Report: Iowa, Xavier agreed to home-and-home prior to Richard Pitino, Ben McCollum hires

The Iowa Hawkeyes and Xavier Musketeers have reportedly agreed to a home-and-home series with one another. This comes as both schools are undergoing coaching changes, though it reportedly was scheduled before both schools reportedly made their hires of Ben McCollum at Iowa and Richard Pitino at Xavier.

The series is going to begin during the 2025-26 season with a game in Iowa City. Then, the return game will be held at the Cintas Center during the 2026-27 season. However, the official dates of the series are still to be determined.

As of now, there is no timetable for the official announcement of the series. It’s also still unclear when the exact dates for the series are going to be decided between the two sides.

Ben McCollum is replacing longtime Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery. He previously was the head coach of the Drake Bulldogs for one season, going 31-4 and 17-3 in conference play. That was good enough to win the conference in the regular season and the conference tournament, making the NCAA Tournament where the Bulldogs pulled off a first round upset before losing in the second round.

An Iowa City native, McCollum has plenty of ties to the region. However, he has spent the majority of his career at his alma mater, Northwest Missouri State. A Division II program, he played there and spent time as both an assistant and the head coach there. He left following the 2023-24 season with a record of 395-91 and four national championships at that level.

Richard Pitino, meanwhile, is the son of legendary coach Rick Pitino. He replaces Sean Miller, who left to become the head coach at Texas. Xavier is now his fourth stop as a head coach, having previously led the FIU, Minnesota, and New Mexico programs. He has also spent time as an assistant at several schools, including for his father.

For his career, Pitino has a 247-186 record. That includes four trips to the NCAA Tournament, including in the last two seasons. This season’s round of 32 finish for New Mexico tied the deepest run that Pitino has had in the NCAA Tournament for his career.

While there is a lot of excitement surrounding Pitino’s Xavier team playing his father’s St. John’s team in Big East play, this scheduled matchup against Iowa is an exciting one too. Both coaches will be looking to make their mark in a marquee non-conference matchup when they meet next season.