Ben Jacobson

Ben Jacobson (born December 16, 1970) has been the head men's basketball coach at the University of Northern Iowa since 2006. Previously an assistant at North Dakota, North Dakota State, and was a top assistant at Northern Iowa before taking over as head coach.^[1][2]

Playing career

Jacobson attended Mayville-Portland high school. After his senior year he was named 1989's North Dakota Mr. Basketball. Jacobson went on to play collegiality at the University of North Dakota from 1989-1993. He was a four-year letterman for the Sioux, a two-year starter, and he ended his career as the school's all-time assist leader. UND made two Division 2 Elite Eight appearances and four regional appearances, along with winning two conference championships, during his career. He was team captain in 1991-92 and 1992–93, was named to the NCC's All-Academic Team in 1993, and was a player representative to UND's letterwinner's association from 1991-93.

Coaching career

Jacobson's biggest coaching accomplishment was in 2009–10, when the Panthers made a run into the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament highlighted by an upset of top national seed Kansas. ESPN.com columnist Pat Forde called the Panthers' win "the biggest tourney upset in years," and called the clinching shot by Panthers guard Ali Farokhmanesh "the greatest early-round shot in NCAA tournament history."^[3]

Before the season, Jacobson was seventh in pay among the 10 men's head coaches in the Missouri Valley Conference. While he was not seeking to leave UNI, and both he and the UNI athletic administration agreed that bringing him closer to the middle of the league would be acceptable, the athletic department was strapped for cash. That changed with Farokhmanesh's shot—in the three days between the Panthers' return from their upset of Kansas to their departure for their next tournament game, the athletic department was able to raise $1.95 million to keep Jacobson. Many of the donors were previously undecided about giving, and some had never before contributed to the UNI athletic department.^[4]

In March 2010, Jacobson signed a 10-year extension with UNI. The contract guarantees the coach $450,000 a year with annual increases of $25,000 through the length of the contract.^[5]

In the 2010-11 season, UNI head coach Ben Jacobson led the Panthers to their eighth consecutive 18-plus win season, third straight postseason bid and a Valley-leading third straight 20-plus win season.

Prior to that stretch of eight straight seasons, UNI had tallied only six 18-plus win seasons in the history of its program.

Coach Jake became the fastest coach in Panther history to tally 100 career wins. It took him only 149 games as the Panther head coach to accomplish the feat. The previous mark was set by Art Dickinson at 164 games.

Jacobson also led the Panthers to a fourth-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2010-11 - the eighth straight year the Panthers have finished in the upper half of the league.

What a season it was in 2009-2010 for the UNI Panthers under fourth-year head coach Ben Jacobson. The Panthers posted a 30-5 mark to eclipse the school record for wins by seven games and earned the program's first-ever Sweet 16 appearance by knocking off the No. 1-ranked Kansas Jayhawks in the NCAA Tournament's second round in Oklahoma City, Okla.

The Panthers finished the 2009-2010 season ranked No. 13 in the final ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll - marking the highest ranking in school history.

Jacobson-coached squads have made defense a priority and none more prevalent than the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, which saw the Panthers named the Missouri Valley Conference's Army National Guard Defensive Team of the Year in back-to-back years.

The Panthers made their mark in 2008-09 on the road as the squad put up an impressive 11-1 mark on the road against league foes. Included in that impressive road mark was a streak of eight straight victories away from the McLeod Center, which was the eighth-longest road winning streak in the history of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Jacobson-coached squads have made defense a priority and none more prevalent than last year's team, which was named the league's Army National Guard Defensive Team of the Year. The Panthers held the competition to 63.5 points per game and 41.9 percent field goal shooting in 2008-09.

Jacobson, 40, was hired as head men's basketball coach on March 22, 2006, becoming the 21st head coach in UNI history, and since then, has kept the Panthers in the upper half of the rugged Missouri Valley Conference.

The 2010-11 season marked the eighth straight season that the Panthers have posted an upper-division finish during the MVC's regular-season. Prior to that streak starting in 2003-04 (when UNI tied for second and won the MVC Tournament), UNI had only finished in the top half of the league standings twice since joining the conference in 1991.

The 2007-08 UNI team, which posted an 18-14 overall mark and advanced to the semifinals of the State Farm MVC Tournament, ranked 14th in the nation in fewest turnovers per game, averaging just 11.8. The Panthers turned it over more than 13 times in a game just 11 times, with a low of five against both Loyola (Dec. 1) and Illinois State (Jan. 30).

Jacobson's 2007-08 Panthers were also stalwarts on the defensive end of the floor. They led the Missouri Valley Conference in field goal percentage defense (.395), and were third in scoring defense (60.3 ppg) - ranking 17th and 14th nationally in those categories. UNI allowed only six opponents to score more than 68 points last year in any game, holding its foes to 50 points or less six times, and holding 13 opponents to less than 38 percent shooting.

In addition, its 61-48 win at Iowa State on Nov. 27, 2007 marked just UNI's third win in 27 games played in Ames, and only the school's second-ever win at Hilton Coliseum. The Panthers last win at Hilton was in 1997 under Eldon Miller, while UNI's other win at ISU was a 59-54 victory in the 1963-64 season, when it was a Division II school known as the State College of Iowa under the direction of Norm Stewart.

Jacobson also coached UNI as it became the first college program ever to represent the United States of America at an international basketball competition. In August 2007, UNI was chosen to be Team USA at the World University Games in Bangkok, Thailand. Donning the Red, White and Blue, UNI went 5-1 in the tournament, losing only to eventual gold medalist Lithuania, while posting wins over Angola, Turkey, China, Finland and Israel.

Jacobson finished his first campaign at the helm of UNI with an 18-13 record. The 18 wins were the most for a first-year Panther head coach since the team joined the Division I ranks in 1980. In addition, UNI posted wins over Iowa State and Iowa - sweeping the Cyclones and Hawkeyes in the same season for just the second time ever - including posting a win in Iowa City for the first time in program history.

Academics also are of the highest priority under Jacobson. UNI posted a 3.23 team cumulative grade point average in the fall 2010 semester. A total of 18 Panther basketball players have earned first-team, second-team or honorable mention Academic All-Conference honors since 2003.

Before taking over as head coach, Jacobson was the Panthers' top assistant coach starting in 2001, and was a key cog in bringing the Panthers from the basement of the Missouri Valley Conference to the penthouse. With Jacobson on staff, the development of UNI basketball has been remarkable.

UNI has won at least 18 games each of the past eight seasons, the first time in school history it has accomplished that feat. The Panthers have won 174 games since the start of the 2003-04 season, marking the most successful stretch in school history.

UNI has also advanced to the NCAA tournament five times over the past seven years (2004, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010), including receiving two at-large bids. UNI also achieved its first-ever Division I top-25 ranking during the 2005-06 season.

Head coaching record

References