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Iowa finalizing deal with coach of NCAA Tournament team, per report
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Iowa is reportedly close to hiring its new head basketball coach.
According to a report from 247Sports, Iowa is finalizing a deal with Drake head coach Ben McCollum.
McCollum, 43, was born in Iowa City and raised in Storm Lake. He began his playing career at North Iowa Area CC in 1999-2001 before transferring to Northwest Missouri State, He would begin his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Northwest Missouri State in 2003.
McCollum’s first head coaching job came at his alma mater. He held the job from 2009-24, posting a 395-91 record. McCollum picked up numerous conference and national Coach of the Year honors at Northwest Missouri State. The program won 4 NCAA Division II tournament championships (2017, ’19, ’21, ’22). McCollum’s teams were 32-7 in the Division II tournament.
The 2024-25 season was McCollum’s first at Drake in Des Moines, Iowa. He led the Bulldogs to a 31-4 season, including an NCAA Tournament victory over 6-seed Missouri. Drake’s season ended Saturday with a 77-64 second-round loss to Texas Tech.
Iowa dismissed long-time head coach Fran McCaffery on March 14. McCaffery, the program’s all-time wins leader with 297 victories, took the Hawkeyes to the Big Dance 7 times, but missed the NCAA Tournament back-to-back seasons.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
