Meet Alison Lacey also known as Alison Otzelberger; she is an Australian basketball coach and the wife of college basketball coach T. J. Otzelberger, head coach for the Iowa State Cyclone Men’s basketball team. Coach T. J. Otzelberger who joined Iowa State in 2021, previously coached the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels and South Dakota State; before that, he was an assistant coach at Washington, Chipola College, Burlington Catholic Central High School, and an associate head coach at Iowa State.
T. J. Otzelberger Parents
Coach T. J. Otzelberger was born Thomas John Otzelberger on September 17, 1977, in Milwukee, Wisconsin. He is the son of Thomas L. Otzelberger (b. October 26, 1953) and Jackie A. Otzelberger, of Waterford, Wisconsin.
T. J. Otzelberger Education
T. J. Otzelberger played basketball (point guard) at Thomas More High School and later at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he was team captain his senior year and from where he graduated in 2001, with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administrations and in 2004 received a Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
T. J. Otzelberger Coaching Career Timeline
- T. J. Otzelberger started his coaching career in 2001 at Burlington Catholic Central High School, as an Athletic Director, Head Boy’s Basketball Coach, and Physical Ed Teacher
- In 2004 became an assistant coach at Chipola College in Marianna, Florida.
- In March 2005, became an assistant head coach at Iowa State.
- Fred Hoiberg joined the Cyclones in 2009, naming coach Otzelberger their new associate head coach.
- On May 7, 2013, T. J. Otzelberger served as an assistant coach for the Washington Huskies under Lorenzo Romar.
- In April 2015, returned to Iowa State as an assistant coach.
- He left Iowa State on April 14, 2016, when South Dakota State named him their new head coach.
- He was named Summit League Coach of the Year in 2018.
- T. J. Otzelberger became the UNLB Runnin’ Rebels’ 13th head coach on Mach 27, 2019.
- On March 18, 2021, Iowa State announced they hired T. J. Otzelberger as their new head coach.
T. J. Otzelberger Net Worth
As of February 2022, coach T. J. Otzelberger’s net worth has been estimated at $3 million.
T. J. Otzelberger Contract
According to Iowa State Daily, coach T. J. Otzelberger’s annual salary is $1.5 million, they added that Iowa State paid $3.4 million to buy out his contract with UNLV.
Let’s break this down.
- Yearly salary: $1 million.
- Additional incentives: $500,000.
- His contract’s base pay: $300,000.
- For general media availability: $700,000.
- Bonuses for getting the team in one of the top four seeds in the Big 12 Tournament.
- No. 1 seed the bonus: $250,000.
- Winning the conference tournament: $100,000.
- At-large NCAA Tournament bid: $50,000.
- For each win in the tournament: $50,000.
T. J. Otzelberger Wife
T. J. Otzelberger and his wife Allison Lacey started dating when she was playing in Seattle and got married on June 1, 2013.
They met when she was playing basketball at Iowa State and he was an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team, thanks to former Iowa State player Craig Brackins, who introduced them.
“I don’t even remember having a conversation with him,” Lacey said, “and he didn’t know who I was. I just knew he was a coach. I knew Craig from basketball, and T.J. recruited Craig,” Lacey said. “Through Craig, we met.”
Their first date was at the Cafe in Ames and then the movies after the 2010 WNBA draft.
“I asked her out when I bumped into her leaving the (practice) facility after she was working out on a Friday afternoon,” Otzelberger recalled.
“It was so bizarre how it all happened,” Lacey said. “It was a bizarre way of meeting, and then dating.”
He asked her to marry him in May 2012, in Australia when they visit to meet her parents.
“We were in Australia last May for him to meet my family,” Lacey said. “We were hanging out at my parents’ house, but he kept wanting to go back to the hotel.”
“Alison didn’t want to leave the house, but I finally convinced her that we had to get going — that we’re on a tight schedule,” Otzelberger said.
But instead of going to his hotel, they went to the lake near a residential development in downtown.
“He said he wanted to look at a development — some apartments that were being built,” Lacey said. There was the biggest full moon in 10 years, they were saying. It was beautiful.”
“I walked ahead of him because I was cold and wanted to get back to the car,” she said. “I finally turned around to see how far back he was.”
“Alison’s dad and I went to lunch earlier that day, where I asked for her hand in marriage,” Otzelberger said. “So he knew.
They have since welcomed three children, twins Jayce, Olivia and daughter Stella.
Alison Lacey
6’0 Alison Lacey aka Allison Otzelberger was born Allison Mavis on December 26, 21987, in Canberra, Australia. She is one of three children born to Lorraine and Stephen Lacey, also proud parents of Allison’s sister Melissa and her twin brother Mark, who played college basketball at Des Moines Area Community College.
Former point guard Alison Lacey played in Australia before attending Ballard High School in Huxley, Iowa for her senior year; she later played at Iowa State from 2006 to 2010, under head coach Bill Fennelly.
“She’s the Peyton Manning of our team,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly told the Ames (Iowa) Tribune earlier this season. “The Indianapolis Colts aren’t in the Super Bowl without Peyton Manning. This team doesn’t win 20 games without the way Alison Lacey has played.”
Alison was drafted by the Seattle Storm in the first round (10th overall) in the 2010 WNBA draft; Allison and the Seattle Storm won the 2010 WNBA Championship. That same year she played for the WNBL team, the Canberra Capitals, but decided not to return to play for the 2012 season; instead, she took a coaching job.
In February 2012, Marshalltown Community College hired Alison Lacey as their new head coach. She left after T. J. Otzelberger was hired by the Huskies.
