Two of the better men’s basketball coaches in the Big Ten will square off when Northwestern takes on Nebraska on Wednesday at Welsh-Ryan Arena (8 p.m., BTN).
Imagine trying to write that sentence with a straight face a couple of years ago.
Some probably still would take issue with it now, though they would be wrong.
You have the Wildcats’ Chris Collins, who, for all his struggles to get a winner off the ground in Evanston, became Big Ten coach of the year last season, his 10th at the school. And you have the Cornhuskers’ Fred Hoiberg, who — months after being fired by the Bulls in December 2018 — took over the most hopeless major-conference program in college basketball yet now, in his fifth season, has it rolling.
Coach of the year? Hoiberg has as good a shot at that honor as Purdue’s Matt Painter, Wisconsin’s Greg Gard, Illinois’ Brad Underwood or anybody else.
The NCAA Tournament? Both the Wildcats (15-7, 6-5) and the Huskers (16-7, 6-6) are projected to be in the field by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm, Fox Sports’ Mike DeCourcy and anyone else with an advanced bracketology degree.
For Northwestern, back-to-back tournaments would be a first. For Nebraska, getting in and actually winning a game would be a first. Not that long ago, these were the only two major-conference schools without a single ‘‘W’’ in the Big Dance. The Huskers have carried that ignominious distinction alone since 2017.
‘‘Chris is a good friend,’’ Hoiberg said, ‘‘and what he and Northwestern have done should be an inspiration to us. It’s remarkable, the success he’s had, and it’s been fun to see. We have our own opportunity if we take care of business.’’
Four years ago, as he prepared for a visit to Evanston, Hoiberg talked about ‘‘sleepless nights’’ in a conversation with the Sun-Times. ESPN had called him the worst coach in the NBA. The Bulls had kicked him to the curb, despite an array of injuries to his key players. The Huskers were in a second consecutive season that would end with a pathetic total of seven victories. Lincoln, Nebraska — where Hoiberg had been forced to start over with 14 brand-new names to the roster and zero shot at being competitive — seemingly was buried in the hoops wilderness.
All that losing? It was brutal.
‘‘But it feels like a different lifetime now, to be honest with you,’’ Hoiberg said in a much more positive phone call. ‘‘So many things have happened: changing jobs, moving my family, the pandemic, the new realities with [NIL and the transfer portal] in our business. I’m really happy where I am. I’m also very thankful for the opportunity and experience I had in Chicago.’’
While the Bulls grasp almost blindly for their own relevance with the NBA’s trade deadline set for Thursday, Hoiberg is quite all right with coaching a team without any sort of discernible chaos. There might not be much NBA potential on the Huskers’ roster, but there’s enough backbone to have chopped down then-No. 1 Purdue by 16 points, toppled then-No. 6 Wisconsin in overtime and taken a loaded Illinois squad to OT on Sunday in Champaign. The Huskers already beat Northwestern once, 75-69 on Jan. 20 in Lincoln. This has been fun.
‘‘Listen, I spent 19 years of my life in [the NBA] and wore pretty much every hat you can wear,’’ Hoiberg said. ‘‘There’s a lot of fun that comes this time of year in that league, too, but also some nervousness.’’
Nobody’s blowing up these Huskers, not on Hoiberg’s watch. It’s far too good a story. Hoiberg, 51, was born in Lincoln. His mother grew up there, and both parents attended Nebraska. One grandfather was a sociology professor there for 30 years. The other, Jerry Bush, was the head coach of the Huskers for nine seasons in the 1950s and ’60s.
‘‘To have your life come full circle is really something,’’ Hoiberg said. ‘‘And now I have my name in the same category as my grandfather. He beat the No. 1 team in ’58. He beat two top-10 teams in ’58. Now we have that in common.’’
His parents, Eric and Karen, are at most home games. His son Sam, a sophomore, plays for the team. What could be better than all this?
‘‘It’s pretty special,’’ Hoiberg said.
Once upon a time, Hoiberg had it rolling at Iowa State, where he had starred as a player. Hoiberg coached four consecutive Cyclones teams to the NCAA Tournament, the last two of them as No. 3 seeds. So the Bulls went and got him. How did that work out?
Ah, well.
Maybe Hoiberg can do in Lincoln what he did in Ames, where he grew up after the family moved.
‘‘Absolutely,’’ he said. ‘‘We can win here.’’
If it can happen in Evanston, it can happen in Lincoln. With the right coach, it can happen almost anywhere.
