New Iowa Men's Basketball Head Coach Ben McCollum continues to pick up the pieces after former Head Coach Fran McCaffery was fired. After McCaffery was fired and McCollum was brought in, the roster and the coaching staff was depleted.
Iowa had 11 players enter the transfer portal (one returned) and lost three recruits.
Over the past few weeks, the Hawkeyes dipped into the transfer portal to fill holes in their roster. Five players from McCollum's roster at Drake transferred to Iowa, including the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Player of the Year Bennett Stirtz.
After the fabulous five Drake Bulldogs players made their way to Iowa City, the basketball roster is beginning to take shape. Over the past week, McCollum has also added two new assistant coaches. On Tuesday, that number grew to three.
Welcome to the Hawkeye family, @_Connor_Wheeler #Hawkeyes 🐤 pic.twitter.com/7Zv5BBQPcm
— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) April 8, 2025
Connor Wheeler joins McCollum's staff after working with him as an assistant for Drake. Wheeler played college basketball at Illinois Wesleyan, Central Missouri, and finished his career at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. He also has eight years of coaching experience.
Before joining the Bulldogs, Wheeler was an assistant coach for Southeast Missouri State for two seasons (2022-2024). He helped Southeast Missouri State win its first Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title and make its first NCAA Tournament in over 20 years.
Wheeler also made stops at Southern Illinois (2019-2022), Southern Missouri (2018-2019), and Missouri (2016-2018).
Wheeler was critical to McCollum's staff at Drake as they finished the season with a 31-4. record. He helped rebuild a Bulldogs roster with a combined 10 transfers and first-year players.
McCollum is known for his ability to rebuild a roster, and Wheeler will have a critical role in aiding a similar rebuild in Iowa City.