Utah State has its guy.
And no, it is not California head coach Mark Madsen despite the feverish rumors spreading across X last night.
Ben Jacobson, 55, had spent 25 years in Cedar Falls as a part of the Northern Iowa program – five as an assistant before being handed the keys in 2006.
He led the Panthers to five NCAA Tournament appearances, including an iconic run to the Sweet 16 in 2009-10 that was fueled by an Ali Farokhmanesh triple to upset No. 1 seed Kansas in the Round of 32.
Jacobson and Farokhmanesh
will now face one another on the sidelines when Utah State and Colorado State begin a new era of Pac-12 conference play this winter.
In 2014-15, UNI made history by achieving its highest AP and Coaches Poll ranking in school history (No. 10 and No. 9, respectively). They went on to earn a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament and make the Round of 32.
The following year, Jacobson led them to another opening round win, defeating No. 6 Texas.
In the second round with less than a minute to spare, it looked as if the Panthers would be dancing their way to a second-ever Sweet Sixteen appearance – up 12 points against No. 3 Texas A&M with 44 seconds left.
But a cataclysmic collapse upended those dreams.
Following that infamous result, the Panthers would not reach the Big Dance for a decade.
This year’s NCAA Tournament bid snapped the longest drought between appearances since a 14-year hiatus between 1990 and 2004.
Jacobson is on the Mount Rushmore of Missouri Valley head coaches, leaving the conference as the all-time leader in regular-season league wins and conference tournament wins.
He was also named the Missouri Valley coach of the year five times.
For Utah State, this is a non-flashy, high-floor hire that is made with the goal of keeping Jacobson for the long haul. He isn’t a mid-major darling that recently broke onto the scene with a March Madness charge.
That formula did well for the Aggies when it came to short-term success.
Craig Smith arrived from South Dakota just four years in as a full-time Division One head coach.
Ryan Odom spring-boarded from UMBC to Utah State thanks to a memorable upset as a No. 16 seed over No. 1 Virginia.
Danny Sprinkle spent four years at Montana State before pit-stopping in Logan for one year.
And Jerrod Calhoun left Youngstown State after seven seasons.
Ben Jacobson appears, from all accounts, to be returning home to his roots.
He was born in North Dakota and first got into the coaching profession with assistant stints at both North Dakota and North Dakota State.
It would come as a shock if he left Logan before eclipsing the three-year mark set by Tim Duryea and Craig Smith in the post-Stew Morrill era of Aggie hoops.
But the savviest factor with the hiring of Jacobson is that Utah State has to pay a buyout total of $0.
Yes, you read that right.
KC Smurthwaite of AthleticsAdmin.com published on X that if Jacobson gave UNI “advanced notice”, then the Aggies get away scot-free.
This will allow Utah State to utilize both the money saved from the lack of a buyout and the $3+ million compensation received from Cincinnati when it hired Jerrod Calhoun to retain its current roster and close the gap on the Pac-12 financial heavyweights, Gonzaga and San Diego State.
Dan Wetzel of ESPN made a critical point in a post regarding St. Bonaventure’s hiring of Division II coach Mike MacDonald, noting how, “Less money (is) spent on coaches, more on players. It’s a different era in how teams are built.”
In an ever-evolving world of revenue sharing and NIL, player retention and pseudo free agency matter more and more.
On the court (via KenPom’s database), Ben Jacobson favors a slower style that limits offensive turnovers, but doesn’t force opponents into errors.
UNI did not crash the offensive glass, but they didn’t afford opponents second-chance opportunities.
From the numbers, his mode of transportation feels similar to that of Randy Bennett’s Saint Mary’s Gaels – before he left for Arizona State, that is.
Was that choice a byproduct of the athletes he could sign in Cedar Falls?
I would lean towards yes.
Will Jacobson be rigid and resistant to philosophical change at Utah State?
I don’t believe that to be the case.
If you have higher-level athletes who can run for days, a coach worth his salt is going to let them use that advantage.
We will all learn more about Jacobson in the coming days and weeks, but while this move may not feel like an absolute grand slam on the surface, the more you dive into the details of the hire and where Utah State has been the last decade, Ben Jacobson could be the Aggies’ version of Brian Dutcher at San Diego State or Mark Few at Gonzaga.
A lifer that wins year after year and treats the NCAA Tournament as the bare minimum for a successful season.
