It is Ben McCollum's world, and we are just living in it! Cinderellas may be a thing of the past, but the slow-paced No. 9-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes are one win away from the Final Four. It has been 46 years since Iowa last played in a Final Four. More importantly, it has been nearly 40 years since it last made it to the Elite Eight. McCollum is doing things in year one at Iowa that people could not have expected.
So when we see Will Wade bail on NC State after only season for LSU, it puts things into perspective...
Sources: Will Wade has signed a seven-year deal to return to Baton Rouge as LSU's head coach. https://t.co/Hd5ntbFnzW
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 26, 2026
Like Wade, McCollum only spent one year at his previous job before coming to Iowa City. He succeeded Darian DeVries at Drake in 2024-25. DeVries, in turn, only spent one season at West Virginia before heading to Indiana. Where things stand now, Indiana did not make the NCAA Tournament. Wade saw North Carolina State lose to Texas in the First Four. Iowa still marches on...
We are looking at the best Iowa basketball team in over a generation in year one under McCollum!
FROM SWEET TO ELITE pic.twitter.com/vWZdcARh5U
— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) March 27, 2026
McCollum has not only made DeVries and Wade look stupid in year one at their respective jobs, but he has pretty much erased Fran McCaffery from the minds of everyone in Iowa City. He could not get this program to a Sweet 16 for the life of him, but hey, at least he got Penn into the NCAA Tournament. McCollum has taken the college basketball world by storm, with one methodical possession at a time.
It just goes to show when it comes to coaching, winners will find ways, while losers will find excuses...
Ben McCollum is resetting the standard for first-year head coaches
Even though the transfer portal can help coaches rebuild it on the fly, so to speak, the only comparison to what McCollum is doing on the hardwood is what Curt Cignetti has been able to do on the college football gridiron at Indiana. The Hoosiers were one of the losing-est programs in college football history. Two years in, Indiana has lost two conference games, and just won a national title...
Truth be told, we are still a good ways away from that happening for McCollum at Iowa. However, his run of dominance over at Northwest Missouri State before his brief cup of coffee at Drake is akin to Cignetti's run at James Madison before Indiana came calling. Not everyone gets to be them. What is important to understand is you have to be a teacher first, one with a clear vision and an honest voice.
When comparing McCollum to DeVries and Wade, the messages do not get mixed at Iowa. McCollum knows what to do, and his players act on it. With DeVries, he threw a bunch of jumbled-up pieces together out of the transfer portal at a wall, hoping something, anything stuck. As for Wade, he was calling Baton Rouge a long time ago. He has a reputation to uphold, one covert phone call at a time...
So even if traditional powers like North Carolina do come calling, McCollum just seems to work at Iowa. He is a Midwesterner to his core. He ground it out at Northwest Missouri State in complete anonymity for years before getting the Drake gig, and now this one at Iowa. Yes, he may be having a moment, but college basketball has a weird way of humbling you. Stay grounded to get the job done.
Up next for Iowa will be the Big Ten rival Illinois in the Elite Eight with a trip to the Final Four on the line.