Indiana Coach Search: Ben McCollum Is Possible Diamond In The Rough

Drake coach Ben McCollum is championed by fans who want to find the basketball equivalent of Curt Cignetti to be Indiana's next basketball coach.

Drake Bulldogs head coach Ben McCollum reacts during the second half against the Kansas State Wildcats at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana football struck gold when Curt Cignetti was hired to replace Tom Allen in November 2023.

A winner everywhere he had been, Cignetti rapidly turned Indiana from 3-9 afterthought to 11-2 College Football Playoff participant.

With Indiana on the hunt for its next men’s basketball coach, it’s only natural that Hoosiers want to find their hoops version of Cignetti.

While Cignetti had a major college football background before he became a head coach – he was an assistant at Alabama when the Crimson Tide won one of their national championships under Nick Saban – the picture that some fans have built up in their mind is for Indiana to unearth a small school gem who hasn’t had his chance yet.

Many of the fans who feel that way have coalesced around Drake coach Ben McCollum.

What Makes McCollum An Attractive Choice

Drake head coach Ben McCollum talks with his team during a second half timeout on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, at the Knapp Center. / Cody Scanlan/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

McCollum’s immediate success at Drake is what has made him attractive to some Indiana fans who want to find that diamond in the rough.

The Bulldogs are 25-3 in the solid Missouri Valley Conference. If Drake isn’t able to win the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Louis next week, the Bulldogs could be a NCAA Tournament at-large team. Perhaps even a team that could steal a bid from Indiana if the Hoosiers position themselves to make the tournament.

McCollum’s success at Drake suggests he can coach at the Division I level, but what makes McCollum’s record even more attractive was his success at the Division II level.

McCollum coached Northwest Missouri State from 2009-24, and he turned the Bearcats into a powerhouse. After two losing seasons to start his head coaching career, McCollum took Northwest Missouri State to the Division II playoffs in 2012.

Starting with the 2014 season, the Bearcats became a Division II dynasty. That was the season Northwest Missouri State made the first of eight Sweet 16 appearances under McCollum. In 2017, McCollum won the first of his four Division II national championships.

His most impressive season came in 2019 when he coached the Bearcats to a 38-0 record and his second national title. McCollum went 395-91 at Northwest Missouri State before he was finally tempted to move up to the Division I level at Drake in 2024.

What makes McCollum successful? Part of it is how he builds his culture.

McCollum is a big believer in “imposing your will,” borrowed from the famous book “The Art Of War.” McCollum’s interpretation is to be proactive in everything from workout attitude and to handling officials.

“If you don’t respond to (a bad call) and move on to the next play, you’ve imposed your will on it,” McCollum told the Kansas City Star in 2017. “You’re going to act how you act regardless of what’s going on.”

McCollum spends a lot of time studying traits of recruits to bring in the right players who fit his philosophy.

Once they commit, he spends an equal amount of time studying their skill set to mold the offense to who he has on-hand. McCollum’s offense will have its share of motion, but he doesn’t like to stick to one set way to run an offense. His teams tend to have lower possession totals, but are extremely efficient.

McCollum is the second coach from the Division II level that has enjoyed success in the MVC. A year ago, Josh Schertz coached Indiana State to the MVC regular season championship. Schertz was 337-69 at Division II Lincoln Memorial from 2008-21. McCollum and Schertz met in the Division II Elite Eight in 2017 with McCollum’s Bearcats getting the win.

McCollum has plenty of experience, but he is not old at just 43.

What Are Drawbacks With McCollum

Where the Cignetti and McCollum comparison falls apart is in the backgrounds of the two coaches.

Cignetti was a major college quarterback at West Virginia and an assistant coach at Rice (then in the Southwest Conference), Temple (then in the Big East), Pittsburgh, North Carolina State and Alabama before he became a head coach at any level.

McCollum has never been at a major school in any capacity. He played at the junior college level and Northwest Missouri State. He was a graduate assistant at Northwest Missouri State before he joined Division II Emporia State’s staff in 2005. He went from Emporia State to Northwest Missouri State as head coach in 2009.

Good coaches translate to any level, but McCollum has never had to recruit at a Big Ten level. That doesn’t mean he can’t, but it’s a risk to take the leap of faith that he can.

Indiana basketball is also not the same as Indiana football. The Hoosiers were rarely a winner on the gridiron so expectations from the fans weren’t nearly the same.

McCollum would be placed into the pressure cooker of Indiana basketball fan expectation without experience of having been in that situation before. It’s fair to ask whether a coach from a level down is ready for that part of the Indiana job.

Is It Realistic To Expect McCollumn To Take The Indiana Job?

Drake head coach Ben McCollum shakes hands with fans after a game on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, at the Knapp Center. / Cody Scanlan/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

McCollum’s record speaks for itself. He wins and wins big. Four Division II Elite Eight appearances and four national championships says it all in terms of whether he can get a team to win at a championship level.

Despite that, it would be a hard sell for many Indiana fans who prefer to have more of a “name” coach. It’s easy to get behind a person you’re familiar with, but unknown coaches sometimes don’t get the same length of rope if wins don’t come quickly.

McCollum would almost certainly be attainable from a salary standpoint (Drake is a private school that does not have to release contract information), but Indiana may not be the only Big Ten school on his trail.

Much like fellow Iowa native Darian DeVries, McCollum would likely be on Iowa’s radar if Fran McCaffery is let go at the end of the season. McCollum was born in Iowa City, though he grew up in Storm Lake, Iowa. Both coaches could also be candidates to go to Minnesota if the Golden Gophers part ways with Ben Johnson.

Is Indiana’s program in a place where it wants a coach so untested at a power conference school to lead their fortunes? It would be risky. For that alone, Indiana might not have McCollum among its top contenders.

On the other hand, he’s a proven winner and the Hoosiers desperately need someone to rebuild Indiana’s culture of consistent winning.

Would Indiana want McCollum to “impose his will” on the Hoosiers? It worked with Cignetti, and while the two aren’t a complete match in style, McCollum does bear similarities to Cignetti in terms of how their culture works behind closed doors.

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