Steve Prohm is returning as head coach of the Murray State men's basketball team, the school announced Friday. Prohm previously spent a decade on the program's staff from 2005-2015, including four as head coach.
Prohm replaced Matt McMahon, his former assistant, who was named head coach at LSU this week, replacing Will Wade.
After his first stint as head coach — in which he went 104-29 — Prohm left for Iowa State, where he served as head coach from 2015-2021, winning the Big 12 tournament twice and making three NCAA Tournament appearances. He was fired by Iowa State, which plays in the Sweet 16 Friday night under coach T.J. Otzelberger, after going 2-22 with zero conference wins in his final season.
Prohm's Murray State teams previously won two Ohio Valley Conference regular-season titles (2012 and 2015) and a game in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. The 2014-15 squad advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT.
Murray State advanced to the second round of this year's NCAA Tournament before falling to Saint Peter's. The school is moving to the Missouri Valley Conference on July 1.
(Photo: David Purdy / Getty Images)
Why Prohm?
Brendan Quinn, college basketball senior writer: Because why overthink things? Prohm's wife is from the Murray, Ky., area and the family moved back to the region after Prohm was let go at Iowa State. One of the winningest coaches in program history was sitting there, ready to go.
When McMahon left for LSU, the two obvious choices were Prohm or Tim Kaine, McMahon's top assistant. By tapping Prohm, Murray State is going with the experienced winner and what appears to be the safer bet. It has to be said, though, that while Prohm won four straight OVC titles as Racers coach, the most recent memory is a late swoon at Iowa State — finishing 5-13 in the Big 12 in his fifth year and 0-18 in his sixth and final season.
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What should his top priorities be?
Quinn: First a foremost, build a staff. According to a source, former Murray State assistants Casey Long and Kaine will be joining McMahon at LSU. Both were major pieces of Murray's success in recent years and will leave a void. The third member of McMahon's immediate staff was Rico White, a 29-year-old former Chattanooga player. It's unclear whether he's heading to LSU, but he'd make an obvious choice as a holdover for Prohm if he's not.
Beyond that, Prohm will have to retain as much of the roster as possible, notably Justice Hill, Trae Hannibal and D.J. Burns. The Racers are already losing star KJ Williams and Tevin Brown. Losing anyone else could turn Year 1 under Prohm into a rebuild.
How much more challenging will Missouri Valley be for Murray State?
Quinn: It will be significant. The OVC finished No. 23, 22, 29, 25 and 23 over the last five seasons in KenPom's conference efficiency ratings. The Missouri Valley? It was No. 11, 10, 11, 15 and 9 in that same time span.
The Racers aren't only changing leagues, they're changing levels. They're going from low-major to mid-major and the differences are vast — from talent to budgets to travel. This is probably where some of Prohm's appeal resided. His experience as both an ex-Murray coach and a former high-major coach makes him a reasonable choice to oversee this transition.
The fact is, Murray State was the winningest program in the OVC for a reason — recruiting, spending and tradition. Now it's a program forging a new identity.
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