Report: Nebraska basketball hires Ernie Zeigler as assistant coach

Nebraska basketball coach Fred Hoiberg just added a veteran piece to his staff. A former Central Michigan head coach and a Mississippi State assistant since 2015, Ernie Zeigler has been hired as an assistant coach for the Huskers, according to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein.

Here was Rothstein’s report, which he tweeted:

“Source: Nebraska’s Fred Hoiberg will hire Ernie Zeigler as an assistant coach. Zeigler was on staff last season at Mississippi State. Former head coach at Central Michigan.”

There you have it. Huskers add an experienced voice in the locker room late in the offseason. Zeigler will join Adam Howard and Nate Loenser as Hoiberg’s assistants ahead of a massive year four for Hoiberg.

The Nebraska coach was an oft-praised hire for the Huskers as the former great Iowa State coach who was just coming out of the NBA. He was a home run. But three years in and Nebraska basketball is way worse off than it was under Tim Miles. Hoiberg has yet to finish less than 12 games below .500 for a season. His total record is 24-67. In the Big Ten, 9-50. NINE and FIFTY. That’s abominable.

So Zeigler better make a pretty big difference. Or he and his new head coach could be out of a job by next summer. For more info on Zeigler, though, read below.

Who is Ernie Zeigler?

As mentioned, Zeigler most recently coached for Mississippi State and before that was the head guy at Central Michigan for six seasons. Leading up to that, Zeigler spent time as an assistant at Pittsburgh, UCLA and Kansas State. He also spent a few years coaching overseas teams before his time as a collegiate assistant.

The years at Central Michigan were successful, sort of. The Chippewas never won more games than they lost under Zeigler, however they did finish first in their division of the MAC two years in a row, and in 2009 did so with a sub-.500 record in conference play. Pretty impressive stuff.

After failing to make the big dance six years in a row, CMU finally moved on from Zeigler. But he caught on quick, joining Ben Howland’s inaugural staff at Mississippi State. Zeigler saw the Howland era through until the bitter end, which was this past spring when Bulldogs brass let him ago after another failure to reach the NCAA Tournament. Howland did so just once in seven years in Starkville.

However, Zeigler was credited for his recruiting wins and development in the front-court, where Hail State produced a string of skilled big men that faired well in SEC play and found spots in the NBA under his guidance.

He’ll try to replicate that success in the Husker front-court.