Report: Bulls, Fred Hoiberg discussing 5-year, $25M deal
By Josh Hill
The Chicago Bulls and Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg are discussing a five-year, $25 million deal to fill the head coaching void.
When the Chicago Bulls fired head coach Tom Thibodeau this week — one of the winningest coaches in the franchise’s history — Gar Forman said that the team was starting to look for a new head coach. Literally everyone in the world knew he was lying through his teeth, and that’s being proven this weekend.
It has long been rumored that Iowa State Cyclones head coach Fred Hoiberg has been the favorite to land the Bulls coaching gig and it appears that numbers are being exchanged in negotiations between the two sides.
According to a joint report from ESPN college insider Andy Katz and ESPN Chicago reporter Nick Fridell, the Bulls and Fred Holberg are nearing a massive deal.
"The Chicago Bulls are negotiating a five-year contract with Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg to become their next head coach, multiple league sources told ESPN’s Andy Katz and Nick Friedell."
Frank Isola from the New York Daily News, who has been killing the Bulls this entire week for firing Thibodeau, reported that the deal which is just now being made public has been in works for weeks. According to Isola, the Bulls and Holberg were discussing the parameters of this deal while Thibodeau was still in Chicago.
The question now is will making the mistress the new wife help the Bulls get to the NBA Finals?
First-year head coaching success is being seen in both Steve Kerr of the Warriors and David Blatt of the Cavaliers, and both have had zero NBA head coaching experience.
That’s the boat that Hoiberg is in, as he’ll be a first-year NBA coach with no experience outside of having been a player. Chicago knows what they want, and it’s clear they’re willing to pay up and invest to get him.