Iowa State hires Steve Prohm as Fred Hoiberg’s replacement

Steve Prohm’s Murray State team won 29 games and was a No. 3 seed in the NIT.

Iowa State won 25 games and was a third seed in the NCAA Tournament.

That’s one measure of the step Prohm will take when he’s introduced as the Cyclones’ new men’s basketball coach on Tuesday.

Iowa State announced Monday that Prohm would succeed Fred Hobierg, who was hired as the Chicago Bulls’ coach last week.

Prohm’s four years as a head coach have been at Murray State, and his record is a superb 104-29. Last season, the Racers reached 27 victories, including 25 straight, before losing in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. They didn’t receive an NCAA Tournament at-large selection.

The Racers did in 2012, Prohm’s first season, and reached the round of 32. Murray State didn’t reach the postseason in 2013, won the Collegeinsiders.com Postseason Tournament in 2014 and reached the NIT quarterfinals last season.

Prohm was pointed toward the coaching profession as a college student. He played a half-season at Division III Oglethorpe in Atlanta before transferring to Alabama, where he worked as a student assistant coach and student manager.

He started his career as an assistant at Centenary under Billy Kennedy, the coach he would eventually succeed at Murray State when Kennedy went to Texas A&M.

Prohm’s teams have played with an uptempo style. The Racers ranked eighth nationally in scoring at 79 points per game last season.

According to ESPN, Prohm was one of five candidates who interviewed for the job in Atlanta over the weekend. The others: Cyclones’ assistant T.J. Otzelberger, North Carolina Central’s LeVelle Moton, Stephen F. Austin’s Brad Underwood and Valparaiso’s Bryce Drew.

Another name associated with the job was Phoenix Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek, a former Iowa State star.

Prohm will take over a program with high expectations. The Cyclones have won the previous two Big 12 Tournaments, have appeared in a program-best four straight NCAA Tournaments, and return several top players from a team that finished second in the Big 12 regular season, including Georges Niang, Monte Morris and Jameel McKay.

Prohm will join Texas’ Shaka Smart, formerly of Virginia Commonwealth as new coaches in the Big 12 this season.

“We feel Steve and his family are a perfect for Iowa State University,” athletic director Jamie Pollard said in a release. “Steve’s personal values, style of play and proven success as a head coach made him an outstanding choice to be our next coach.

“He is a proven winner who is widely respected by his current and former players.”

This story was originally published June 8, 2015 at 1:23 PM with the headline "Iowa State hires Steve Prohm as Fred Hoiberg’s replacement."