Iowa State hires Steve Prohm as next head coach

The Iowa State Cyclones have named Steve Prohm as their new men’s basketball head coach, reports CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish. He will take the reins of the program from Fred Hoiberg, who recently took over as the Chicago Bulls’ head coach after five years in Ames.

Prohm, 40, recently signed a contract extension at his old school, Murray State, but couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take on a greater challenge in Ames. Prohm had a lot of success in his four years coaching the Racers, and now he’ll get to see if he can take a bigger program to even greater heights.

Murray State tied a school record by winning 31 games in Prohm’s first year at the school in 2011-12, then reached the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament with a win over Colorado State. The team hasn’t been back to the NCAAs since, but won the CIT in 2014 and reached the NIT quarterfinals this year after going a perfect 16-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The coach leaves Murray State with an overall record of 104-29 and a conference record of 54-10.

Prohm inherits a program that’s in fantastic shape after years of success under Hoiberg, who established the Cyclones as one of the top teams in the Big 12. The team was upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament after being a trendy Final Four pick, but that doesn’t overshadow how Hoiberg has transformed the program.

In December 2014, Prohm became the school’s fastest coach to reach 100 wins, and the Cyclones enter the next season with one of the most talented rosters in the country. Prohm should have his work cut out with expectations running high from the start, but the groundwork has already been laid.