After 31-4 season at Drake, Ben McCollum taking Iowa men’s basketball coaching job

Ben McCollum, the winningest coach in all levels of NCAA men’s basketball over the last nine seasons, has been named the new men’s head coach at Iowa.

The university announced the hire Monday morning.

“We are excited to welcome Coach McCollum and his family back to Iowa City,” Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz said in a release. “Ben has a track record of success both on and off the court. His talent for developing student-athletes and fostering a strong team culture has been evident throughout his career.

“I am confident that Hawkeye fans will enthusiastically support the McCollum family as we embark on the next chapter of Iowa men’s basketball.”

McCollum, 43, was born in Iowa City and grew up in Storm Lake, graduating from St. Mary’s High School in 1999. He comes to Iowa after one season as coach at Drake University, where his team was 31-4. The Bulldogs were 17-3 and finished first in the Missouri Valley Conference. McCollum was the league’s Coach of the Year.

Drake athletics director Brian Hardin told KCCI-TV sports director Scott Reister that he offered McCollum a significant raise Sunday afternoon, with a substantial increase to NIL money for the players included. McCollum hadn’t finalized his decision at that point, but called Hardin on Monday morning to tell him he was going to Iowa. McCollum had four years left on his Drake contract.

In a Drake press release, Hardin said “Drake fans will always remember the feelings that were generated from this magical season.”

McCollum succeeds Iowa’s all-time winningest coach, Fran McCaffery, who was fired on March 14 after 15 seasons and a 297-207 record.

“Returning to Iowa City as the head coach of the Hawkeyes is a dream come true for me and my family,” McCollum said in the release. “The passion of Hawkeye fans is unmatched, and I am incredibly excited to get started on this new journey together.”

Drake, an 11-seed, won its first-round NCAA tournament game against 6-seed Missouri, 67-57, then fell to 3-seed Texas Tech Saturday in the second round, 77-64.

Last April 1, Drake hired McCollum from NCAA Division II Northwest Missouri State, where he had been the head coach since 2009 and won national championships in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022. His 2020 team was 31-1, but the NCAA tournament was canceled due to the pandemic.

McCollum’s record over 15 years at the school was 395-91. He was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II National Coach of the Year five times. He was a Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductee last year.

The Bearcats were 253-21 over his last eight seasons. His teams won Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) regular-season titles in each of his last 11 seasons.

McCollum played basketball at North Iowa Community College for two seasons, then went on to play for and graduate from Northwest Missouri State. He was an assistant coach at Emporia State for four seasons before becoming Northwest Missouri State’s head coach in 2009 at age 27.

His first two teams were 12-15 and 10-16. Then, a dynasty blossomed. The Bearcats never lost more than seven games in a season for the next 13 years and went to 12 NCAA tournaments.

Drake hired McCollum last spring after Darian DeVries’ ended his hugely successful six-year run there and took a similar job at West Virginia. Twelve players transferred out after DeVries left.

McCollum brought four of his Northwestern Missouri State players with him to Des Moines, added two transfers from Wyoming and one from a Florida junior college, and led the Bulldogs to their third-straight MVC tourney title and automatic NCAA tournament berth.

His top three scorers were from Northwest Missouri, including MVC Player of the Year Bennett Stirtz, a point guard who has a season of college eligibility remaining.

McCollum is one of 10 Naismith Coach of the Year semifinalists, and the only one not from a major conference. Drake is second in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 58.9 points per game while averaging 69.8.

McCollum’s national title teams averaged 78.4, 82.4, 82.8 and 76.1 points. He ranks fifth on the all-time NCAA collegiate coaches list in winning percentage (426-95, .818).

McCollum comes to a program that had seven players with remaining eligibility enter the NCAA transfer portal within a week after the Hawkeyes’ 17-16 season ended. Two high school players who made verbal announcements they would join Iowa next season have recently decommitted.

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