the Transfer Market (08:31 – 09:59)

• Transfer Strategy – Ahead of Its Time: Parrish observes Hoiberg as an early adopter of building through transfers at Iowa State, before it was trendy or easy.
  • Quote (Parrish): “Even if I have to sit out a player for a year, this is a way to get experienced talent. What did you recognize back then that maybe it took another decade for the rest of the coaches to understand?” (08:31 – 08:41)
• Necessity & Success: Hoiberg credits necessity at Iowa State for the approach—transfers were the most viable way to attract talent, leading to quick turnarounds and ultimately, sustainable success as freshmen joined later.
  • Quote (Hoiberg): “We started it with transfers, but those four-year guys were really the ones that took us to the next level.” (09:45 – 09:58)

5. The Pressure and Desire for Nebraska’s First NCAA Tournament Win (09:59 – 11:46)

• Big Ten’s Drought: Parrish notes the Big Ten hasn’t won a national title since 2000—a pressure point for all programs.
• Nebraska’s Unique History: Nebraska has never won an NCAA tournament game. Parrish asks how much Hoiberg thinks about changing that.
  • Quote (Hoiberg): “It’s very important…and for the reason you just mentioned, for the fans…You look at Nebraska sports, there’s not a better fan base as far as supporting the program.” (10:48 – 11:03)
  • Hoiberg shares anecdotes of the overwhelmingly red crowd presence at tournaments, and his desire to reward the loyalty with history.
  • Quote (Hoiberg): “Yes, to answer your question, 100% want to bring that first win…I think if Rink would have been on that team last year, might have been the year, but it didn’t happen. So, all we can focus on is right now, we can’t worry about anything that’s happened in the past.” (11:31 – 11:46)

6. Expectations and the Path Forward (11:46 – 12:45)

• Roster Strength & Playing Style: Parrish notes Nebraska shows up in preseason top-40 to top-50 lists, suggesting the program could break through this season.
  • Quote (Hoiberg): “Yeah, I think we are [good enough] because we shoot it. When I look at all the different teams that I’ve had…we got a front court player who can facilitate and rink…Getting him back on the floor with shooters around him is a pretty good recipe. You can beat anybody…you can also lose to anybody if the ball’s not going in the basket.” (12:03 – 12:28)
• High Standards in a Deep League: Hoiberg acknowledges that “top 50” doesn’t guarantee easy Big Ten standing, but expresses confidence in his team’s effort and chemistry.
  • Quote: “One thing I think…will give us a chance every night is we compete and we play hard and we got a great group of kids.” (12:34 – 12:41)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “There’s just so many unanswered questions for our future. Is there going to be a fifth year? That affects the way that you might recruit…It’s almost whatever direction the wind’s blowing, you know, it is what you hear about the rule.” (Fred Hoiberg, 04:43 – 05:06)
• “That's always something we've tried to do, is be honest and be up front. And that's, you know, that's all I know how to do. So, you know, I hope that doesn't get us lost.” (Fred Hoiberg, 06:10 – 06:17)
• “It’s one of our biggest offseason wins was getting Jamarcus back in a Husker uniform.” (Fred Hoiberg, 07:10 – 07:14)
• “Yes, to answer your question, 100% want to bring that first win…So, all we can focus on is right now.” (Fred Hoiberg, 11:31 – 11:46)
• “You can beat anybody…you can also lose to anybody if the ball’s not going in the basket.” (Fred Hoiberg, 12:22 – 12:28)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:37 – Season recap and momentum heading into 2025-26
• 04:00 – Coaching in an era of NCAA uncertainty
• 06:29 – Jamarcus Lawrence’s return and roster retention strategy
• 07:33 – Rink Mast’s injury, rehab, and role
• 08:31 – The transfer portal: Hoiberg’s early adoption
• 09:59 – Nebraska’s NCAA Tournament drought and fan support
• 11:46 – Expectations for breaking through this season

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Tone & Conclusion

The interview is candid, thoughtful, and highlights Fred Hoiberg’s practical optimism and honesty. He balances the deep desire to make history at Nebraska with a clear-eyed view of the challenges facing modern college basketball—uncertain rules, the transfer portal, and sky-high expectations. Nebraska fans and college basketball followers will appreciate the inside look at roster building and the tangible sense of mission Hoiberg brings to the Huskers’ quest for their first NCAA Tournament win.

Transcript

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[Gary Parrish]

Hey there, Gary Parish. Welcome back to the CBS Sports I Own College Basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds and leaky black. If you're watching on YouTube, you know what to do to the like button shouts to Brandon Davies. And if you haven't yet subscribed to the CBS Sports college basketball YouTube channel, please also do that while you're here. Let's get into it. Different deal today. As you'll soon realize, Matt Norlander is.

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And that's because I'm in Chicago for Big Ten Media Day. And while I sat down with most of the coaches and some of the players for quick conversations about their programs and college basketball in general. And we figured, or at least we hoped, that you guys might like to listen to those conversations. So we're placing them in the I Own College Basketball feed. It's me, GP at Big Ten Media Day. The conversations I had with coaches and players, they are on tap. I hope you enjoy them right after.

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[Gary Parrish]

Gary Parish here with Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg heading into to year seven. I know last season didn't go exactly the way you wanted. You had some injuries, but you did close with four straight wins and you won the college basketball crown and had your team finish in the top 50 at Ken Palm. Can you, can you draw anything from that to carry over to this season?

[Fred Hoiberg]

Yeah, it was a. It was a very strange season, Gary. You know, first of all, you know, getting the news that we weren't going to have ring mast who was as important as anybody on our team the year before when we played in the NCAA tournament, he led us in rebounding, assists, and he was second our team in scoring. So obviously when you have a front court player that does so much for your team, that's a hard thing to replace. You know, we got off to a really good start, had a tough stretch in the middle of that, and then got at a really good winning streak. And, you know, a big part of that. We beat Ohio State at home. I think it was our fifth win in a row. And Berkay Buchten Jill unfortunately went down with a pretty nasty ankle injury and just never regained his form because he never got fully healthy again. And then we lost five in a row to finish. Disappointing. But then we regrouped and found a way to go out and cut down the nets in that tournament in Vegas and it did give us some momentum. You know, we were able to add some really good players. We actually had four. You know, the way the portal works now during the tournament while we were still playing, we got four commitments in that time, you know, which is very weird. But anyway, it was a good finish. I really like the group that we put together for this year.

[Gary Parrish]

So I was talking to Tom Izzo earlier and he was not complaining, but lamenting perhaps about just sort of the state of recruiting and how you're now asked to do things that you were never asked to do before. In fact, in some ways you're required to do things that you were quite literally told not to do before. And he just sort of said, hey, listen, I've reached the point, I think, where I'm just not going to complain about it. I'm just going to focus on my team and try to run program the way I can run it as best I can and worry about that and nothing more. But it is weird to be trying to focus on your current players. But then this transfer portal is open and if you're not working on that, it's going to impact your future. It is a weird time to be A college basketball coach.

[Fred Hoiberg]

It's a. It's a very weird time. And, you know, the really hard part about it is there's just so many unanswered questions for our future. And, you know, is there going to be a fifth year? And, you know, that affects the way that you might recruit.

[Gary Parrish]

Yes.

[Fred Hoiberg]

You know, as far as how many guys you're going to bring in, you know, we're just operating under the assumption that it's not going to happen until we hear otherwise. Because, you know, one week you hear it's going to happen, the next week you say it's 100%, not. It's almost whatever direction the wind's blowing, you know, it is what you hear about the rule. So, you know, until you get clarity, you know, we're just going to operate under the current rule.

[Gary Parrish]

And, you know, we had just done this Candid coaches [e-mail] where we asked more than 100 coaches a variety of questions. And the. My main takeaway from the experience was just like, there's a lot of confusion out there. Do we have a fifth year or not? Can I get an nil deal through or not? I had one coach after another say, gp, I don't even know how much money I have to spend on my roster. What's allowed, what isn't. It is confusing.

[Fred Hoiberg]

It is. It's very confusing. And, you know, we know what we're going to get from a revenue share standpoint that we know. But then to your point, Gary, on, you know, what's going to get through the clearinghouse, what's not. So it's hard to promise right now to anybody or talk to a kid about what they're going to get because we just don't know.

[Gary Parrish]

Yeah, I had one coach tell me, like, I'm trying to be honest with student athletes, prospective student athletes, and tell them, I don't know. But I know not everybody is saying, I don't know. And so what do you do?

[Fred Hoiberg]

Yeah, that's the hard part. That's always something we've tried to do, is be honest and be up front. And that's, you know, that's all I know how to do. So, you know, I hope that doesn't get us lost. And, you know, again, it's in fairness to these kids, you know, we owe it to them to be upfront and honest to them. You can't lie. And then they get there and say, you'll figure it out. You know, that's one thing I really don't like about our Business.

[Gary Parrish]

There's obviously roster turnover all over the country at your place included. But like you mentioned, you get Rink back, you bring Connor back, and then Jamarcus Lawrence is also back in your program for a second time, which is an unusual thing. How does that work? He starts with you, transfers out. Now he's back in Lincoln.

[Fred Hoiberg]

Yeah, you know, when Jamarcus went into the portal, we called right away because we really missed Jamarcus year ago. And, you know, he does so many things. He guards the ball, he can play both guard spots. He's got great pace to his game. And I think it's important as anything he knows what we're all about. He knows, you know, the standards that we're trying to live up to. He knows the core values that we have in our program. And, you know, getting a guy like that back in was very important. It's one of our biggest off season, you know, wins was getting to Marcus back in a Husker uniform. But then he also, from a retention standpoint, we were second in the league as far as retention rate. And you bring back Sam and you bring back Cale Jacobson, you bring back Braden Frager, who redshirted for us a year ago, I think is going to be a terrific player when it's all said and done. So I'm excited about this roster.

[Gary Parrish]

Rink is now back. You mentioned all the things he did two years ago, just a devastating injury. How healthy is he now? What's he look like in preseason workouts?

[Fred Hoiberg]

Yeah, I mean, he's, you know, is he back to full form? I don't know yet. It takes so long when you go through. I mean, it was a full 12 months before he was able even to pick up a basketball. And it takes a long time. I mean, I had a couple really tough, you know, I had an open heart surgery at the end and I remember trying to get back in shape after that to see if I was going to resume my NBA career. And it takes a long time, you know, after you go through a very invasive surgery like Rink went through, to get your timing back, to get your wind back, to get the, get your pop and athleticism. And he worked his, absolutely worked his tail off to get himself back to this point where he followed the rehab to a tee, which you have to do, or else you're going to put your career in jeopardy. So, you know, is he back to 100%, you know, asking him, probably not, but he's getting close and he's out there right now with no restrictions.

[Gary Parrish]

One of the neat Things about your career is at Iowa State. You prioritize the transfer portal, for lack of a better term, at the time before almost anybody else, I think you and Eric Musselman were really out there. Like, this is a way to win. Even if I have to sit out a player for a year, this, this is a way to, to get experience, talent. What did you recognize back then that maybe it took another decade for the rest of the coaches to understand?

[Fred Hoiberg]

Well, I think the biggest thing for us at Iowa State was it was our only chance of getting top talent into our program. And you know, we weren't getting top hundred kids at that time. So, you know, it was a pretty massive rebuild. We had a couple players that were left over. Melvin Edgem was a huge one that had committed. Greg McDermott we were very fortunate to keep. Part of that was T.J. altzelberger, you know, who recruited him. But yeah, we built that first team. We had Royce White who ended up sitting out Chris Babb, Chris Allen and Anthony Booker. So you had four high level players. And I knew that first year we basically had six guys that were going to be on the court. This is in the old days, Gary. We actually had to sit out as a transfer. But what I saw to that scout team that year is we had a chance to turn this thing around quickly and we did. And then once we started winning, now we're attracting, you know, the George Niang and Monte Morris and Matt Thomas and Naz Long, you know, freshmen that had a big impact on our program and really became the backbone. So yes, we started it with transfers, but those four year guys were really the ones that took us to the next level.

[Gary Parrish]

So throughout the day, every year at Big Ten media day, somebody's going to bring up the fact that a Big Ten school has not won the national championship since Michigan State did it in 2000. I talked to Matt Painter about it, I talked to Tom Izzo about it. They both feel a responsibility on some level to try to, to fix that. You've got your own little bullet point connected to your program that Nebraska has never won a game in the NCAA tournament. You had your team in the field a couple of years ago. You were in my hometown of Memphis. The fans were incredible. Like my friends who run FedEx forum are very appreciative of the way the Nebraska fans, you know, gathered in that place. How important is it for you to un. Do that someday before you retire, you would like to, to, to bring a NCAA tournament win to this school?

[Fred Hoiberg]

Yeah, it's very important. And for the reason that you just mentioned, for the fans. And you know, when you look at Nebraska sports, you know, there's not a better fan base as far as supporting the program than Nebraska. And you see it in football, you know, opposing stadiums. I remember Colorado, the year I got here was 70% red in a really good stadium with a great home court or home field environment. And Nebraska just invaded the place. And, you know, that's how it is. You look at the volleyball team, number one in the nation. You know, you look at every arena they play in, it's half red. That's how it was in the tournament. I remember I walked out and Buzz Williams came up to me, said, you go, y' all really travel. And it was, it was a very pro Nebraska, even the crown last year. I mean, without Nebraska, there's not many people in the building. So, yes, to answer your question, 100% want to bring that first win. You know, a couple things. I think if we rink would have been on that team last year, might have been the year, but it didn't happen. So, you know, all we can focus on is, is right now we can't worry about anything that's happened in the past. And again, I really like our group this season.

[Gary Parrish]

Last thing before I get you out of here, your team is showing up in, you know, top 40 rankings, top 50 rankings. That puts you in the range where people think you're going to be an NCAA tournament team. Is this team, on paper, when healthy, good enough to get that first NCAA tournament victory?

[Fred Hoiberg]

Yeah, I think we are because we shoot it. And you know, that's one thing. When I look at all the different teams that I've had, we got a front court player that can facilitate and rank. You know, you look at Royce White, you look at George Niang, you look at rank a couple years ago, getting him back on the floor with shooters around him, you know, is a pretty good recipe. You can beat anybody, you know, you can also lose to anybody if the ball's not going in the basket. But I really like the makeup of our team. And we're. Yeah, we're top 50 in a lot of polls. That puts us sometimes 13th or 14th.

[Gary Parrish]

Yes.

[Fred Hoiberg]

In the Big Ten with the depth and talent in our conference. But, you know, I'm. Listen, one thing I think we that will give us a chance every night as we compete and we play hard and we got a great group of kids. And at the end of the day, you know, I know that's what our fan base appreciates.

[Gary Parrish]

Fred, it's always good to see you. I appreciate your time.

[Fred Hoiberg]

Yeah, you too, Gary. Thank you.

[Gary Parrish]

Thanks.

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[Fred Hoiberg]

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