Report: Iowa hires Ben McCollum as new basketball coach
In early December of 1998, Iowa hired Kirk Ferentz. He wasn’t the fans top choice as Iowa looked for a replacement for the recently retired Hayden Fry. Most Iowa fans were looking for the Hawkeyes to hire Bob Stoops, but he opted for a blue blood type program in Oklahoma.
Fast forward to March of 2025. Iowa made a change at their head coaching position and Hawkeye fans were initially hoping for another candidate to lead the program, but instead they got a coach who they hope will end up with a successful run on par with Kirk Ferentz.
That new head coach for the Iowa basketball program is Ben McCollum, per a report from ESPN. He wrapped up an amazing first year leading the Drake University program and was quickly hired by Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz.
Remarkably, McCollum was born in Iowa City, Iowa. He is 43 yards of age. He is married to his wife Michelle and have three children, two sons and one daughter.
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McCollum grew up in Storm Lake, IA. Initially he went to Northern Iowa Area Community College before transferring to Northwest Missouri State. After completing his playing career, he became a graduate assistant at Northwest Missouri State and then spent five seasons as an assistant at Emporia State before becoming the head coach at Northwest Missouri State in 2009. He remained in that position until 20024 when he was hired by Drake University.
During his time prior to being Iowa’s head coach, he compiled a 426-95 record, winning a remarkable 81.8% of his games. In his time at Northwest Missouri State, he won four national titles at the D2 level. He was named D2 national coach of the year by the NABC five times and was honored as the Clarence Gaines Award winner on three occasions.
In his first year at Drake, with a roster comprised of several players he brought with him from the D2 level, all the Bulldogs did was win 31 games, including one in the NCAA Tournament over Missouri.
