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The Iowa Hawkeyes are going local and hiring an in-state guy, an Iowa native and one of the fastest-rising stars in college hoops to be the next coach of their men’s basketball program. Drake’s Ben McCollum is expected to take the Iowa job, sources told CBS Sports, with the deal becoming official on Monday.
McCollum, 43, spent 15 seasons in Division II at Northwest Missouri State. He won four national titles and went 395-91, dominating at that level at a rate few have ever matched. McCollum was a target for multiple D-I gigs in recent years but held off until agreeing with Drake in 2024. The Bulldogs were one of the best stories of this season, going 31-4, winning the Missouri Valley and beating No. 6 seed Missouri in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Drake was eliminated Saturday in the second round by third-seeded Texas Tech, coincidentally enough coached by Grant McCasland, one of McCollum’s best friends in the coaching business. McCollum is considered one of the whip-smart X-and-O tacticians in college basketball. It’s a best-case scenario for an Iowa program that ranks near the bottom of the Big Ten in NIL resources and desperately needs rejuvenation after sagging attendance in the past two years.
McCollum follows Fran McCaffery, who coached the Hawkeyes for 15 years and won more games (297) than anyone in school history. McCaffery was fired on March 14 after a 17-16 campaign. The Hawkeyes made the Big Dance seven times under McCaffery, but the school hasn’t been to the Sweet 16 since 1999.
McCollum was born in Iowa City and grew up in Storm Lake, Iowa, and was one of two top-priority candidates for athletic director Beth Goetz. (Darian DeVries, now at Indiana after leaving West Virginia, was the other.) McCollum won national coach of the year at the Division II level five times. He’s one of a handful of coaches to begin their career at the Division I level by winning 30-plus games in his first season, joining the likes of Brad Stevens (Butler) and Brad Underwood (Stephen F. Austin).
