Iowa men’s basketball head coach Ben McCollum leads practice June 19, 2025 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Iowa HC Awarded Best Coaching Hire Superlative

Originally posted on Iowa Hawkeyes on SI
By Connor Mardian | Last updated Oct 3, 2025 9:00 AM ET

The momentum around Iowa Hawkeyes basketball is quickly growing. As the leaves begin to fall, so too will the buckets at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The awaited debut of Ben McCollum has generated headlines for the former Northwest Missouri State and Drake head coach.

In the latest edition of the series “Candid Coaches,” hosted by CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander and Gary Parrish, the pair asked anonymous coaches an interesting question: “Which school made the best college basketball coaching hire in 2025?”

There is almost no bigger accomplishment than receiving praise from your peers, and the fact that it comes without name means there is no political play for coworkers to use the praise as justification for why they are the best candidate for the next big opening.

There have been a number of reshufflings in the collegiate basketball sphere that were nominated. McCollum was snatched by the Hawkeyes. Former LSU coach Will Wade took a new post at NC State, Sean Miller moved to the SEC with Texas, Ryan Odom is now coaching the UVA Cavaliers, a team Odom once led to the unthinkable 16-seed-over-1 upset. Former Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams moved to the Big Ten with Maryland, Niko Medved joined Minnesota, Kevin Willard left the Terrapins to join Villanova, Ross Hodge went to West Virginia, and Alex Jensen took over the Utah program.

Among all those candidates, McCollum came out on top, with 25% of the coaches polled believing he was the nation’s best new hire.

Here are two of the four quotes Norlander and Parrish compiled:

"It should've never taken Ben this long to get a power-conference job. Look at his career record and accomplishments. Great coach. He'll win consistently as long as his administration supports him."

"Ben McCollum because of fit. From the region, winning at an insane clip and has shown now he can recruit and coach in the current landscape of D-I. Iowa fans will love his demeanor and style of play."

McCollum spent 15 seasons with Northwest Missouri State, compiling a 395-91 record and tallying four NCAA Division II championships from 2012-2023. After his legendary Division II career, McCollum was tabbed by Drake as their next leader. He went an astounding 31-4 with the Bulldogs before grabbing the attention of Iowa, which signed him to a six-year deal.

This article first appeared on Iowa Hawkeyes on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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