Drake AD Cracked Perfect Joke After Losing Another Coach to a Bigger School

Former Drake basketball coach Ben McCollum is now the head coach of Iowa.

Drake University Athletic Director Brian Hardin. / Lily Smith/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Iowa Hawkeyes hired Ben McCollum on Monday as the next coach of the men's basketball team. McCollum will replace former Iowa coach Fran McCaffrey, who spent 15 seasons as the team's coach before he was fired earlier this year.

McCollum leaves for Iowa after spending one season at Drake, who he led to a 30-3 record, a Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship and an NCAA Tournament victory upset over Missouri in the first round of the tournament. Only after one season with the Bulldogs, McCollum is departing for a bigger program.

Drake has become accustomed to watching their coaches leave for power-four programs after seeing success with the Bulldogs. Before McCollum, Darian DeVries coached the program for six seasons and reached three NCAA Tournaments before joining West Virginia last season. DeVries spent one season with West Virginia before recently getting hired by Indiana. Prior to DeVries, Niko Medved coached Drake for one season before getting picked up by Colorado State, and now, Minnesota.

It seems that right as Drake starts winning, another team comes to swoop their coaches. Following the departure of McCollum, Drake athletic director Brian Hardin perfectly joked: "We'll try to lose more next year."

Drake AD Brian Hardin when asked about fans being frustrated that every time the Bulldogs have a good season their coach gets poached.
"We'll try to lose more next year." 😂 pic.twitter.com/pTRJFy1U6p

— Mr. SOUNDOFF (@johnsears) March 24, 2025

Hardin more seriously said, "We should never apologize for winning. That's not a bad thing. Score is kept for a reason. We want to win more times than not, so we're not going to apologize for that. ... I get the disappointment for today, I've had some conversations with other folks, we're not going to feel sorry for ourselves. ... I am very bullish on the future of the Bulldogs."

Hardin will now turn his attention to making his next head coaching hire for the basketball program. Hopefully for the team, this coach will be successful and not leave as quickly.

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