By Hawk Fanatic

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Ben McCollum has now successfully recruited point guard Bennett Stirtz to three different schools, with the latest being Iowa.

Stirtz, who was named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year this season, told Jeff Goodman from TheFieldOf68 that he plans to enter the transfer portal and follow McCollum to Iowa.

McCollum was announced as the new Iowa head coach on Monday, replacing Fran McCaffery who was fired after 15 seasons.

McCollum and the 6-foot-4 Stirtz helped to lead Drake to a school record 31 wins this season, and to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1971.

Stirtz averaged 19.7 points, 5.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds and  2.1 steals per game for Drake this past season.

Stirtz started his career at Northwest Missouri State where McCollum coached for 15 seasons and won four Division II national titles.

Stirtz, who is from Liberty, Missouri, told Goodman that McCollum’s system is the perfect fit for him and that he also believes in loyalty and the opportunity that McCollum gave him when no other schools wanted Stirtz coming out of high school.

Iowa has lost seven players to the transfer portal since Fran McCaffery was fired, so to add Stirtz is a significant step in rebuilding the Iowa roster.

Senior center Riley Mulvey is one of the seven Iowa players that have entered the portal, and now the New York native is headed back to his home to play at Siena for his final season.

Mulvey announced his commitment to Siena on social media.

Siena is where Fran McCaffery coached prior to taking the Iowa job in 2010.

Sophomore forward Owen Freeman and junior guard Josh Dix also are among the seven Hawkeyes in the portal and they both are reportedly set to visit Creighton.

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