NCAA Basketball: Top 10 impact head coaching hires from 2006
By Joey Loose
3. Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa)
Three straight NCAA Tournament appearances under Greg McDermott before leaving for Iowa State. This is the position that Northern Iowa was in come 2006 when a new head coach was needed. The program didn’t have to look far to find a successor, but that coach had the responsibility of keeping this program on track.
Ben Jacobson had never been a head coach before 2006. He had played his college ball at North Dakota before joining their coaching staff, spending over a decade with the now-Fighting Hawks. In 2000, he was lured away to North Dakota State by McDermott and followed him to Northern Iowa, spending six years as his aide before taking over the program on his own.
Northern Iowa has made four NCAA Tournaments since Jacobson inherited the program, but it’s been more about what this talented MVC program has done in the Big Dance. The 2010 team knocked off 1-seed Kansas in impressive fashion, while Paul Jesperson’s half-court heave in 2016 was one of the Tourney’s finest moments. Jacobson remains one of the better mid-major coaches and is still committed to this Panthers program.