Nebraska Basketball: Fred Hoiberg Wins AP National Coach of the Year

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OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA - MARCH 19: Head coach Fred Hoiberg of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Braden Frager #5 of the Nebraska Cornhuskers celebrate their win against the Troy Trojans in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Paycom Center on March 19, 2026 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Almost everybody knows who hired Scott Frost. That man was Bill Moos. That went extremely poorly.

Visit catcross.biz for more information.

What I think some forget is that Bill Moos also hired Fred Hoiberg. That hire has gone above and beyond any expectations I ever had for this program. I have always felt that Nebraska basketball was a potential sleeping giant. We weren’t very good but there was still a ton of support.

So just think what would happen if Nebraska basketball became really good. What would that look like? Well we got to see exactly that in 2025-2026 and that is because of Fred Hoiberg. And I am eternally thankful to Hoiberg, the staff and the players for this past season.

Usually when you win then awards are not far behind. Today it was announced that Fred Hoiberg is the Associated Press National Coach of the Year. Well deserved.

It is interesting to reflect on how the Fred Hoiberg tenure started. In his first three seasons, Fred Hoiberg and Nebraska won 24 total games. In the last three seasons, the Huskers won 72.

In this past season alone, Nebraska won 28 games.

That is a testament to Hoiberg taking a program and slowly figuring out what he has to do to win. Particularly at a place that has never really won. Patience paid off.

I am excited to see what Hoiberg can do with more financial backing. Until next year, congratulations to Hoiberg on being the AP National Coach of the Year.

From Huskers.com

University of Nebraska men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg capped the Huskers’ historic 2025-26 season Friday afternoon, as he was named National Coach of the Year by The Associated Press.

Hoiberg, who will receive the award later Friday in Indianapolis at the Final Four, becomes the first Husker men’s coach to earn the award in the 59-year history of The Associated Press men’s college basketball coach of the year award. He is the 10th Big Ten coach to win the award since the award was first presented in 1967 and just the second in the last two decades. The award is determined by voting conducted by a national media panel that picks the AP Top 25 during the season.

Hoiberg guided Nebraska to its best season in program history in 2025-26, as the Huskers finished with a 28-7 record and the school’s first NCAA Sweet 16 finish in school history. Nebraska set season records for wins (28), conference wins (15) and conference road wins (seven) while opening the year by winning their first 20 games as part of a school-record 24- game win streak dating back to last season.

After being picked 14th in the Big Ten during the preseason, Nebraska posted a 15-5 mark in Big Ten play to tie for second, the program’s best conference finish in more than three decades. Nebraska’s 20-0 start helped NU earn its highest AP rank in school history (fifth) and spend eight weeks in the top 10 during the season. The breakthrough season was culminated by wins over Troy and No. 16 Vanderbilt in the NCAA Tournament, marking the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament wins.  Of Nebraska’s seven losses in 2025-26, six came to teams that reached the Elite Eight.

Friday’s honor marks only the second time a Husker coach has received an AP National Coach-of-the-Year honor, as Women’s Basketball Coach Connie Yori was honored in 2009-10.

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