The Iowa Hawkeyes are close to finding their next men’s basketball coach. Ben McCollum, who was previously the head coach of the Drake Bulldogs, is working to finalize a deal to lead the Hawkeyes program, according to David Eickholt.

Ben McCollum would replace Fran McCaffery who had been at Iowa since 2010. During that time, the Hawkeyes were able to the NCAA Tournament seven times. That includes three times in the past four seasons and they never made it past the Round of 32. The decision to move on from McCaffery also came following a season where they finished tied for 12th in the Big Ten standings and had a 17-16 overall record.

For his part, Ben McCollum has been seen as a rising name in the college coaching ranks. From 2009-2024, he led Northwest Missouri State, a Division II program. While there, he had a 395-91 record, which is a .813 winning percentage to go along with four national championships. Those came in a six-season stretch that included a pandemic-impacted season in which his team was a favorite once again. Prior to that, McCollum was an assistant coach at Emporia State and Northwest Missouri State.

McCollum is an Iowa native, having been born in Iowa City and growing up in Storm Lake. As a player, he began his career at North Iowa Area Community College before making the jump to Northwest Missouri State. So, he has plenty of clear ties to the region.

With that Division II success, Ben McCollum was able to land the Drake job for the 2024-25 season. He’s led the Bulldogs to a 30-3 record and won the Missouri Valley Conference in both the regular season and conference tournament. He had taken over for Darian DeVries at that job.

For its part, Drake made the NCAA Tournament as an 11-seed. On Thursday, the Bulldogs are scheduled to take on the Missouri Tigers. Now, that game has had an extra layer of interest added to it, as does every game Drake plays as they go on their run through the NCAA Tournament, which they’ve been described as being primed for a Cinderella run in. Then, Bennett Stirtz, who followed Ben McCollum from Northwest Missouri State to Drake, is also regarded as one of the best players in the entire tournament.

It will be interesting to see if Ben McCollum is active in the Transfer Portal and, if so, how many players he’s looking to bring in from Drake, should the deal be completed with Iowa. The portal opens following a coaching change and will open for all players on March 24th.