One day in the midst of rumors of Fred Hoiberg leaving Iowa State to coach in the NBA, Steve Prohm turned to his wife, Katie, and thought out loud about the prospect of Ames.

“Man, that’d be a great place to coach,” he said, knowing it would be a far-fetched possibility.

But when his agent called him a short time ago, his belief was proved wrong. Iowa State was interested in Prohm as the next head coach of Iowa State. 

It didn’t take long for the process to unfold.

Quickly after he was informed of Iowa State’s interest, he was asked for an interview.  Two days later, he was talking with the search committee of ISU Athletic Director Jamie Pollard, President Steven Leath and associate Athletic Director David Harris in Atlanta. 

“I was hoping we would make it through Sunday night, so I could watch [Game 2 of the NBA Finals], but I missed the second half,” Prohm said with a small smile.

He was rumored to be the new coach early Monday morning, just a day after he was interviewed, and the official announcement came later in the day on Monday. 

Prohm had little time to acclimate with the quickness of the process. 

Coaching his entire life in the Southeast, Prohm didn’t even visit Ames for the first time until Monday. In fact, he hadn’t even seen Hilton Coliseum, where he will play his future home games, when Iowa State introduced him at a conference Tuesday morning. 

Prohm’s name was placed atop Pollard’s list early in the search process, even before Hoiberg was definitively leaving. When Pollard was faced with the possibility that Hoiberg might leave, he asked Hoiberg who he should hire “if you leave.”

Hoiberg responded with Prohm.

“I knew about Murray State being good, but I did not know Steve Prohm,” Pollard said. 

Pollard also did something to find the new coach that he couldn’t help but laugh about at the introduction of Prohm — he asked the Big 12 officials for help.

“I wanted to know about the coaches we were looking at,” Pollard said. “What was their demeanor on the sidelines? How did they treat ya’? How did the players come out of timeouts? It was an insight that I thought was going to be really valuable to deciding who’s the right fit.”

Pollard, Leath and Harris made a list of 20 names and sent it to Parker Executive Search, which is based out of Atlanta. The list was cut to seven, which led to seven interviews in Atlanta — two Saturday night and the remaining five on Sunday morning. 

But the search committee didn’t even make a final cut. They picked Prohm. 

Pollard, Leath and Harris were looking for a coach who would make a “good fit.” And that meant the utmost importance of the players’ opinion.  

When Pollard met with the players to discuss a new head coach, a couple attributes stuck out: style of play and demeanor. 

The search committee felt a responsibility to hire someone who met the players’ expectations. 

“One of my goals was I want these four seniors to not have their senior season cheated,” Pollard said. “Because of a situation that was great for coach Hoiberg, but untimely for them.” 

Recruiting was another point of emphasis in the search. Prohm successfully recruited Isaiah Canaan to Murray State, who played for the Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers last season in the NBA. Prohm had another guard, Cameron Payne, who is a likely lottery draft pick in the upcoming NBA draft.

Pollard and Leath were concerned with not just this season, but seasons “two, three, four and five.” 

“If you can recruit to Murray, Ky., I think you can recruit to Ames, Iowa,” Pollard joked. “He’s a player’s coach.”

But there was one attribute above all that Pollard and Leath highlighted during the search — winning. 

“I don’t care what level you are coaching at if you can put together the streaks of wins in a row that he’s done and found ways not to have those nights when things aren’t going well and you don’t find a way to win. Winners find a way to win.” Pollard said. “He’s a proven winner.”