University of Northern Iowa head coach Ben Jacobson was named the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year at a State Farm MVC Tournament luncheon on Thursday.  Now in his 14th season at the helm of UNI, Jacobson is the longest-tenured of any current coach in the MVC.  It marks the fourth time that Jacobson has been honored as the league's top coach, tying Maury John of Drake as the only two in league history to win the award four times.

MVC Coach of the Year Release (PDF)

Jacobson edged Southern Illinois' Bryan Mullins by six points in the voting (108 to 102).  SIU was picked 10th in the pre-season poll and finished fifth.  UNI, meanwhile, was picked to finish third in this year's pre-season rankings.  It's the third time in the past five seasons that the league's top coaching honor was decided by six points or fewer (In 2016, Barry Hinson of SIU earned the award by three points over Gregg Marshall of Wichita State, and in 2017, Dan Muller of Illinois State edged Marshall by six points in the voting.)



UNI earned the State Farm MVC Tournament top seed after earning the league’s regular-season men’s basketball title for the first time since 2010. It is the third regular-season crown for UNI (2009-shared, 2010-outright).  It marks the third time UNI has been the top seed at Arch Madness. UNI won titles in 2009 and 2010 as the top seed.  It also earned tourney championships in 2004, 2015 and 2016.  Jacobson has led the Panthers to the NCAA Tournament four times previously, most recently in 2016.

Jacobson continues to climb the all-time MVC lists for victories. Only one other coach has won as many as 291 games during his 14th MVC season.  Henry Iba of Oklahoma State had 302 total wins at the end of his 14th year.  Notably, Jacobson is fourth all-time in MVC history with those 291 career wins as an MVC coach, and his 153 league wins rank fifth-best.  Jacobson enters this year’s State Farm MVC Tournament with a 16-9 all-time record at Arch Madness (with four crowns). The 16 wins rank third all-time in MVC history, while the four titles trail only the six championships earned by Dana Altman (Creighton).  Altman’s 21 all-time tourney wins is the league record.

Notably, the only other UNI coach to claim the MVC's top honor was Eldon Miller in 1997.

UNI opens up Arch Madness on Friday (March 6) at 12 p.m. versus the winner of this evening’s No. 8 Drake versus No. 9 Illinois State game. The Panthers are seeking their first NCAA Tournament berth since the 2016 season, one in which they defeated Evansville in the State Farm MVC Tournament title game.


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