When No. 2 seed Iowa State and No. 15 South Dakota State meet in the first round of the NCAA Tournament today in Omaha, Neb., it will serve as sort of a high school reunion.
Both head coaches — T.J. Otzelberger of Iowa State and Eric Henderson of South Dakota State — held the same role at
Catholic Central (Burlington, Wis.).
"Eric Henderson has been one of my best friends on earth for 20-plus years," Otzelberger said during his NCAA Tournament press conference Wednesday.
Both teams are coming off conference tournament titles as Iowa State won in the Big 12 and South Dakota State took the Summit League crown.
"We've talked and texted a few times," Henderson said during his Wednesday press conference. "Once you get the emotions out of it we're both competitive dudes. We both want to win."
From 2001-04 Otzelberger was a coach at the Wisconsin high school while Henderson led the Catholic Central basketball program from 2009-14.
Otzelberger arrived at Catholic Central fresh off being a three-year starter and captain at Wisconsin-Whitewater. For two years he was an assistant before he took the head role in 2003.
Otzelberger added more responsibility and became the school's athletic director at the age of 25. The Hilltoppers went 8-14 that year and he left to become an assistant at Chipola College in Florida for a year. In 2006 he was hired by then-Iowa State head coach Greg McDermott to become an assistant.
"I have a lot of gratitude to Coach McDermott," Otzelberger said of the current Creighton head coach. "He believed in me and gave me a chance to come be an assistant at Iowa State far before my resume ever warranted an opportunity."
McDermott also has strong connections with Henderson, who has South Dakota State in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years. After high school at
Maquoketa Valley (Delhi, Iowa), Henderson played at Wayne State under McDermott and the pair made a deep run in the Division II NCAA Tournament.
Wayne State eventually inducted Henderson into its Hall of Fame while McDermott became head coach at North Dakota State and Northern Iowa prior to arriving at Iowa State in 2006.
Henderson joined McDermott's staff that included Otzelberger in 2006 and served as a graduate manager before becoming an academic learning specialist until 2009.
In 2009 the job opened up at Catholic Central and Otzelberger recommended Henderson for the position according to the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Henderson was the Hilltoppers head coach for five years with a record of 57-64. In 2013-14, he served as the school's principal that year and led Catholic Central to a 21-5 record while reaching the fourth round of the Division V state tournament.
He then got the call back up to the collegiate ranks, becoming an assistant at North Dakota State. He helped the Bison reach the NCAA Tournament and coached in Fargo for two years from 2014-16.
By 2016, Otzelberger had spent a better part of a decade at Iowa State as an assistant with a stint at Washington sandwiched in-between. The Cyclones were coming off a run to the Sweet 16 and Otzelberger was offered the top job at South Dakota State.
On his first staff: Eric Henderson. Together the pair took the Jackrabbits to the NCAA Tournament twice and went 70-33 with two Summit League titles from 2016-19.
Otzelberger then left to become head coach at UNLV for two years while Henderson was elevated to head coach at South Dakota State. Since 2019 Henderson has a record of 109-47 with four Summit League crowns and two NCAA Tournament trips.
In 2021 the Iowa State job opened up and Otzelberger returned to Ames. He has a 68-34 record and has reached the NCAA Tournament all three years, with one trip to the Sweet 16.
Now the two friends will face-off where Creighton plays its home games at CHI Health Center Omaha in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
"I pinch myself all the time for how much Coach McDermott and T.J. have done for me," Henderson said in his Wednesday press conference. "Now I'm playing where Coach McDermott plays every one of his home games and I get to coach against T.J. Really, life doesn't get any better than this."
