Fred Hoiberg appears to be closing in on finalizing his coaching staff at Nebraska.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Jon Rothstein, Hoiberg will retain Armon Gates, an assistant under former coach Tim Miles, and will add Bobby Lutz as a special assistant.
Fred Hoiberg tells me that he plans to retain Armon Gates as an assistant coach at Nebraska. Former Charlotte head coach Bobby Lutz will also be joining the staff as a special assistant.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 10, 2019
Miles hired Gates in May of 2018 to replace the departed Kenya Hunter. Gates, a Chicago native, spent five seasons as an assistant at Northwestern under Chris Collins where he helped lead the Wildcats to their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance and NCAA Tournament win in 2017. Gates left Northwestern to accept the associate head coach role at Florida in April of 2018 but the two sides parted ways and Gates joined Miles staff at Nebraska a month later.
Known for his enthusiasm on and off the practice court, Miles credited Gates with the work he did with Glynn Watson Jr., helping him bounce back from a tough shooting season as a junior to post a strong senior campaign.
Akol Arop, a 2-19 Nebraska signee from Omaha Creighton Prep, told Hail Varsity that Gates accompanied Hoiberg on his visit with Arop last week.
Lutz, a native of Hickory, North Carolina, was the head coach at Charlotte from 1998 to 2010, guiding the 49ers to a 218-158 record (.580), five NCAA Tournaments and three NIT appearances. Lutz joined Hoiberg’s staff as an assistant at Iowa State in 2010-11, Hoiberg’s first season in Ames. He spent five seasons as an assistant at North Carolina State before joining the coaching staff for the Windy City Bulls, the Chicago Bulls’ D-League (now G-League) affiliate, for the 2016-17 season.
Lutz was with Hoiberg at Nebraska’s baseball game on Tuesday where Hoiberg threw out the first pitch. According to Rothstein’s report, he will not be one of the three active coaching assistants on the staff.
Hoiberg first hired former St. John’s assistant Matt Abdelmassih shortly after accepting the job at Nebraska, and Gates will reportedly fill the second spot, having one more assistant coaching position open. The pool for Hoiberg’s assistants is officially set at $1 million, an increase from $767,467 for Miles’ assistants in 2017.
Jacob Padilla has been writing for Hail Varsity since 2015. He covers football, volleyball men’s basketball and prep sports. He also co-hosts the Nebraska Preps Postgame and Nebraska Shootaround podcasts for the Hurrdat Media and Hail Varsity podcast networks. His love of basketball can best be described as an obsession and if you need to find him, he’s probably in a gym somewhere watching, coaching or playing hoops.
