Ames on affection for Hoiberg: He's like our Andy Griffith

CHICAGO – Before Fred Hoiberg made his return to Ames, he had a lot of people that told him not to.

They thought that Hoiberg, a star at Ames High School and Iowa State could do nothing but hurt his image.

But in five years as Iowa State's coach, Hoiberg added to it.

Iowa State will now have to move on from losing Hoiberg, one of the most successful coaches in Cyclones' history and a giant in the Ames and ISU communities.

"I wouldn't have taken that job if I wasn't confident that I could get it where we wanted," said Hoiberg who was introduced as the new coach of the Chicago Bulls Tuesday. "And we accomplished some good things. We didn't reach all of our goals but we were pretty darn close."

Hoiberg, affectionately nicknamed "The Mayor," has become a hometown hero as a star at Ames High School and Iowa State before embarking on the start of his successful coaching career with the Cyclones.

Over the years, he's become synonymous not only with Iowa State athletics but the school in general..

When he was hired in 2010, Hoiberg said returning to Ames was vital to he and his wife, Carol.

"Both us being raised in Ames, we saw the opportunity to come home and make our dreams come true," Hoiberg said back in 2010.

The success on the court will be hard to duplicate. In five seasons with Iowa State, Hoiberg has tallied 115 wins, back-to-back Big 12 Conference Tournament championships, and an appearance in the Sweet 16.

When a coach leaves Iowa State, John Walters, the voice of the Cyclones, always asks himself a question: Did they make it a better job than when they took over?

In the case of Hoiberg, is there really any question?

"He's put Iowa State in a national spotlight as a basketball program," Walters said. "A place where I think it belongs and can continue to be and he's made basketball a destination again."

Hoiberg's been just as important off the court where he's helped the town garner national attention during his tenure with national broadcast after national broadcast. In January, ESPN's College GameDay visited Ames for the first time, giving the Cyclones national exposure it had never seen before.

Throughout his career, Hoiberg has been an advocate for a number of charities and gained even more notoriety for his devotion when he flashed some dance moves in an Infinity Coaches Charity commercial.

"It's been much more than just coaching and playing at Iowa State," Walters said. "It's really throwing himself into being part of the community and trying to help people's lives get better, and he's done a great job in that area, too."

Ames' actual mayor, Ann Campbell, has even leaned on Hoiberg in the past, asking the Iowa State coach to fill in for her at a speaking engagement at a rotary district convention in Ames last year while she was sick.

Hoiberg obliged.

"They'd much rather have Fred come than me," Campbell said.

His approval ratings might be even better. In fact, according to Public Policy Polling results released in April, Iowa State fans gave Hoiberg a 74 percent approval rating, highest of any major college sports coach in Iowa.

"I mean, he is The Mayor for a reason," said Iowa State student Rachel Todd. "He got a fan base to rally around our team for the first time in a long time. We may have only had him for five years, but in my book, he is one of the all time great coaches at Iowa State."

But what makes Hoiberg such a beloved figure? It's not just the baskets he's made while he played or the wins he's tallied as a coach. For many, it's his caring and genuine personality.

It's a trait Wayne Clinton, Hoiberg's high school coach at Ames, saw in him early on.

Clinton recalled that while Hoiberg was going through the college recruiting process, the star told his coach that he wanted to narrow down the list of schools so that the ones he wasn't interested in could focus time and energy on different players.

"Unselfish," Clinton said. "Always team-oriented — think about not only what was good for him but how it would impact others around him. I think he was always concerned about that."

The love of Hoiberg has been so strong that some fans even had trouble accepting that he was leaving.

"I understand the passion of Iowa State fans and there have been a lot of well-wishers, people that wish me all the luck in the world and there's also people that want to kill me," Hoiberg said. "And I get it, I really do."

Perhaps that is what will make saying goodbye to Hoiberg the most difficult. Iowa State fans aren't just saying goodbye to a coach or a legend, but one of their own.

"They don't have to ask me what he's like because they feel they know him," Walters said. "He's so out there. He's so public. He's been around so long, just been ingrained as part of the community that it'd be like asking somebody in Mayberry, 'Hey, is Andy Griffith really that good of a guy?.' "

And while Hoiberg is gone, he'll always be linked to Iowa State.

He knows as much.

"It's like I was born in cardinal and gold diapers," Hoiberg said in 2012.

As for the hate he's gotten, Hoiberg knows that's not how everyone feels.

"I know that's a minority and the great thing about our fan base is, we stick together and I'm going to continue to support Iowa State all across the board," he said.