By Hawk Fanatic
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Ben McCollum, who was born in Iowa City in 1981, is returning to his birthplace to coach the Iowa men’s basketball team.
The news broke Monday morning and was confirmed by the Iowa Athletic Department,
McCollum burst on the national scene this season by leading Drake to a school-record 31 wins, and to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in what would prove to be his only season with the Bulldogs.
McCollum’s reputation as a winner, however, was established long before his success at Drake, which fell to Texas Tech 77-64 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament this past Saturday in Wichita, Kansas.
The 43-year-old McCollum, who grew up in Storm Lake, won four national titles in 15 seasons as the head coach for Division II Northwest Missouri State.
His teams are known for playing rock-solid defense, for being fundamentally sound and for being unselfish and connected on offense.
McCollum replaces Fran McCaffery, who was fired after 15 seasons as the Iowa head coach.
McCaffery is Iowa’s all-time winningest head coach with 297 wins. He led the Hawkeyes to seven NCAA Tournament appearances and to 11 Big Ten upper division finishes in the last 13 seasons.
But his teams never advanced past the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, and Iowa also had its lowest home attendance in 60 years this season, barely averaging 5,000 fans for the 18 home games.
McCollum will receive a significant boost in pay, considering Fran McCaffery was making $3.2 million annually as the Iowa head coach.
However, McCollum will also face some financial challenges and shortcomings with his new job, most notably Iowa men’s basketball having one of the Big Ten’s lowest NIL payrolls to use for roster building at approximately $1.5 million annually.
Seven Iowa players also have entered the transfer portal since McCaffery was fired, so McCollum certainly faces a daunting task in building a roster.
Carver-Hawkeye Arena also needs an upgrade and there are plans to address it, including possibly moving the student section closer to the court according to Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz, who conducted the search for a new coach.
McCollum emerged as the favorite to land the Iowa job after fellow Iowa native and former Drake head coach Darian DeVries was hired by Indiana last week.
DeVries spent this season as the head coach for West Virginia after having coached the Bulldogs for the previous six seasons.
The fact that DeVries grew up in Aplington and is the older brother of former Iowa All-America defensive lineman Jared DeVries helped to fuel a narrative that Iowa was Darian’s dream job.
But when that storyline crumbled, the focus shifted to McCollum.