(Iowa City, IA) — Iowa has its man, fans are happy, and the Hawkeyes have a hometown hero running the show. On Monday, the University of Iowa announced they will hire Ben McCollum as its new men’s basketball head coach.
McCollum returns home — he was born in Iowa City, IA — after just one season at Drake University where he took the Bulldogs to a 31-4 record and a win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Drake lost to Texas Tech in the 2nd round on Saturday. McCollum used a roster that included eight transfers from Division II schools including four from his previous coaching spot at NW Missouri St. to lead the Bulldogs to the Missouri Valley title. It included the MVC Player of the Year Bennett Stirtz. McCollum also got two transfers from Wyoming and one from Indiana St.
From the Iowa website, according to McCollum, “Returning to Iowa City as the head coach of the Hawkeyes is a dream come true for me and my family. The passion of Hawkeye fans is unmatched, and I am incredibly excited to get started on this new journey together. I am thankful to so many people who have been part of my journey, especially Michelle, Peyton, Tate and Grace.”
The 43 year old McCollum grew up in Storm Lake, IA and went to St. Mary’s High School. After two seasons at North Iowa Area CC in Mason City, McCollum played two seasons at Northwest Missouri St. — he was part of the Bearcats first ever team that made it to the Division II Elite Eight. After graduating with a degree in business, McCollum became a graduate assistant at his alma mater, then left for an assistant job at Emporia St. He spent four seasons at the Division II school in Kansas and came back to Maryville, MO where he was named the Bearcats Head Coach in 2009. He was hired by then AD Wren Baker who is now the Athletic Director at West Virginia.
That started one of the most incredible runs in Division II basketball history. McCollum’s first two seasons were not successful — 12-15 and 10-16 — but in season number three, NW Missouri St. went 22-7 and made it to the national tournament. That started a 13 year run where Northwest won at least 20 games and 4 national titles in 2017, went 38-0 in 2019 and won back-to-back championships in 2021 and 2022. McCollum went 395-91 at NW Missouri St. for an overall winning percentage of .793.
After Darian DeVries left Drake for West Virginia, McCollum was hired and thanks to the NIL, rebuilt the Drake roster quickly to a Missouri Valley conference title and their first first round tournament win since 1971.
McCollum replaces the all time wins leader at Iowa in Fran McCaffrey. In his 15 seasons with the Hawkeyes, McCaffrey went 297-207 for a winning percentage of .589. Iowa won over 20 games for four straight seasons from 2019-20 through 2021-22 but the team never made it to the Sweet 16 in that stretch. In fact, McCaffrey never took Iowa past the NCAA round of 32. Two seasons ago, Iowa went 19-15 and lost in the second round of the NIT. This past season, the Hawkeyes barely got into the Big Ten tournament and finished 17-16 which included a sub .500 record in Big Ten for the first time in 2012.
The Athletic reports that attendance has plummeted at men’s basketball games — Iowa averaged just over 5,000 fans per game this past season.
