The Iowa Hawkeyes made major news earlier this week, as the program announced the hiring of Ben McCollum as its new head coach. McCollum will replace long-time head coach Fran McCaffery, who was let go after more than a decade at the helm. This will be McCollum’s first opportunity as a head coach on the high-major level.

McCollum arrives after a few down years for Iowa basketball. While McCaffery led the program to lofty heights, Iowa had failed to make the NCAA Tournament in either of the last two seasons and had gone past the First Round just once since 2019. And things bottomed out this year, with the Hawkeyes finishing well below .500 in Big Ten play for the first time since 2018.

Turning things around in a deeper and more complicated Big Ten won’t be easy, but McCollum arrives in Iowa City with an impressive resume. He led Northwestern Missouri State to an impressive 395-91 (.813) record over 15 seasons in Division II and guided Drake to a 31-4 mark in his first season at the helm for the Bulldogs. Great coaches win wherever they go and McCollum has certainly done that, with four Division II national championships and a Missouri Valley conference championship in his first year at Drake.

McCollum has also unique ties to Iowa, having been born in Iowa City and playing basketball at North Iowa Area Community College in the late 1990s and early 2000s. His local ties should help him get NIL support, which will likely be the most difficult part of McCollum’s job in Iowa City.

There’s little doubt Iowa fans are excited for this pickup. McCollum was one of the best coaching candidates this cycle and there are plenty of reasons to think he finds success with the Hawkeyes.

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