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Ben McCollum, who led Drake's dominating run through the Missouri Valley Conference and a win in the NCAA Tournament in his only season with the Bulldogs, was named head coach at Iowa on Monday.
Athletic director Beth Goetz announced McCollum's hiring 10 days after she fired Fran McCaffery and two days after McCollum wrapped up a 31-4 season with a loss to Texas Tech in the second round of the West Regional. Terms of his contract weren’t announced.
McCollum takes over a program that had its worst season in seven years. The Hawkeyes were 17-16 overall and, at 7-13, tied for 12th in the Big Ten Conference. Iowa also has seen a steep decline in attendance the last two years.
The 43-year-old McCollum's ties to the Hawkeye State run deep. He was born in Iowa City, raised in Storm Lake and played junior college basketball in Mason City. His mother earned her undergraduate, master’s and law degrees from Iowa.
“Returning to Iowa City as the head coach of the Hawkeyes is a dream come true for me and my family," McCollum said. “The passion of Hawkeye fans is unmatched, and I am incredibly excited to get started on this new journey together."
McCollum's coaching profile has been on the rise since he landed his first head coaching job at Northwest Missouri State and won four Division II national championships in 15 seasons.
Four of his Northwest Missouri players joined him at Drake, and the Bulldogs became one of the top stories in college basketball this season. They were dubbed “Division II Drake” by some, a moniker that only served to motivate the team.
All four of the Northwest Missouri transfers were starters and one of them, Bennett Stirtz, led the Missouri Valley in scoring and was named conference player of the year and most outstanding player of the MVC Tournament.
The Bulldogs were picked fifth in the 12-team Valley and received no first-place votes. They ended up winning the regular-season championship by two games with 17 conference wins, their most ever. Then they won the MVC Tournament to run their overall win total to a school-record 30 in 33 games.
Next was a 67-57 win over Missouri in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but the Bulldogs had difficulty matching up with Texas Tech and lost 77-64.
Now McCollum moves a little more than 100 miles east, from Des Moines to Iowa City.
“We are excited to welcome Coach McCollum and his family back to Iowa City," Goetz said. "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 coaches a grinding style. The Bulldogs’ tempo was slowest in the nation. Offensive rebounding is emphasized. The defense allows 58.4 points per game, fewest in the nation. Just over 1 in 5 opponent possessions ends with a turnover.
“Death by a thousand paper cuts,” McCollum called his system.
The Bulldogs knocked off Miami, Vanderbilt and Kansas State on their way to a 12-0 start. They dropped back-to-back games before reeling off 11 straight MVC wins.
McCaffery was Iowa’s all-time wins leader and, at 15 years, the longest-tenured coach in program history. The Hawkeyes dropped seven of nine games in February and didn't qualify for the Big Ten Tournament until the last day of the regular season.
The program has struggled to attract elite talent because of its shallow pool of funds for name, image and likeness compensation.
Since McCaffery’s firing, seven players have announced they would enter the transfer portal.
Iowa’s men were 10th in the Big Ten in average paid attendance this season, at 9,161 per game, though actual crowds appeared significantly less. That’s an 8% drop from last season and 26% drop from 2022-23.
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