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Former Michigan forward Max Bielfeldt holding off on school decision

Max Bielfeldt, Jonathan Graham

AP Photo

AP

Less than a week after it was reported that former Michigan forward Max Bielfeldt cut his list of possible schools to three - Indiana, Iowa State and Nebraska - some uncertainty in the coaching ranks has impacted his thought process.

As you know by now the Chicago Bulls parted ways with head coach Tom Thibodeau Thursday morning, thus opening up an attractive position that current Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg has been rumored to be a front-runner for (even before Thibodeau was fired). With this being the case, Bielfeldt told the Indianapolis Star that he’s going to wait and see what happens with the Bulls and Hoiberg before making a decision.
“I’m going to wait a little longer to see what comes out of the Bulls coaching vacancy and coach Hoiberg,” Bielfeldt told The Star via text message.

Hoiberg’s been upfront when it comes to the possibility of one day coaching in the NBA, with Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard noting earlier this month that doing so has been a “lifelong goal” of the head coach. And according to Travis Hines of the Ames Tribune, Hoiberg was also candid with five-star forward Cheick Diallo in regards to the NBA.

In early April, Hoiberg let it be known to five-star recruit Cheick Diallo that his immediate future at ISU was not a certainty, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told the Ames Tribune.

While Hoiberg did not definitively say he planned to move on to the NBA, sources said, he also communicated that he couldn’t fully commit he would be returning to ISU to coach Diallo and what figures to be a preseason top-10 Cyclones team in 2015-16.

Diallo ultimately committed to Kansas, where he’ll play alongside the likes of Perry Ellis and Carlton Bragg in a front court that lacks neither depth nor talent heading into the 2015-16 season. The question now is whether or not the Bulls approach (and ultimately hire) Hoiberg, which would in turn set off multiple dominoes in regards to both coaching vacancies and recruiting.