Iowa State men’s basketball head coach T.J. Otzelberger has named Tim Buckley as a new assistant coach. Buckley will begin his duties with the Cyclones immediately. Buckley was a member of Otzelberger’s staff while at UNLV.
“A renowned coach in player development, I’m excited to have Tim join our staff at Iowa State,” Otzelberger said. “Tim brings a wealth of knowledge, both as a head coach and assistant coach. He has recruited and developed some of the top talents in the NBA. I’m thrilled that our student-athletes will get the opportunity to work with Tim.”
Buckley, a coaching veteran with over 30 years of experience, is widely known for his player development and recruiting some of the best talent in the country. Over the course of Buckley’s career, as both a head coach and an assistant coach, he has helped his teams to eight NCAA Tournament appearances, three NIT appearances and a trip to the NBA Playoffs. Buckley has also been a part of five conference championship winning teams.
He has worked with 12 NBA Draft Picks, nine of which were drafted in the first round. Among those nine first round picks, six of them were lottery picks. Some of the top talent Buckley has recruited and developed include Dwyane Wade (5th Pick in 2003 Draft), Victor Oladipo (2nd Pick in 2013 Draft), Cody Zeller (4th Pick in 2013 Draft and Noah Vonleh (9th Pick in 2014 Draft).
Most recently, Buckley spent the past two seasons at fellow Big 12 school Cincinnati. Prior to that, Buckley was at South Carolina for two seasons, where he helped the Gamecocks to the 2024 NCAA Tournament and the most wins in the regular season in program history. South Carolina allowed just 66.4 points per game during the regular season in 2023-24, which led the SEC, and was one of just four teams in the SEC to rank in the Top 50 of adjusted efficiency on offense and defense via KenPom. Buckley was on Otzelberger’s staff for both seasons at UNLV, while remaining in Las Vegas for one year on Kevin Kruger’s staff in 2021-22. In 2020, Buckley was named one of the top assistant coaches in the Mountain West by Stadium.
Prior to joining Otzelberger at UNLV, Buckley was a scout for the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2017-19. He was an assistant coach at Indiana from 2008-17, serving as the associate head coach from 2012-17. During that time, the Hoosiers advanced to three Sweet 16’s and won a pair of outright Big 10 titles in a four-year span.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity to be reunited with T.J. Otzelberger,” Buckley said. “What he has done over the last five years is amazing. Iowa State is a nationally recognized program and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Buckley has two different stints as a head coach in his career. He was the head coach at NCAA Division III Rockford (Ill.) from 1989-93 and was the head coach at Ball State from 2000-06. His 2001-02 Ball State squad was one of the best in school history, advancing to the NIT Elite Eight while winning the MAC West Division Championship. During the regular season, they finished runner-up in the EA Sports Maui Invitational, picking up wins over No. 7 Kansas and No. 5 UCLA before falling to No. 1 Duke in the championship game. Buckley has also spent time as an assistant coach at Indiana, Marquette, Iowa, Ball State, Wisconsin and Rockford.
Buckley played collegiately at Waubonsee Community College (Ill.) and Bemidji State (Minn.). He was inducted into the Bemidji State Hall of Fame in February 2012, while being inducted into the WCC Hall of Fame later that year.
The Cyclones finished the season with a 29-8 record, tied for the second-most wins in school history. Playing in its 25th NCAA Tournament in program history, the Cyclones advanced to the Sweet 16 for the eighth time in program history.
https://cyclones.com/news/2026/4/6/mens-basketball-tim-buckley-named-iowa-state-assistant-coach
