Take a breath Hawkeye fans, Ben McCollum isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
In McCollum's first year in charge of the program, Iowa did a complete 180 from the previous season, making an NCAA Tournament appearance and advancing all the way to the Elite 8.
Iowa's magical run through the Tournament opened a lot of eyes in college basketball, and his name was popping up in rumors about vacant head coaching positions.
Quickly after those rumors surfaced, McCollum shut them down, and there is even more to the story than that.
McCollum reportedly declined an invitation to interview for the UNC job
North Carolina fired head coach Hubert Davis after an early exit in the NCAA Tournament to VCU, and the program wanted to move fast to replace him.
McCollum was reportedly high on their priority list, but he never gave them a chance to pry him away from the Hawkeyes.
UNC is indeed set to hire former Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone, source confirmed to @CBSSports. @PeteThamel was first to the news. Am told Iowa's Ben McCollum turned down a chance to interview and the school pivoted to Malone. Things moved FAST in the past 18 hours.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 6, 2026
According to CBS Sports senior college basketball writer Matt Norlander, before UNC hired former Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone, the Tar Heels wanted to speak with McCollum.
He declined to interview, and the program quickly pivoted to Malone withing the next 24 hours.
This is great news for Hawkeye Nation that even though one of the men's college basketball blue bloods came calling, McCollum never entertained a move away from Iowa.
This signals McCollum's intent to stick it out in Iowa City for the foreseeable future after calling the Iowa job a dream destination.
After McCollum's success this season, the rumors will not stop when head coaching jobs at premier programs become available. Still, for now, Iowa fans are reassured that McCollum isn't going anywhere.