Ben McCollum, Iowa's new head men's basketball coach, speaks during his introductory press conference Tuesday, March 25, 2025 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Four-Star Commit Reveals Why He Chose Iowa

Originally posted on Iowa Hawkeyes on SI
By Jordon Lawrenz | Last updated Sep 17, 2025 7:00 AM ET

A new era of Iowa Hawkeyes basketball has begun with head coach Ben McCollum at the helm. The longtime Northwest Missouri State head coach worked his way up the ladder from 2009-24. Last season, he led Drake to a fantastic 30-3 (17-3) season. His one and only year with the Bulldogs saw them win the Missouri Valley Conference and upset No. 6 Missouri in his first DI tournament appearance.

While he doesn't have much DI experience, McCollum went 32-7 in the DII tournament. He brought home four championships from 2017-22. From 2014-24, he won the MIAA 11 straight times. The Bearcats won their conference tournament eight of those years.

With many wondering how McCollum would be able to translate to D1, he put all doubt aside last season. While Drake would have loved to keep him, Iowa was in desperate need of a fresh start. In his short span with the team so far, they've already established an entirely different culture.

Iowa secured their first commitment in the class of 2026 with four-star forward, Ethan Harris. Harris spoke highly of McCollum's new assistant coach, Bryston Williams. When he wasn't praising McCollum's right-hand man, Harris had nothing but great things to say about the culture McCollum was building.

"Some of the biggest things were the team culture that they [Iowa] have," Harris said, per CBS Sports' Sean Bock. "I want to go somewhere, and I understand wherever I go that I'm going to be with the team 24/7, so I want to enjoy my time there. I think choosing Iowa was a great decision in that instance."

He continued, "Another one would be the coaching staff. Coach McCollum, from what I've seen, is a great coach, and his assistants are all great people. I'm surrounding myself with people I want to be around everyday."

"Normally, when you go to these schools, there could be a couple of outliers, but everyone at Iowa felt like a true fmaily. Everybody is just happy to be there. That's the best way I could put it. I couldn't really describe it to you unless you go there. It's one of a kind," Harris added.

Harris, a Washington native, chose to come to Iowa instead of remaining in his home state. The No. 19 power forward in the class of 2026 according to 247 Sports had offers from Boise State, Gonzaga, and Washington, among others. Harris made it very clear that he has confidence in both McCollum and Williams, two key pieces to fixing the Hawkeyes NCAA tournament drought.

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

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