Ben McCollum Breakdown - Iowa's New Coach's Offensive and Defensive Scheme

A breakdown of what Iowa's newest coach has done in his career

On April 1st, 2024, Ben McCollum was announced as the new Drake head coach after building a complete powerhouse at the Division II level with Northwest Missouri State. Less than 365 days later, he was announced as the newest Iowa Hawkeyes basketball coach after taking Drake to a Missouri Valley Conference Championship and the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament.

We will have to see if the success of McCollum translates to Iowa, but the one big thing that gives me hope is that everything points to McCollum being both intelligent and adaptable. He has his philosophies that have proven to work, but he’s also not set in stone on how everything has to happen. Coaches that are able to adapt to what they have in front of them are going to be the more successful coaches. The film speaks for itself on why he has been able to find success in his nearly two decade long coaching career.

Career Background

From 2009 to 2024, McCollum was the head coach of Northwest Missouri State. In those 15 seasons, here is what he accomplished…

• 4 NCAA Championships (and was ranked #1 in the Covid year that cancelled the tournament)

• 4 Final Fours

• 4 Elite Eights

• 8 Sweet Sixteens

• 12 Tournament appearances

• 8 Conference Tournament Championships (MIAA Conference)

• 12 Conference Regular Season Championships

• 349-91 record (241-63 in conference play)

• 5x Division II Coach of the Year

• 8x MIAA Conference Coach of the Year

Not many in the world can stack up a coaching resume like that, and that doesn’t even include the 1 year he had at Drake where he won Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament titles, AND took Drake to the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament.

Film Overview

Below is a brief breakdown of the offense and defense that Ben McCollum has run. A more in depth breakdown will be later in the article including the one big bet I think Ben McCollum makes by running the system the way he does.

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