Utah State hires Ben Jacobson from Northern Iowa! Resumé, Accomplishments, Effect on Retention, & Reaction! MAJOR stars enter the transfer portal, who

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Welcome back everyone to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! The offseason has already kicked into high gear, with Utah State moving quickly to hire their next head coach in Ben Jacobson from Northern Iowa. Not exactly a household name, but I’ll walk you through his resume and tell you why I think he’s the right man to lead the Aggies into the future, as well as how his hiring affects their chances of retaining their star players. The portal is also heating up, with seven different award winners announcing their intentions to transfer. We’ll talk about who all of those guys are, where they could potentially be heading, and how college sports continues to evolve, or devolve. No time to waste here, let’s dive in!

Episode link is here!

Show Notes:

1. Utah State hires Ben Jacobson from Northern Iowa
   • How Jacobson turned the Panthers into a mid-major force
   • Pros & Cons of the hire, plus buyout numbers (SHOCKING)!
   • Overall opinion
2. Transfer Portal Madness begins!
   • Six All-Mountain West members/award winners already in the portal
   • Bios, accomplishments, landing spots for each player
   • All-Mountain West departures: By the Numbers
   • Diagnosis of the current college sports landscape (tampering, lack of penalties, etc.)

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on Apple Podcast/Spotify, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Our CBB Transfer Tracker will be releasing this week, so look out for that always-updating list! Also, check out my first ever YouTube video, diving into Boise State’s 2026 transfer class if you haven’t already! Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here for the entire offseason marathon!

Quick note: I’ve been a little under the weather the past few days, so I don’t have a preview for New Mexico’s NIT semifinal against Tulsa, but that will be on Thursday at 5 PM, and if they win that they’ll advance to the finals on Sunday at 6 PM. I’m rooting for Eric Olen, Jake Hall and the boys to become the first Mountain West team to reach the NIT final, but apologies to Lobo fans for not having an in-depth breakdown for you here. Don’t worry, we’ll break their performance down next week!

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