When Beth Goetz and the University of Iowa brass decided to pull the trigger on a coaching change in March 2025, they weren't just looking for a new name to put on the door. They were looking for a reset. Fran McCaffery had done plenty for the program, honestly. He stabilized things, brought in guys like Luka Garza and Keegan Murray, and kept them relevant. But after 15 years, the energy in Carver-Hawkeye Arena had just sort of… cooled. Attendance was at a 60-year low. The fan base was restless.
Enter Ben McCollum.
If you’ve followed Midwestern basketball at all over the last decade, you know this wasn't a random dart throw. Ben McCollum Iowa Hawkeyes basketball coach is a phrase that many saw coming, even if the timing felt like a whirlwind. He’s a guy who won four Division II national titles at Northwest Missouri State. Four. That doesn’t happen by accident. Then he went to Drake for exactly one season, won 31 games (a school record), swept the Missouri Valley Conference, and immediately got the call to come back to the city where he was born.
Why Iowa Bet Everything on a Division II Legend
People love to talk about "culture," but McCollum actually lives it. He’s obsessive. We’re talking about a guy who wears a white dress shirt and a team-colored tie to every single game because he thinks it looks professional and, well, because he's a little superstitious. It’s that old-school discipline mixed with a very modern, analytical approach to the game.
The jump from Division II to the Big Ten is usually a massive leap, but McCollum didn't really "jump." He climbed. His stint at Drake was the proof of concept. He took four of his starters from Northwest Missouri State with him to Des Moines—including point guard Bennett Stirtz—and they didn't just compete; they dominated.
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When he moved to Iowa City in 2025, he did the same thing. Stirtz followed him again. It's basically the ultimate "ride or die" scenario. Stirtz is now leading the Hawkeyes' backcourt, trying to prove that the "McCollum Way" works just as well against Purdue and Michigan as it did against Washburn or Missouri Southern.
The Defensive Identity Shift
For years, Iowa was known as a "track meet" team. They’d score 90, but they might give up 92. McCollum is the literal opposite. His teams have ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense for a decade straight across different levels. He uses this motto: "Impose Your Will." It’s borrowed from The Art of War, which sounds a bit intense for a Tuesday night game in January, but you see it on the floor. They play slow. They grind you down. They value every single possession like it’s the last one they’ll ever have. Honestly, it’s a bit of a shock to the system for Hawkeye fans used to the fast-break era, but it’s hard to argue with an 80% career winning percentage.
The Reality Check of the 2025-26 Season
It hasn't been all sunshine and roses in year one. As of mid-January 2026, the Hawkeyes are sitting at 12-5 overall and a somewhat rocky 2-4 in the Big Ten. They just hit their first real skid—three losses in a row to teams like Illinois, Minnesota, and a tough one at Purdue.
Losing hurts. But if you listen to McCollum, he’s not panicking. He recently told reporters that "part of trying to be good is sometimes there's a level of failure that comes with it." He’s focused on the long game. The big blow, though, was losing his son, Peyton McCollum, to a season-ending foot injury in early January. Peyton, a freshman guard, was a key piece of the rotation. Losing a player is one thing; losing your son from the lineup is another level of personal and professional stress.
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What Most People Get Wrong About the Hire
There was this weird narrative that Iowa only hired him because he was a "local guy." Yeah, he was born in Iowa City and grew up in Storm Lake. His mom, Mary, has three degrees from the University of Iowa. He even won an MVP award at a Hawkeye basketball camp as a kid.
But Beth Goetz didn't hire him for the homecoming story. She hired him because he wins. He’s currently fifth all-time in winning percentage among all collegiate coaches. That’s not a "local boy makes good" stat; that’s a "this guy might be a genius" stat.
Building the Roster: The Stirtz Factor and the Portal
The modern game is built on the transfer portal, and McCollum navigated it like a pro during his first week on the job. He managed to keep Cooper Koch, a highly-touted redshirt freshman forward, from leaving. He also brought in five players from his Drake squad.
- Bennett Stirtz: The engine. A 6'4" point guard who was the MVC Player of the Year.
- Josh Dix: One of the few holdovers from the McCaffery era who has really bought into the new system.
- Kael Combs: A guard who is starting to show flashes of being a high-level Big Ten defender.
The challenge now is recruiting. Iowa has historically struggled a bit with NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) funding compared to the giants like Ohio State or Indiana. McCollum basically said he wouldn't have taken the job if he didn't think that could be fixed. He’s out there shaking hands and trying to fill Carver-Hawkeye back up because, frankly, a loud arena is the best recruiting tool there is.
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Tactical Nuance: The "Slow-Down" Game
If you watch an Iowa game today, it looks different. The pace is deliberate. They rank near the bottom of the country in adjusted tempo, which is a massive departure from the last decade. They want to force you to play 25 seconds of defense. They want to frustrate you.
Some fans hate it. They miss the 100-point games. But McCollum's logic is simple: you can't control if your shots fall every night, but you can control how hard the other team has to work to get theirs.
Actionable Insights for Hawkeye Fans
Watching this transition requires a bit of a perspective shift. If you're looking for the high-flying, transition-heavy Iowa of 2022, you're going to be disappointed. But if you want a team that won't beat itself, here is what to look for:
- Watch the "Kill" Shots: McCollum’s offense is designed to get the ball into the paint or to a wide-open three-pointer at the end of the shot clock. It requires patience.
- Defensive Rotations: Pay attention to how the Hawkeyes "help the helper." Their defensive connectivity is usually miles ahead of where they were in previous years.
- The Stirtz Connection: Bennett Stirtz is essentially a coach on the floor. Everything runs through him. If he’s having a bad night, the system can stall.
- Carver-Hawkeye Energy: The goal is to make this the toughest place to play in the state again. Support the defensive grinds just as much as the dunks.
The road ahead is tough. The Big Ten in 2026 is a gauntlet, especially with teams like Indiana (under Darian DeVries, ironically McCollum's predecessor at Drake) looking strong. But for the first time in a long time, there’s a sense of a clear, defined identity in Iowa City. It might be a slower burn, but the track record suggests it eventually ends with a trophy.
Next Steps for Following the Season:
Check the upcoming schedule for the Indiana matchup at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, as this will be a massive litmus test for McCollum's defensive schemes against a high-powered offense. You should also monitor the injury reports regarding the backcourt depth following Peyton McCollum's surgery, as the Hawkeyes are expected to look into the transfer portal for one or two on-ball guards for the 2026-27 cycle to pair with Kael Combs.