Jeff Horner was hired on May 6, 2025 as the new head men's basketball coach at Buena Vista University.
Horner arrives at Buena Vista after having served as head coach at DII Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo., for the last seven seasons. During that time, he compiled an overall record of 121-78 which included an 86-50 mark within the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). He captured a pair of regular season conference titles (2019-20 & 2020-21), won the GLVC Tournament in 2019-20, and was named GLVC Coach of the Year in both 2021 and 2024. Horner also led the Bulldogs to the NCAA DII National Tournament three times, advancing to the Elite 8 in 2020-21, and was named the NABC District Coach of the Year in 2021.
A native of Mason City, Iowa, Horner returns to the state of Iowa where he was named the state’s Mr. Basketball in 2002 before he went on to shine as the starting point guard for the Iowa Hawkeyes (2002-06). With the Hawkeyes, he was named team MVP from 2004-06, was a two-time All-Big Ten Third Team selection and named the MVP of the BIG Ten Tournament in 2006.
Following a brief professional career, Horner then got into the coaching ranks as an assistant coach in 2009-10 at Grand View University in Des Moines. In his lone season with the Vikings, he was part of a program that went 25-9 and won the Midwest Collegiate Conference crown while also qualifying for the DII NAIA National Tournament.
For the next four years, Horner was the head boys’ basketball coach at West Des Moines Valley and chalked up a 70-27 record, won two conference titles, made a pair of state tournament appearances and finished as state runner-up in 2013-14. He was also a two-time CIML Coach of the Year and coached Peter Jok, who was named Mr. Basketball in 2013.
Horner moved onto the collegiate ranks in 2014-15 when he became the director of basketball operations at the University of North Dakota. A year later, he took over as an assistant coach within the program and remained on staff from 2015-18. During his tenure, the Fighting Hawks won a conference regular season and tournament title in 2016-17 and qualified into the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament.
