Missouri Valley Basketball: Top 10 head coaches of the century (2000-20)

By Joey Loose | Jun 5, 2020

ST. LOUIS, MO - MARCH 10: Members of the Bradley Braves celebrate after beating the Northern Iowa Panthers in the final game of MVC Basketball Tournament at the Enterprise Center on March 10, 2019 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Bradley Braves beat the Northern Iowa Panthers 57-54 to win the MVC Championship. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

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ST. LOUIS, MO – MARCH 10: Head coach Ben Jacobson of the Northern Iowa Panthers (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

5. Missouri Valley Basketball coach – Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa, 2006-2020)

There are a great number of fans in Northern Iowa who owe a lot of their success to the role Jacobson has played in building this program. He spent five years on Greg McDermott’s staff prior to assuming the head coaching role in 2006. With no head coaching experience, there was no guarantee that Jacobson could continue the program’s growth. After all, the Panthers had made each of the last three NCAA Tournaments before McDermott’s departure.

In these last fourteen years, he’s done all he could to build Northern Iowa into a consistent contender. Along the way, the Panthers have made four NCAA Tournaments and won four Tournament games along the way. The highlight was Ali Farokhmanesh’s shot in 2010 to knock off Kansas on the way to the Sweet Sixteen. This past year’s team was Jacobson’s third to win the regular-season title, bouncing back from a few mediocre seasons.

It’s easy to argue that Jacobson should have more consistent success, but no one can argue with a foursome of NCAA Tournament victories. Their most recent trip was punctuated by a historic collapse against Texas A&M, but this won’t sour the future. Next year’s Panthers are in prime position to make it back to postseason glory if they build on this year’s first-place finish. There is still some great basketball in the MVC, but Northern Iowa is one of the brightest stars going forward.