AMES, Iowa – Iowa State head men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg announced today the promotion of Micah Byars to Director of Basketball Operations.
Byars, who spent the last two seasons at Iowa State as the Director of Player Development, is replacing Jeff Rutter, who accepted an assistant coaching spot at Drake in April after spending seven seasons on the Cyclone men’s hoops staff.
Byars has been an integral part of Iowa State’s unprecedented success the last two seasons, helping the Cyclones achieve back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and compile a 46-23 overall mark. Iowa State finished third and fourth, respectively, in the Big 12 and had seven players earn all-conference recognition in Byars’ two seasons in Ames.
A native of Gainesville, Fla., Byars helped monitor ISU’s academic progress in his former role, mentoring the Cyclones to their highest marks in the classroom in school history. In 2011-12, Iowa State boasted its top-two semester GPAs in school history behind Byars’ tutelage.
“Micah has been an extremely valuable member of our program the last two years,” Hoiberg said. “He is a very organized and driven individual who will flourish in his new role as Director of Operations.”
