The Short List: Ben McCollum

With Plan A off the board, Plan B doesn't look so bad.

Iowa has entered the market for its fourth men’s basketball coach since 1999. How does Beth Goetz go about handling her first major-sport coaching search as athletic director? Where does Iowa fit into the grand scheme of major college basketball at the moment? Does this portend a revamp of the entire program? LET’S TALK ABOUT IT.

Iowa entered this hiring cycle in a rare position. Whereas the last two basketball coaching searches didn’t have an obvious choice on the board, this search had two. With Darian DeVries off the board to Indiana, we turn to the other hot name with obvious ties to the program, Drake coach Ben McCollum.

McCollum was born in Iowa City and raised in Storm Lake, Iowa. He spent two years playing basketball at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City before transferring to Northwest Missouri State to finish his career. He graduated in 2003, immediately went into coaching, and spent six years as an assistant before taking over his alma mater in 2009. He wasn’t an immediate success — NMSU went 22-31 over his first two seasons in charge — but the eventual success was massive. Over thirteen campaigns from 2011-2024, McCollum’s Bearcats won four national championships,¹ twelve conference championships, nine conference tournament championships and twelve NCAA Tournament appearances. If you cut it down to his last eight seasons, his teams went a staggering 253-21 overall and 150-14 in its conference. At one point, he went six consecutive seasons with one NCAA tournament loss.

When Darian DeVries left Drake for West Virginia, he left a significant hole to fill. Tucker DeVries went with him to Morgantown, and three other starters entered the transfer portal and moved to Power 5 programs. Drake hired McCollum, and McCollum brought his NMSU squad north with him, including a recruit out of Kansas City who had signed with the Bearcats, as well as a pair of transfers from Wyoming who came with assistant Bryston Williams².

Obviously, the Northwest Missouri State guys did just fine. Drake went 30-3 this year, won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament, and got an 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament³. The Bulldogs went undefeated in the non-conference season, and won a November holiday tournament over Miami, Vanderbilt and Florida Atlantic. They knocked off Kansas State in Kansas City in December, as well. Drake’s three losses were by a combined 13 points, none by double digits. As good as DeVries was, McCollum’s one-year record was even better.