Iowa announced Monday that it has hired Ben McCollum away from Drake.
Coaching hires can’t accurately be graded until years later, but this looks like a home run and potential grand slam for the Hawkeyes, who parted ways with Fran McCaffery last week after 15 seasons.
McCaffery had a 297-207 record (58.9%) at Iowa, leading the Hawkeyes to seven NCAA Tournament appearances and four trips to the NIT. He only had two losing seasons, but he never took Iowa into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
The 43-year-old McCollum is a rising star in the coaching profession. He spent 15 seasons as head coach at Northwest Missouri State at the Division II level.
McCollum won four national titles with the Bearcats and might’ve won a fifth, as his team had a 31-1 record in 2020 before the NCAA Division II Tournament was cancelled due to the pandemic. He had a 395-91 overall record (81.3%) at NW Missouri St.
In his first season at Drake, McCollum won Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year honors and was a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year award. He led the Bulldogs to a 31-4 straight-up record and an 18-15 against-the-spread mark.
They beat Bradley 63-48 as four-point favorites in the finals of the MVC Tournament to earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Then McCollum led Drake to the Round of 32 for the first time since 1971 with a 67-57 win over Missouri in the first round. On Saturday, however, the Bulldogs were eliminated in a 77-64 loss to third-seeded Texas Tech as 7.5-point underdogs.
McCollum was born in Iowa City and grew up in Storm Lake, IA. He started his playing career at North Iowa Area Community College before transferring to NW Missouri St. after two seasons.
McCollum’s first goal at Iowa will be to get the Hawkeyes to their first Sweet 16 since 1999.