Steven Marshall Prohm (born July 12, 1974) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach who is in his second tenure as the head coach for Murray State men's basketball. Previously, he was the head coach at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

, a position he had held from 2015 to 2021. Prohm served in the same capacity at

Murray State University Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, ...

from 2011 to 2015.

Early life

A native of

Vienna, Virginia Vienna () is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Vienna has a population of 16,473. Significantly more people live in ZIP codes with the Vienna postal addresses (22180, 22181, and 22182), bordered appr ...

, Prohm's family later moved to

Dalton, Georgia Dalton is a city and the county seat of Whitfield County, Georgia, United States. It is also the principal city of the Dalton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Murray and Whitfield counties. As of the 2010 census, the c ...

, where Prohm attended high school at Northwest Whitfield High School in Tunnel Hill, Georgia and lettered in basketball for three years, graduating in 1992. He started college at Oglethorpe University in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

where he played

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their ...

basketball. Prohm made it less than halfway through his first season as a player when he left the team to follow his passion for coaching. After his first semester at Oglethorpe, Prohm transferred to the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

where he worked as a student assistant coach and student manager for the Crimson Tide men's basketball team for five years. He graduated from Alabama in 1997 with a degree in education.

Coaching career

Prohm began his coaching career in 1998–99 as a volunteer assistant to Billy Kennedy at Centenary College, where he initially lived in the basement of a dorm and lived off cafeteria meals. He followed Kennedy to Southeastern Louisiana University, where he spent five seasons as an assistant before leaving for

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...

. In 2006, he rejoined Kennedy's coaching staff, this time at

. Prohm played a key role in Murray State's resurgence under Kennedy, which culminated with a school-record 31 wins in 2009–10 and an upset of Vanderbilt in the 2010 NCAA tournament—only the second NCAA tournament win in school history.

Murray State

Prohm was named Murray State's 15th head coach on May 23, 2011, after Kennedy left for Texas A&M. In his first season, he led the Racers to their third straight

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in the Football Cha ...

regular-season title, a school record-tying 31 wins (including a school-best 23–0 start), a top-10 national ranking and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Iowa State

On June 8, 2015, Iowa State University announced that Prohm would take over as head basketball coach replacing Fred Hoiberg, who left ISU to take the head coaching position with the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on Januar ...

. Prohm brought his lead recruiting assistant, William Small with him to the Cyclones. In his first season with the Cyclones, he managed to secure a #4 seed in the Midwest region, where they defeated Iona and Little Rock to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, where they fell to top-seeded Virginia, 84–71. During the first half of the 2016–17 season, the Cyclones struggled to meet preseason expectations, starting off with a record of 13–8. However, on February 4, 2017, they stunned third-ranked

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

, 92–89, in overtime, snapping the Jayhawks' 54-game home winning streak. This proved to be a catalyst for turning their season around, as the Cyclones won six of their final eight games of the regular season, and went on to win the 2017 Big 12 men's basketball tournament with an 80–74 victory over

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

. They received a #5 seed in the Midwest region of the 2017 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and defeat #12 seed

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

, 84–73, before falling to #4 seed

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

in the second round, 80–76. After a losing season in 2018, the Cyclones rebounded in 2019 with a Big 12 Tournament championship and an NCAA tournament appearance. But the Cyclones suffered back-to-back losing seasons in 2020 and 2021. The 2021 season was particularly brutal, as ISU, plagued by

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

issues for a significant portion of the season, won only two games all year and went 0–18 in Big 12 play, the first team to go winless through Big 12 play since TCU in 2014. The season concluded with a loss to Oklahoma in the preliminary round of the

Big 12 tournament The Big 12 Conference sponsors championships in 23 sports, 10 men's and 13 women's. The first conference championship awarded was the 1996 softball postseason tournament championship, which was won by Oklahoma. From 2011 through 2016, the foot ...

. Afterward, ISU athletic director

Jamie Pollard Jamie Pollard is an American athletic director who works at Iowa State University. Before Iowa State, Pollard served in various capacities in intercollegiate athletics at Wisconsin, Maryland and Saint Louis. Early life Pollard was born and rais ...

announced that Prohm and ISU had agreed to part ways. Prohm was succeeded at Iowa State by

T. J. Otzelberger Thomas John Otzelberger (born September 17, 1977) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach at Iowa State University. Early and personal life Otzelberger was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Thomas L. and Jac ...

Return to Murray State

On March 25, 2022, Murray State announced that Prohm would return to the university as head coach following the departure of

Matt McMahon Matt McMahon may refer to: * Matt McMahon (basketball) (born 1978), men's college basketball head coach * Matt McMahon (pianist) Matt McMahon is an Australian jazz pianist and composer. (many references to McMahon in this book) Winning the 'Wangar ...

to LSU.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Iowa State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prohm, Steve 1974 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players American people of German descent Basketball coaches from Virginia Basketball players from Virginia Centenary Gentlemen basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball coaches Murray State Racers men's basketball coaches Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels men's basketball players People from Dalton, Georgia People from Vienna, Virginia Southeastern Louisiana Lions basketball coaches Sportspeople from Georgia (U.S. state) Sportspeople from Fairfax County, Virginia Tulane Green Wave men's basketball coaches University of Alabama alumni