The Iowa Men's Basketball program continues its rebuild following former Head Coach Fran McCaffery's firing on March 14. After McCaffery was fired, the Hawkeyes lost 12 players to the transfer portal and three prospects decommitted.
Former Drake Head Coach Ben McCollum replaced McCaffery and got to work immediately. He was charged with rebuilding a depleted roster, and began by convincing five former Drake players to follow him to Iowa.
That included the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, Bennett Stirtz, and Sixth-Man of the Year, Tavion Banks.
McCollum also added guard Brendan Hausen (Kansas State) and forward Alvaro Folgueiras from the transfer portal.
After making several transfer portal additions, the Hawkeyes' roster still needed work. McCollum was able to retain a commitment from a 2026 recruit, Navon Shabazz, but had no commitments from the 2025 recruiting class.
McCollum and his staff were able to flip an in-state prospect, Trevin Jirak, from Northern Iowa, giving them their first recruit from the 2025 recruiting class. On Wednesday, they picked up a second commitment from a 2025 prospect.
Due to the recent coaching change at Drake University, I’ve decided to release my NLI and follow Coach McCollum and staff to the University of Iowa! @wfordbball @WfordEagles @BrystonWilliam3 @IowaHoops pic.twitter.com/xHm5LZjxWH
— Tate Sage (@TateSage2) April 30, 2025
Wednesday night, Tate Sage announced he was flipping his commitment from Drake to Iowa after McCollum moved to Iowa City. Sage is an unranked recruit in the 2025 recruiting class by On3 and 247 Sports.
Before committing to Drake in September 2024, Sage had offers from Lindenwood, Missouri State, and Tulsa. Sage is a six-foot-seven wing/guard prospect from Weatherford, Oklahoma. He guided Weatherford High School to the 2024 Oklahoma 4A State Championship last season.
Sage is an interesting prospect because of his size and shooting ability. He is listed as a forward, but his ball-handling and shooting skills are guard-like. Sage can be a three-level scorer at the college level if he continues to develop.
Sage has always wanted to play for Ben McCollum, as McCollum was the main reason he committed to Drake. Now that McCollum moved to Iowa City, Sage followed him. He became the second 2025 prospect to commit to the Hawkeyes after Trevin Jirak.