By Shawn Stewart
The Hawkeyes officially hired Drake coach Ben McCollum to replace Fran McCaffery on Monday, just two days after the Bulldogs were knocked out of the NCAA tournament.
McCollum spent just one season at Drake as the Bulldogs won the Missouri Valley Conference and upset Missouri in the NCAA tournament before losing to Texas Tech in the second round on Saturday.
Drake went 31-4 in 2024-25 as McCollum replaced Darian DeVries following the new Indiana coach’s departure to West Virginia. After DeVries left, much of the roster at Drake turned over and McCollum relied on many of his former players from Division II Northwest Missouri State.
Four of the team’s starters played for McCollum at NWMSU, including MVC player of the year Bennett Stirtz. The junior averaged over 19 points and nearly six assists a game.
Before going to Drake, McCollum, 43, was the head coach at Northwest for 15 seasons. After the Bearcats went 22-31 in his first two seasons, the school didn’t have a losing record in any of McCollum’s succeeding 13 seasons and became the dominant team at the Division II level. NWMSU won national titles in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022 and made the tournament in every year from 2014 through 2024.