Arkansas State Mid-South expected to hire Ben Tanoff as coach

Arkansas State Mid-South is set to hire Ben Tanoff as its next men’s basketball coach, a move that would replace Cody Hastings and bring in a coach who just came off a run to the NJCAA Division II national championship game with Ellsworth Community College. The Greyhounds in West Memphis, Arkansas, are not tearing anything down. They are trying to keep the winning moving while changing voices.

That matters because Hastings did not leave behind a mess. Connors State announced him as its new head coach on June 22, and his final Arkansas State Mid-South team went 27-8, won the Region 2 regular season and tournament titles, and claimed the Central Plains District crown in 2025-26. He had been at the school for seven years, including three as head coach, after taking over when Chris Parker resigned. Tanoff is stepping into a program with immediate expectations, not a long-term project.

His Ellsworth track record is exactly why this hire makes sense. Ellsworth brought him in during the summer of 2022, and he is entering his fourth year there. The program said his work touched scouting, player development, academic coordination and daily operations, the kind of behind-the-scenes load that usually tells you more about a coach than a sideline interview ever will. Ellsworth also credits his tenure with the 2024 Region XI tournament championship, the program’s first in 38 years, and a return to the NJCAA Division II final four for the first time in 47 years.

The postseason run was no fluke. Ellsworth finished the 2025-26 season 28-8 before reaching Danville, Illinois, where it beat Iowa Central 85-70 on March 21 to reach the title game. Parkland then ended the Panthers’ run with a 76-68 win at Mary Miller Gymnasium, finishing 29-7 and taking its first NJCAA Division II national title in 40 years. Tanoff also helped Ellsworth send 10 student-athletes on to the NCAA Division I level, a number that matters in junior college basketball because the best recruiters are usually the ones who can show players a next step.

That is the real bet Arkansas State Mid-South appears to be making. Tanoff’s background points to a coach who values structure, player development and a clear recruiting pipeline, not just a short-term roster patch. In Division II JUCO basketball, where summer recruiting can swing an entire season, that profile can matter as much as any final score. Arkansas State Mid-South is choosing a coach whose last stop looked a lot like the standard it wants to chase.