AMES — Iowa State men’s basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger has finalized his coaching staff for the 2026-27 season, adding a new assistant coach and two graduate assistants while shifting two familiar names into new roles.
Chuck Ruffing has been named an assistant coach for the Cyclones. Richardson Maitre and Fletcher McGarvey have joined the program as graduate assistants.
Iowa State also announced that Thomas Pollard has moved into the role of Director of Recruiting, while former Cyclone standout Diante Garrett is now the Director of Player Development.
Ruffing joins Iowa State after spending the 2025-26 season as an assistant coach at Western Illinois. Before that, he served two seasons as head coach at Bryant & Stratton College in Wisconsin, where he helped guide the Bobcats through one of the best stretches in program history.
His 2023-24 team went 23-10 and reached the regional championship game. The following season, Bryant & Stratton finished 29-7 overall and 21-1 in regional play. The Bobcats won the NJCAA Region 4 Championship and advanced to the NJCAA National Tournament for the first time in program history. Bryant & Stratton also picked up its first national tournament win by beating Orange County Community College in the consolation round.
Before leading Bryant & Stratton, Ruffing was an assistant coach at NCAA Division III programs Marian, Wisconsin Lutheran and Rockford. At Marian, he helped the Sabres reach the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history. Ruffing also spent one season as head coach of the West Bend East High School boys’ basketball team.
A native of De Pere, Wisconsin, Ruffing played college basketball at Marian and Concordia Chicago. He appeared in 50 games at Marian and was a NACC Scholar-Athlete while at Concordia Chicago.
Maitre joins the Cyclones as a graduate assistant after a playing career that included stops at Indian Hills Community College, Florida Atlantic and Samford. At Florida Atlantic, he appeared in 63 games with 46 starts and averaged 9.7 points per game during the 2019-20 season.
He later played two seasons at Samford, appearing in 45 games with 15 starts. Maitre also played professionally in Spain and Portugal and coached at the 2025 Canada Senior Men’s National Training Camp.
McGarvey moves into a graduate assistant role after spending the last three seasons as an Iowa State team manager. During that time, he assisted with player development, skill training, practice planning and scouting reports.
He also worked with Sportscode, Synergy and other film software for practice preparation and scouting. During the 2025-26 season, McGarvey coded live games and practices and contributed to Iowa State’s in-game replay system at the bench.
The completed staff gives Otzelberger a blend of veteran assistants, former Iowa State ties, rising young staffers and new additions with experience across college basketball, junior college, player development and operations.
Otzelberger is entering his sixth season leading the Cyclones.
2026-27 Iowa State men’s basketball staff
Head coach: T.J. Otzelberger
Assistant coach: Tim Buckley
Assistant coach: Erik Crawford
Assistant coach: Allan Hanson
Assistant coach: Chuck Ruffing
Assistant coach: Nate Schmidt
Director of Basketball Operations: Micah Byars
Director of Recruiting: Thomas Pollard
Director of Strength & Conditioning: Pete Link
Director of Player Development: Diante Garrett
Graduate Assistant: Richardson Maitre
Graduate Assistant: Fletcher McGarvey