By Jeff Hunter ’96

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Starting basically from scratch is practically the norm anymore when a new coach takes over a college basketball program. In the age of the transfer portal and NIL money, retaining standout players is virtually impossible.

That’s why new Utah State head coach Ben Jacobson is a happy man.

“I can’t help but get a big smile on my face whenever I talk about those two guys, and I’ve only known them for about three-and-a-half weeks,” Jacobson declares. “Mason [Falslev] and Karson [Templin] love this place, and the community loves them. … From the first time I sat down to talk to them individually, you could just feel how much this place means to them. It’s one thing to talk about it; it’s another when you can feel it. And I could immediately feel that they wanted to stay at Utah State.

“And I don’t think there’s a better scenario that I can think of for a new head coach and a new staff than to have Mason and Karson say that they’re coming back because they love this place so much.”

The only two Utah State basketball players to win two NCAA Tournament games since 1970, Falslev, as senior guard, and Templin, a senior forward, were two very big pieces of the 2025-26 team that won an outright Mountain West regular-season title and the conference tournament on its way to a 29-7 season that included an 86-76 victory over Villanova in the first round of “The Big Dance.”

The Aggies’ historic run resulted in former head coach Jerrod Calhoun returning to his native Ohio to take over at Cincinnati, which created an opening for Jacobson. The head coach at Northern Iowa the past 20 years, Jacobson averaged just under 20 wins a season during his tenure with the Panthers, including four NCAA Tournament wins.

Jacobson’s impressive resume, which boasts a huge upset over No. 1 seed Kansas and a run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2010, made him an attractive target for USU athletic director Cam Walker.

“Coach Jacobson has been on the list for a long time as an unbelievable basketball coach, and one that if you get the privilege to work with, you would take it,” Walker says. “But I didn’t think he was movable. I didn’t think he’d leave.”

But it turns out Jacobson was looking for a new challenge, most notably something like taking on the likes of perennial powerhouse Gonzaga in the new-look Pac-12. And after spending 25 years in Cedar Falls — the first five as an assistant to Greg McDermott — the 55-year-old signed a five-year contract on March 30, to become the 23rd head coach in the history of the USU men’s basketball program.

“I think he’s hungry to chase championships,” Walker says of Jacobson. “… He wants to win championships, and he wants to do it in uncompromising fashion. He wants to do it with really good people — student-athletes that care about each other and their campus and the community.”

With the transfer portal opening a week after his arrival, Jacobson immediately turned his focus towards bringing back as much of the Aggies’ talent from last season as possible. A native of nearby Benson, Falslev was named the Mountain West Player of the Year after averaging 16 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.9 steals per game during his junior season. Templin, meanwhile, was honored as the conference’s Sixth Man of the Year after coming off the bench to put up 8.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per night.

Falslev started his Aggie journey in 2022-23 when he redshirted under former USU head coach Ryan Odom, and he and Templin, a native of Fairview, Texas, both played significant roles on Danny Sprinkle’s 2023-24 team that won the MW’s regular-season title and beat TCU in the NCAA Tournament.

In addition to the veteran duo of Falslev and Templin, Jacobson also retained freshman wing Kingston Tosi and freshman guard Brayden Boe, who both redshirted last season under Calhoun. He also convinced former UNI forward Will Hornseth to join him in Logan.

“That gives us a strong foundation — those five guys are a great place to start.” Jacobson says. “… There’s a tremendous tradition here at Utah State, but it’s going to be quite a challenge going into the new Pac-12. I think we all feel that excitement of facing the Mountain West teams, along with Washington State, Oregon State and Texas State. And Gonzaga has a hall of fame coach and has been one of the top programs in the country for almost forever now.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity, but I know Karson and Mason, and Boe and Kingston are really excited about that challenge,” Jacobson adds.

As of late April, the married father of two sons was nearing the completion of his coaching staff and rounding out his first Utah State roster with a mix of Division I and junior college transfers and freshmen recruits.

“Coach Jacobson is incredibly consistent and principled, and he’s been fantastic to work with because you know exactly what you’re getting,” Walker says. “I think he’s about the student-athletes to a degree that I don’t know that I’ve seen before, and that’s not a comment on any other coaches. They all love their student-athletes.

“That’s what really stood out to me at his press conference is that while we were waiting for everything to start, he kept peeking out to see which players were there. That’s all he cared about.”

The son of a teacher and school administrator, Jacobson grew up in several different cities and towns in North Dakota before his father took over as the principal at Mayville-Portland High School just before his sophomore year. He ended up being named North Dakota’s Mr. Basketball after a standout senior season in 1989, while also being recognized as the MPHS’s valedictorian.

“The catch and the asterisk and the funny part of the story is, whenever that comes up, I have to tell the entire story,” Jacobson clarifies with a chuckle. “And that’s that there were 36 in our graduating class, and my dad was the principal.”

Jacobson went on to play collegiately at North Dakota from 1989 to ‘93, serving as team captain his final two seasons. He remained in Grand Forks the next seven years, cutting his teeth as an assistant to Rich Glas, who later served as Jacobson’s associate head coach during his first season as the head coach at Northern Iowa.

After one season at North Dakota State, Jacobson made the move to Cedar Falls, where he stayed for a quarter of a century before deciding to relocate to the Beehive State. Ironically, after winning four games in four days at “Arch Madness” in St. Louis to secure the Missouri Valley Conference’s automatic bid, Jacobson and the Panthers found themselves in San Diego in the same NCAA Tournament site as the Aggies in mid-March.

A No. 12 seed, Northern Iowa lost in the first round to Rick Pitino and No. 5 seed St. John’s, but little did Jacobson know that he would come so close to crossing paths with part of his future Aggie foundation at Viejas Arena. Or that he would soon be surrendering the flat terrain of the Upper Midwest for an office with a spectacular view of Cache Valley and the Wellsville Mountain Range.

“It’s definitely different from Cedar Falls, and I was born and raised in North Dakota,” Jacobson acknowledges while looking out the large picture windows on the west side of the Wayne Estes Center. “So, I haven’t seen a lot of mountains.”