Minnesota Timberwolves: Ranking potential Timberwolves head coaches

2. Fred Hoiberg

Fred Hoiberg finished his 10-year NBA career with two seasons in Minnesota and was a key part of the 2004 squad that reached the conference finals.

After retiring due to a heart condition, he joined the Wolves’ front office for four years before leaving to coach at Iowa State, where he starred from 1991-95 and was dubbed “The Mayor.”

Hoiberg turned around a notriously sub-par program, winning 99 games over his final five years and making the NCAA Tournament each season. His Cyclones advanced to the second round twice and the Sweet Sixteen once underneath his direction.

He left Iowa State to coach the Chicago Bulls following Thibodeau’s firing, but went just 42-40 in his first season at the helm. It was a veteran team with plenty of talent, led by Jimmy Butler, Pau Gasol, Taj Gibson, and a struggling and still-recovering Derrick Rose.

The team underachieved and missed the playoffs. The next year, they won 41 games but made the playoffs as the No. 8, pushing top-seeded Boston to six games in the first round before losing.

Then, the Butler trade, followed by 27 wins in 2017-18 and a 5-19 start to the current campaign before Hoiberg was fired.

While his first season as a head coach in the NBA was clearly disappointing, the rest of his tenure was marked by Butler’s crankiness and discontent (Wolves fans, can you relate?) an every-churning roster, and plenty of youth.

Hoiberg still has much to prove as a coach at the NBA level, to be sure, and there is plenty to dissect about his team’s struggles in Chicago. But the Bulls have a poor front office, and Hoiberg didn’t have much talent to work with after 2016. Obviously, a lack of talent will have a direct impact on the on-court result.

Glen Taylor loves Hoiberg, and it sure seems like Hoiberg would be his top-choice if Saunders doesn’t prove up to the task as of yet. After all, Hoiberg played for Saunders and Taylor is very familiar with him from his time in the front office, and everyone knows that Glen values familiarity.

There is some speculation that the firing of Thibodeau on Jan. 6 could have to do with UCLA’s apparent interest in hiring Hoiberg, who made it clear on Monday that he prefers to coach in the NBA, and his second choice is to coach in college. Both are preferable to a front office job in Hoiberg’s mind.