Report: Iowa hiring Ben McCollum as next head coach

The Iowa Hawkeyes have found their next men’s basketball coach. Ben McCollum, who was previously the head coach of the Drake Bulldogs, has agreed to a deal to lead the Hawkeyes program moving forward, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

“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,” Thamel posted on X.

McCollum will replace Fran McCaffery, who had been at Iowa since 2010. During that time, the Hawkeyes were able to the NCAA Tournament seven times. That includes three times in the past four seasons and they never made it past the Round of 32. The decision to move on from McCaffery also came following a season where they finished tied for 12th in the Big Ten standings and had a 17-16 overall record.

For his part, Ben McCollum has been seen as a rising name in the college coaching ranks. From 2009-2024, he led Northwest Missouri State, a Division II program. While there, he had a 395-91 record, which is a .813 winning percentage to go along with four national championships. Those came in a six-season stretch that included a pandemic-impacted season in which his team was a favorite once again. Prior to that, McCollum was an assistant coach at Emporia State and Northwest Missouri State.

McCollum is an Iowa native, having been born in Iowa City and growing up in Storm Lake. As a player, he began his career at North Iowa Area Community College before making the jump to Northwest Missouri State. So, he has plenty of clear ties to the region. 

With that Division II success, McCollum was able to land the Drake job for the 2024-25 season. He’s led the Bulldogs to a 30-3 record and won the Missouri Valley Conference in both the regular season and conference tournament. He had taken over for Darian DeVries at that job. 

For its part, Drake made the NCAA Tournament as an 11-seed, where they defeated the Missouri Tigers in the Round of 64. While their run was cut short in the Round of 32, the Bulldogs certainly made a statement by defeating an SEC squad during their time in the dance.

All told, it’ll be interesting to see if Ben McCollum is active in the Transfer Portal and, if so, how many players he’s looking to bring in from Drake, now that the deal is completed with Iowa. The portal opens following a coaching change and will open for all players on March 24th.

— On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this article.