Report: Bulls, Hoiberg agree to 5-year, $25-million deal; announcement Tuesday

The NBA's worst kept secret won't be a secret much longer.

Iowa State's Fred Hoiberg will be officially announced as the Chicago Bulls' new head coach Tuesday, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.

Gary Parrish of CBS Sports reported earlier Monday that Hoiberg was traveling to Chicago to finalize a deal.

That deal will be for five years and nearly $25 million, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, roughly the same terms Steve Kerr and Derek Fisher signed for last summer with the Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks, respectively.

Hoiberg spoke with Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register prior to his departure from Ames Municipal Airport in Iowa on Monday, commenting on the opportunity to coach the Bulls.

"When this opportunity came about, it was something that interested me," he said. "This is one of my life goals." Although the signing of his deal is all but a formality, Hoiberg added, "We'll see how tonight goes. Nothing has been finalized yet."

The Bulls fired Tom Thibodeau on Friday after a five-year run that included plenty of on-court success disrupted by a long-broken relationship between Thibodeau and Bulls management, namely general manager Gar Forman and vice president John Paxson.

Hoiberg has been rumored to be Chicago's choice to replace Thibodeau for months, with multiple reports stating that the two sides essentially had a gentlemen's agreement already in place around the time Thibodeau was fired.

There were previous reports that the Cyclones coach was hesitant to take a stressful NBA job so soon after April heart surgery - his second open-heart procedure to address the aortic issues that cut short his playing career - but those concerns appear to have been quashed.

Hoiberg, who played for the Bulls from 1999-2003, emerged as one of college basketball's finest offensive coaches, leading Iowa State to as many NCAA Tournament appearances in his five years at the helm as the school accumulated over the previous 14 seasons.

The Cyclones appeared in the last four tournaments under Hoiberg, advancing as far as the Sweet 16 in 2014.

Hoiberg's hiring will continue the Bulls' trend of taking chances on coaches with no previous NBA head coaching experience.

It will also signal a shift in emphasis toward the offensive end for a Bulls team that boasted the NBA's stingiest defense over the five-year period Thibodeau was in charge. However, Chicago did finish this season in the top 10 offensively and 11th defensively.