When Charlie and Sam Hoiberg were growing up in Ames, there was a good chance that James Pollard was nearby.
Whether it was playing Little League baseball, attending sporting events, or cheering on the Cyclones, they were close friends and often hanging out together.
Life took them on separate journeys when they were middle-school students, once Fred Hoiberg was hired to become the coach of Chicago Bulls in 2015, but they’ve remained in contact.
The elder Hoiberg is now the head coach at Nebraska. Along with his twin sons on the team, they notched the first NCAA Tournament victories in school history and made a Sweet 16 appearance this past season.
While on a recruiting trip in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in mid-May, Fred Hoiberg was greeted with a surprise. He had been accustomed to seeing James Pollard in gymnasiums for youth basketball games as a kid in Ames. Now grown up and a Division I men’s basketball assistant at Northern Iowa, James Pollard was there for the same reason as Hoiberg and on his first recruiting assignment. They treasured the in-person reunion, which marked the first time they had seen each other in years.
“First of all, made me feel really old,” Fred Hoiberg said, laughing. “You don’t really see it as much when your kids are growing up, because you’re seeing it day-to-day, but to see James now really turn into a young adult and see him thriving, doing what he loves to do and continue to follow his passion, I was really proud to see him on the road. Just gave a big hug and took a picture, sent it to Jamie (Pollard, James’ dad). He’s faced a lot in his life and just really, really cool to see James where he is right now.”
That wasn’t the only notable text message that Jamie Pollard, Iowa State’s longtime athletics director, received that weekend.
Iowa State product and current Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton had heard James Pollard was recruiting a player on one of his Team Haliburton AAU teams. Haliburton texted the elder Pollard with hopes to catch up with his son.
Those types of interactions and messages make Jamie Pollard proud.
His two sons, James and Thomas, are both members of Division I men’s basketball coaching staffs. They’ve carved out their own unique paths to establish themselves.
James Pollard is in his second year as a member of Northern Iowa’s coaching staff, where he was promoted to assistant coach while holding the title of video coordinator. His older brother, Thomas, is entering his fifth season at Iowa State, where he is listed as a recruiting coordinator.
“I’m really proud of them because they’ve earned it the old-fashioned way,” Jamie Pollard said of his sons. “I know some people would say, ‘Well, they only got it because their dad’s the athletics director’ and those people are always going to say that, but that’s not the case. Thomas developed a relationship with (Iowa State coach) T.J. (Otzelberger) when Thomas was a little kid and T.J. was an assistant for us. He worked, did some things for him at South Dakota State and UNLV, and so he earned the right to have T.J. trust him like he does.
“James obviously watched what it was like to work in athletics because he saw his dad and his brother. He went to UNI, cut his own swath and was a basketball manager for four years for coach (Ben) Jacobson. Coach Jacobson invested in him by bringing him full-time a year ago and he had a chance to go with him out to Utah State. Either case would have been good, because he’s a Panther alum and he’s close to home, so I really appreciate (new coach) Kyle (Green) trusting in James to be part of his first staff.”
Thomas Pollard’s path from cross country and analytics to Iowa State basketball
Thomas Pollard has long been enamored with numbers.
As a gifted runner and a standout athlete at Iowa State, he knows all too well that finishing times mean everything. Away from the track and race course, he earned undergraduate degrees in statistics and supply chain management. He also completed his master’s degree in information systems.
Basketball was his first love, though. He played the sport through his sophomore year at Gilbert High School before choosing to focus on distance running. An elite runner, he chose to attend Iowa State over Stanford and other offers. Although he hoped to be a basketball coach one day, he figured his cross country pursuits made that unlikely.
He took a medical redshirt during the 2017-18 season with the Cyclones after being diagnosed with a heart condition that caused him to be sidelined from competition that year.
“I spent my free time teaching myself how to code, doing research on basketball analytics, trying to teach myself some things, and then just practice with data that was out there,” Thomas Pollard said. “Tried to basically use statistics as my niche to get into the sports world. I had this plan to apply to all sorts of sports companies, anything in the space. Not even teams, just companies in the sports world, fantasy sports, I just wanted to be in sports in any capacity.
“Because I couldn’t run and instead of just sulking, playing video games, I used that to take my mind off.”
With the use of individual and team stats available on the internet, through trial and error Pollard built plenty of spreadsheets and got well acquainted with platforms like “R,” a software designed for statistical computing, graphics and data analysis.
He built models analyzing various stats, trying to find trends and then putting his findings in a presentable and digestible format.
While Otzelberger was at South Dakota State and UNLV, Thomas Pollard got to apply what he learned in producing analytical reports for him. It was initially a side hustle for fun, but it slowly opened the door to college basketball.
“When I was at South Dakota State, he would help us with some analytic projects,” Otzelberger said. “He expressed his desire and interest at some point to get into coaching. It’s a relationship that he was proactive in building and staying in communication. It always impressed me, because I think oftentimes younger guys don’t communicate or follow up quite as well. It really caught my attention and so when we had an opportunity to get him in our program, we just thought he had everything it took to be a great coach and he’s proven to us in so many respects.”
Even after Thomas Pollard was medically cleared to return to running, he was hooked on statistics. He continued to grow more comfortable in compiling analytic reports and still worked on the side. It was becoming more than a hobby and the reports were gradually becoming more advanced.
In the fall of 2019, he completed an independent study with Iowa State professor Dan Nettleton, developing a model to predict the results of that season’s NCAA cross country championships. With the use of his model, he correctly predicted eight of the top 10 team placements.
Thomas Pollard said his father initially encouraged him to pursue careers away from sports, due to the difficulty of breaking into the field and staying in it — long hours, highly competitive career path, potential job instability. However, Thomas Pollard was becoming more certain and sure of himself, and he had found an avenue through statistics.
“(Otzelberger) would always just really encourage me to keep doing that kind of stuff and keep working on it,” Thomas Pollard said. “More so than anything, it was showing initiative and being a self-starter. At the time, I don’t know how many college kids or a student-athlete is doing that in their free time, but it definitely feels like now, even more so than then, there’s a lot more jobs these days in sports analytics. NBA teams keep expanding their front offices, their analytics divisions, where back then it was pretty new. I don’t think that was a thing many kids could look toward like that’s the kind of job I want, where now it feels like it’s continued growing.”
Thomas Pollard got his breakthrough for Iowa State’s 2022-23 season. He was added to the Cyclones’ staff as a data analytics specialist. Entering the 2025-26 season, his title changed to recruiting coordinator, but he also remains engaged in statistical analytics.
“Thomas is the hardest worker in our office,” Otzelberger said. “… Thomas is one of those guys that you know whatever task you give him, he’s going to step up for you and do it really well.”
He continues to evolve his skills while learning other aspects of coaching and basketball from being around the program. It’s been fulfilling for him to be able to have found his niche after being around Iowa State for almost his entire life.
“Got really lucky being able to stay here. I love Iowa State, it’s who I am,” Thomas Pollard said. “I think getting to wake up every day, trying to do whatever I can to help Iowa State, whatever it can be, definitely gives you a little extra fuel.”
James Pollard jumps from manager to coach at UNI
Some people take years or decades to discover their calling in life.
James Pollard knew the answer right away. From an early age, he wanted to be a basketball coach. Once he reached middle school, he was prepared to go all-in on that dream. When he was a teenager, he worked at one of Otzelberger’s camps at South Dakota State.
While most transition into coaching after their playing days are over, James Pollard knew his path would have to be an unconventional one.
He previously triumphed over childhood cancer and was ready to put in the necessary work to make his goal possible. Although an avid fan of the game, he didn’t have much of a career as a hooper.
“I knew my path into coaching wasn’t going to be by playing,” James Pollard said. “The best route for me was to be a manager and going through my college decision process, that was a small part of it, was being able to go to a school where I felt like I could be a manager.”
There were plenty of family ties at Iowa State, but he wanted to go elsewhere and forge his own path. Northern Iowa allowed him to leave home and get an opportunity as a manager in Ben Jacobson’s program.
When he arrived at UNI in the fall of 2021, the Panthers’ had a limited staff of managers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of their five-person crew, four of them had freshly graduated. There was only one returning manager left and plenty of vacancies.
“Even being around college athletics (growing up) — there were still so many things that I had no idea even went on in a men’s basketball program,” James Pollard said. “A big part of it was how much the managers were involved, like cutting up film for the coaches. That’s something I had never even thought of before I even got to campus, like how does this get done. That was a big part of the time that I spent my freshman year, was clipping up all of our opponents’ games that they played during that year.
“… I enjoyed that and I took pride in that, because I knew if I didn’t do it, someone else was going to do it. It still had to get done regardless of who does it, so that was something that I took a lot of pride in, to show the staff this is how much time I’m going to put in, this is how dedicated I am. And so that allowed me to not only learn the video software, which is what I use a lot today in my day to day, but then also spend time in the office around the coaches.”
He gradually worked his way up the ladder as a manager, taking on any task the team needed throughout his four years at Northern Iowa.
“Something that I always tried to remind myself was even if you have to do something that’s not fun to do, at least you’re going to have a good story to tell someday,” James Pollard said. “Whether it was dropping off film at a coach’s house at midnight, rebounding for a player at 5 a.m., like even though it’s maybe not the most fun in the moment, but those are memories that you’re going to be able to look back on someday and be able to enjoy and cherish.”
It’s some of the advice that he passes on to younger managers with coaching aspirations. Those memories and opportunities allowed him to develop trust with the Panthers’ coaches as a reliable and consistent manager. They also helped him land a spot on Northern Iowa’s staff as a video coordinator when he graduated in 2025.
When Jacobson departed for Utah State after the 2025-26 season, James Pollard had a chance to go along but he chose to stay in Cedar Falls. Former Iowa State assistant coach Kyle Green took over as the Panthers’ head coach and kept a spot on staff for Pollard. He was given the title of assistant coach while remaining the team’s video coordinator.
The new promotion has given him an opportunity to travel on the road for recruiting, and it was only fitting that he ran into Fred Hoiberg in his first recruiting trip.
While the titles and responsibilities may change, his work ethic and passion for his job remain the same.
“That same enthusiasm Thomas had for Iowa State, James has for UNI,” said Green, who has worked with both Pollard brothers. “This, ‘Hey, I’ll do whatever it takes to succeed’ mentality. They show up early, last to leave, and you can see why they’re successful with just how hard they work and the commitment they have.”
“They’ve earned it. No job is too small. They don’t rest on who they are, they’re making their own name, their own path. They work for it and they got great personalities, great energy, great enthusiasm.”
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Pollard brothers carve coaching paths with Iowa State, Northern Iowa
Reporting by Eugene Rapay, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By Eugene Rapay, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
