March 3, 2026

FINALISTS FOR 2025-26 BEN JOBE AWARD
The top minority head coaches in college basketball

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.

BEN JOBE AWARD FINALISTS

PREVIOUS AWARD WINNERS
Donte' Jackson, Grambling (2024); Jerry Stackhouse, Vanderbilt (2023); Kelvin Sampson, Houston (2022); Leonard Hamilton, Florida State (2021); Damon Stoudamire, Pacific (2020); James Jones, Yale (2019); Donte' Jackson, Grambling (2018); Jamion Christian, Mount St. Mary's (2017); Dana Ford, Tennessee State (2016); Bobby Collins, UMES (2015); Willis Wilson, Texas A&M Corpus Christi (2016); Kevin Ollie, Connecticut (2015); Sean Woods, Mississippi Valley State (2014); Cuonzo Martin, Missouri State (2013); Ed Cooley, Fairfield (2012).

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