He took over a joke of a program which was poorly constructed with no recruiting prowess. The previous coach had zero ability to build depth, and no chance to consistently compete even in the marginal Big Ten, let alone nationally.
Miles and even Sadler before were placing band-aids on the program by trying to win games with teams centered around 2 to 3 front line stars and then players 4,5,6, and 7 who couldn't fit into a rotation for 12 other teams in the conference.
Hoiberg knew that in order to be a legit program, he needed versatility and depth. He had to blow the whole thing up. He did that, and then the Pandemic strikes which absolutely dealt him a ridiculous hand. It backed his clock up almost to a stagnant restarting point for 18 months.
College Basketball is also a weird animal where the recruiting cycle is sometimes a 3 or 4 year cycle. High major players are identified early. You either need to be on those guys from the beginning, or have a bead on targeting older and more complete transfers.
Fred has been able to do both.
What's crazy about this roster is they will likely go into 2024-25 with Brice Williams, Gary, Mast, Lawerence, and Eli Rice all coming back. Uhlis will be eligible again as a true point guard while 4-Star PG Nick Jankowski will going the fray. We can also imagine that Hoiberg will probably have 2 or 3 more impact transfers to join the team as well, including a big man.