CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (KCRG) - Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton turned from a recruiting secret to a future star.
He started as a “tall, skinny, gangly, under-recruited kid,” according to Iowa State assistant coach Kyle Green, who was an assistant at UNI while Haliburton was in high school.
Haliburton played at North High School in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Green and head coach Ben Jacobson offered him a scholarship to Northern Iowa, despite his relative lack of size.
“He was like the pied piper. Players followed him, he had great leadership skills,” Green said. “Unbelievable personality, he was really charismatic, he had leadership skills.”
“You thought ‘boy he’s sure got a chance to be a great player,’ in a million years I wouldn’t have thought he would have been this guy that’s doing things he’s doing in the NBA.”
Green was sold, Haliburton JUST didn’t have the measurables to attract high major interest. But that changed the summer before his senior year of high school. Haliburton played in a tournament in Las Vegas, where an assistant coach from Iowa State noticed him.
“The next day - they had a game, it was a four day tournament - the head coach (Steve Prohm) came with the assistant coach, and they ended up offering,” said Green. “Well, as soon as that happens, then Nebraska offers, Minnesota, other schools started to jump him and offer.”
Haliburton committed to Prohm and Iowa State, and was drafted to the NBA two years later. Ironically, Green moved jobs from UNI to Iowa State in 2021, but Haliburton was already gone.
“Didn’t happen. Everybody’s got those stories right?” said Green. “The one that got away. Like the big fish that you got to the boat, but it snapped the line and got away? Similar story.”
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