Sources: Iowa to hire Drake’s McCollum as coach

Iowa has hired Drake‘s Ben McCollum as its next men’s basketball coach, the school announced Monday.

McCollum just finished his first season at Drake, leading the Bulldogs to a 31-4 record and the program’s first appearance in the NCAA tournament’s round of 32 since 1971. They won the Missouri Valley Conference’s regular-season and tournament titles before beating 6-seed Missouri in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Drake lost to Texas Tech in the second round on Saturday.

McCollum won Missouri Valley Coach of the Year honors and was named a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year award.

McCollum, an Iowa City native, replaces Fran McCaffery, whom Iowa dismissed earlier this month after 15 seasons as the Hawkeyes’ head coach. He was the school’s all-time wins leader with 197 and led the program to seven NCAA tournament appearances.

Iowa hasn’t advanced past the first weekend of the NCAA tournament since 1999.

Prior to taking over at Drake, McCollum was one of the most successful college basketball coaches in the country at Division II Northwest Missouri State. He led the Bearcats to four Division II national championships and a 394-91 record during his 15 seasons at the helm.

Under McCollum, Northwest Missouri State won 11 straight MIAA regular-season titles to end his tenure (and 12 total). Before he was named head coach, the program had won just four MIAA titles over the previous 62 seasons. The Bearcats went 38-0 in 2018-19 and suffered just one loss in both the 2016-17 and 2019-20 seasons.