Nebraska Basketball: 3 thoughts on Fred Hoiberg’s extension

Nebraska athletics announced the extension of men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg on Monday. The extension locks the coach in with Nebraska through 2028-29.

Hoiberg has overseen the rise of Nebraska basketball, and has brought it back from the bottom of the Big Ten. It has led to this year, as the Huskers are set to play in their first NCAA tournament game in 10 seasons. He has been able to build out this program through the transfer portal, and found a formula that has been able to work to both his style and conference play.

As the dust settles on the extension, I offer my three thoughts on what this means for the Nebraska men’s basketball program moving forward.

Hoiberg has successfully overseen a full rebuild

Hoiberg has seen the growth of this program from the time he took over in 2019, until now. He recorded seven wins in his first two seasons, before recording 10 wins in 2021-22, 16 wins in 2022-23, and 23 wins in 2023-24.

With that has come additional success in conference play. He recorded two conference wins in his first season, nine conference wins last season, and 12 conference wins this season. There has been growth throughout the program, despite a bit of roster reshuffling along the way.

The first couple years of Hoiberg’s tenure at Nebraska basketball were lean. There is little doubt about that. Even still, this program has been on an upward trajectory ever since he’s got here despite the lean years, and he’s been given the opportunity to try to figure things out along the way. Now, he is at a place within the program where he can be successful, and where the wins should keep on coming.

If anything, he helped build the program back up. This extension was deserved.

Extension comes at right time for Nebraska basketball

The announcement of the extension could not have come at a better time.  The Michigan basketball head coaching job is open, and Hoiberg is one of the hottest coaching candidates right now. The meteoric rise of the program itself certainly has looked good on his resume.

Of course, we have seen coaches break out of contracts before. Nevertheless, Hoiberg said that Nebraska was the place he wanted to be just last week, and he has the team in a good position for now and the future. This extension is proof that he meant what he said.

It used to be that Hoiberg could recruit a high level, but just couldn’t seem to find the right system to execute on the court. Now, both things are firing on all cylinders. It has resulted in Nebraska basketball coming back to national prominence.

Stability is also extremely important, and that is something that the Nebraska athletic department as a whole has not really had in quite a while. Between his recruiting prowess, and his ability to coach, Hoiberg has found a system that works, and is executing it at a high level.

This extension protects the University in multiple ways

Hoiberg’s extension comes at a time when Nebraska athletics announced the hire of former Washington athletic director Troy Dannen.  This will now give Dannen time to acclimate to the University, without having to worry about extending Hoiberg

It’s also worth noting that the buyout clauses for this contract are pretty hefty. Should Hoiberg leave Nebraska for another job, he would owe the school $10 million through March 31, 2025, $7.5 million through March 31, 2026 $5 million through March 31, 2027, and $2.5 million through March 31, 2028. This was reported by HuskerExtra’s Wilson Moore.

This is not exactly an easy contract to wiggle out of. I’m not suggesting Hoiberg would do that, but rather given the landscape of college athletics, it’s important to have heavy buyouts attached to them. This was a friendly contract for Dannen as he gets acclimated. It’s also a friendly one for the school.  Nebraska would get a decent return should Hoiberg leave.