Iowa Hawkeyes Land Proven Winner In New Head Coach Ben McCollum

Ben McCollum did a phenominal job in his one season with Drake but he's been a proven winner for years now. He's now the new head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Mar 22, 2025; Wichita, KS, USA; Drake Bulldogs coach Ben McCollum during press conference at Intrust Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Iowa Hawkeyes did not wait long to find Fran McCaffery's replacement. In fact, there's a good chance they knew all along that they wanted to go after Drake's Ben McCollum. They just had to wait for him to become available, because he had his Bulldogs on an impressive run in the NCAA Tournament.

Either way, it's official now, according to multiple sources. After one incredible year at Drake where he took the Bulldogs to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Hawkeyes have reached an agreement to make McCollum their next head basketball coach.

Sources: Iowa has agreed to a deal to make Drake coach Ben McCollum the school’s next coach, per me and ⁦@jeffborzello⁩. He won four Division II national titles at Northwest Missouri State prior to leading Drake (31-4) to the NCAA Tournament in his lone season there. pic.twitter.com/UPjLeiQ8Um

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 24, 2025

Ultimately, this was a fit that made too much sense for both parties for it to not happen. For McCollum, being the head coach at Iowa is a homecoming. He was born in Iowa City in 1981 and he played high school basketball at St. Mary's High School.

For Iowa, the Hawkeyes are getting a proven winner. The most recent example of that was McCollum's past season with Drake, which will go down as his only with the Bulldogs. He went 31-3 with a 17-3 Missouri Valley Conference record. Not only did his team win the MVC and then win the MVC tournament, but the 11th-seed Bulldogs went on to beat No. 6 Missouri in Round 1 of the March Madness tournament.

McCollum's run at Drake was stellar, but it pales in comparison to his many years as head coach at Northwest Missouri State. He went 395-91 in 15 seasons there with four national titles.

The lasting moment for McCollum in 2025 will be his teams 77-64 loss to No. 3 Texas Tech in Round 2, but don't let the sting of that defeat fool you. The Hawkeyes absolutely just hired a winner in McCollum, and they're bringing him back home.