Editor: The following is largely a press release from benjobeaward.com.
(Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley Conference coaches are Ben Jobe finalists for the prestigious Ben Jobe Award. Valparaiso’s Roger Powell Jr, Morehead State’s Jonathan Mattox and Tennessee State’s Nolan Smith are in the running.)
(Boston, MA) – CollegeInsider.com has announced the finalists for the 2025-26 Ben Jobe award. The award is presented annually to the top minority head coach in division I college basketball.
The Ben Jobe Award is named in honor of one of the most iconic coaches in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is best known as the head coach of Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He was also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee, and South Carolina State.
His record at Southern was 209-141 and included four NCAA Tournament appearances. He also coached the Jaguars to one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles and two NAIA Tournament Championships. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was leading No. 15 seed Southern to a 93-78 win over No. 2 Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It stands as one of the great upsets in the history of the event.
Coach Jobe passed away on March 10, 2017.
The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com.
The 2026 award will be announced in Indianapolis, IN, site of the men’s Division I Basketball Championship.
(Former honorees include former Missouri State coach Dana Ford who won the award while coaching at Tennessee State and current Missouri State coach Cuonzo Martin during his first tenure with the Bears.)
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Opening round of #ArchMadness is today. The only quarterfinal we know is @UIC_MBB v @RacersHoops tomorrow at 2:30. We look at their contrasting styles heading into the @MVCsports tournament. #FatherHarry
Don't look now, but @BustingBrackets tells us some of the hottest teams coming into #ArchMadness aren't the teams at the top of the bracket. @ValpoBasketball, @SIU_Basketball & @UNImbb shouldn't be overlooked. #FatherHarry
ICYMI: @BelmontMBB & @BradleyUMBB are two of the best at being committed to development and succeeding at the same time. #ArchMadness
Congrats to @RogerPowellJr, @CoachJonny_B & @NdotSmitty being named to the Ben Jobe Award finalist list. Well deserved!
