By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Ben McCollum obviously believes in his guys, the people who have helped him climb the coaching ladder.

Three of the four assistant coaches that he has hired since being introduced as the Iowa men’s basketball coach barely two weeks ago were on his coaching staff at Drake this past season.

The lone exception is Luke Barnwell, who was hired on Wednesday after having coached at Texas Tech the past two seasons, helping the Red Raiders reach the Elite 8 this season under head coach Grant McCasland.

“I have known Luke for a number of years,” McCollum said in a release.  “He is an elite recruiter, excellent coach and has had a ton of success at the prep level. He also has a lot of experience at the Power 5 level with one of the top coaches in the country in Grant McCasland. We’re excited to have Luke join our program.”

During his two seasons in Lubbock, Barnwell helped lead the Red Raiders to a 51-20 record and two trips to the NCAA Tournament. Texas Tech advanced to the Elite Eight in his second season, finishing the year with a 28-9 overall record along with a 15-5 mark in Big 12 play.

The fact that McCollum described Barnwell as an elite recruiter should be encouraging to Hawkeye fans since McCollum is only about halfway finished with assembling his roster for next season.

It was also announced on Tuesday that former Drake assistant coach Connor Wheeler has been hired as an Iowa assistant coach. Wheeler joins former Bulldogs assistant coaches Josh Sash and Bryston Williams as new Hawkeye assistant coaches under McCollum.

Wheeler, Sash and Williams were all instrumental, along with the five Drake players that have committed to Iowa since McCollum was hired, in leading the Bulldogs to unprecedented this past season

Drake set a school-record with 31 victories this season and also won both the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament titles.

The Bulldogs then advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1971 after upsetting sixth-seeded Missouri, 67-57, in the Round of 64.

Wheeler assisted in Drake’s complete roster rebuild, as the Bulldogs brought in a combined 10 transfers and first-year players.  One of the signees – Bennett Stirtz – was named the MVC Larry Bird Player and Newcomer of the Year, while being a finalist for the Riley Wallace Award and Lou Henson Awards.

“Connor is a great up-and-coming coach,” McCollum said in a release. “His career path has been fast and rightfully so.  He’s very talented and will continue to hone his skills at the University of Iowa.  He will help us get to a championship level.”

The 6-foot-4 Stirtz is one of the five former Drake players that have signed with Iowa, the others being forwards Cam Manyawu and Tavion Banks, and guards Cael Combs and Isaia Howard.

That means nearly half of the 2025-26 Iowa roster and almost the entire coaching staff will be making the move from Drake to Iowa.

McCollum’s coaching hires show that he believes strongly in loyalty and that he also believes in what worked for Drake can also work for Iowa.

A skeptic would say that winning in the Big Ten is far more difficult than winning in the Missouri Valley Conference.

And while that is true, McCollum has won at an exceptionally high level throughout his career, including winning four national titles in 15 seasons as the head coach for Division II Northwestern Missouri State.

He trusts his instincts and believes strongly in his way of doing things and in his judgment of people and circumstances.

And why shouldn’t he considering his track record?

McCollum now faces probably the most challenging part of his roster rebuild partly because there aren’t any more Drake players to add to the roster.

But with his coaching staff now mostly in place, the transition should be easy since most of them are used to working together.

Now they just have to keep adding to the roster, most notably a big guy in the post, another point guard and more shooters because a team can never have enough good shooters.

McCollum tried his best to convince former Hawkeyes and Iowa natives Josh Dix and Pryce Sandfort to stay at Iowa, but they have since committed to Creighton and Nebraska, respectively.

McCollum faced an uphill battle for both players with Iowa having limited NIL resources and with Iowa coming off a season in which home attendance was the lowest in 60 years.

Iowa also has failed to make the NCAA Tournament in two straight seasons.

That combined with the historically low attendance caused Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz to fire Fran McCaffery as the Iowa head coach after 15 seasons.

Freshman forward Cooper Koch is now the only member of Iowa’s 2024-25 roster who has decided to stay in Iowa City and play for McCollum.

Junior guard Carter Kingsbury announced Wednesday that he has entered the transfer portal.

The son of former Iowa guard Chris Kingsbury came to Iowa as a walk-on under Fran McCaffery, but then was put on scholarship this past season.

McCollum now faces the daunting task of rebuilding the Iowa roster, restoring Iowa to its winning ways and re-connecting with the fans base.

He believes that the best people to help achieve those goals are many of the same people that helped him get the Iowa job; meaning the five Drake players and three Drake assistant coaches.

Loyalty is certainly a part of it, but so is trying to recruit/hire the best fits as players and assistant coaches.

And for Ben McCollum, many of the best fits are his people.