(St. Louis, MO) – From Steve Prohm signing an extension, to SIUE and SEMO looking for new coaches the Ohio Valley Conference is in a time of subtle transition.
New Information!
Well, not so subtle now! ESPN’s Jeff Goodman is now reporting that Eastern Kentucky’s Jeff Neubauer has agreed to become the Head Coach at Fordham.
The Prohm extension was a critical move by Murray State to maintain the excellence of the Racer program. Rumored to be in the running for the head coaching job at Alabama, Prohm is now signed through 2020 at MSU. The 40-year-old Prohm is the 17th fastest coach to attain 100 wins (104-29) says he’s excited to continue what he’s begun at Murray.
“I want to thank Murray State President Dr. Bob Davies and Director of Athletics Allen Ward for their commitment to me and the Racer Basketball program over the next several years,” Prohm said. “We have an opportunity to do something really special here and I’m honored to be a part of it.”
Along with Belmont and Eastern Kentucky, Murray State are the powers of the OVC.
The acceleration of UT-Martin (playing in the CIT semifinals Tuesday) and Eastern Kentucky, ‘The O’ is building its national resume and on an upward arc.
Important to that ascendancy are the upcoming hires at Southern Illinois Edwardsville and Southeast Missouri. The SIUE position is very important to the OVC. If the Cougars can become an OVC power, the league can make major inroads into the St. Louis market and gain both marketing and recruiting progress.
New Information!
(Just after this article went public, www.siucougars.com posted an update about the finalists for that position. Click here to read the article on Jon Harris and John Brannen)
Replacing Dicky Nutt at SEMO is almost as critical. The Redhawks have some natural rivalries that can become very important for drawing fans, money and players to the OVC. Surprisingly, Nutt was unable to recruit with much success in the SEMO’s home state.
Where Missouri State and Southern Illinois Carbondale (natural rivalries for the Redhawks) have worked both southern portions of Missouri and Illinois for both talented and popular players, Nutt stayed true to his Memphis area roots and at times found talented players, but they failed to connect with the local fans.
There have been some recent rumors about Rick Byrd being a potential candidate for the Tennessee coaching vacancy. While that seems to be a long shot for several different reasons, this is a critical question to be answered for the Belmont family and the league.
It is an important off-season for the OVC.
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A couple of big opportunities in the post for Atlason, but not his strong suit and @BradleyUMBB come up empty. 13 point lead is now 5. Four Braves in double figures. @DariusHannah3 with a double-double.
