Iowa transfer guard Bennett Stirtz began his career at Northwest Missouri State and has followed Ben McCollum every step of the way.
McCollum initially recruited Stirtz to play at Northwest Missouri State, and Stirtz followed him to his next stop at Drake (2024-2025) and now Iowa.
As a freshman for Northwest Missouri State, Stirtz averaged 12.6 points per game and made 27 starts. He was named the MIAA freshman of the Year (2022) to the All-MIAA Second Team.
Stirtz increased his points per game to 15.6 during his sophomore season, and was again named an All-MIAA Second Team selection.
After McCollum was hired as Drake University's next head coach, Stirtz followed him and had a breakout season for the Bulldogs during the 2024-2025 season. He averaged 19.2 points, 5.7 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game and was named the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Player and Newcomer of the Year.
McCollum changed jobs once again, and was named the next head coach for Iowa Men's Basketball, and Stirtz once again followed.
Ahead of the 2025-2026 men's college basketball season, Stirtz has been named to the preseason All-Big Ten Team.
All eyes on 14.@bennett_stirtz x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/HQhQqmxsOk
— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) September 9, 2025
Stirtz was named to the five-player preseason All-Big Ten Team by Blue Ribbon Yearbook, joining Braden Smith (Purdue), Trey Kaufman-Renn (Purdue), Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan), and Donovan Dent (UCLA).
Stirtz helped bring national attention to the Drake Bulldogs last season as they won 31 games and the MVC regular season and conference tournament titles.
Ahead of his first season with the Hawkeyes, expectations are sky high for the talented guard, who is already on the radars of multiple NBA scouts.
During the 2024-2025 season, The Athletic's CJ Moore stated that Stirtz is "so good that NBA scouts are taking notice."
If Stirtz can repeat what he did at Drake with the Iowa program, the Hawkeyes will be a dangerous team this season.