By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – They’re popping up from everywhere on social media; testimonials from fans and supporters of Ben McCollum who say they knew long before Iowa defeated defending national champion and No. 1 seed Florida in the second round of the NCAA Tournament that he was special, a coaching guru, and a hidden gem.

It’s easy to overlook, or to dismiss where McCollum established himself as a head coach because it didn’t happen at the Power 4 level, or even at the mid-major level until he took Drake on a magical ride last season.

McCollum spent 14 seasons as the head coach for Division II Northwest Missouri State where he won four national titles, and where he earned the respect of so many who are now saying, ‘hey, welcome to the party, but we’ve known about this for a long time.’

Ben McCollum is no longer a hidden gem.

With Sunday’s 73-72 victory over Florida in Tampa, Florida, Iowa earned the program’s first appearance in the Sweet 16 since 1999, and another week to bask in the March Madness spotlight.

Here is what Bryant head coach Craig Doty said on X about McCollum last March, and just three days before McCollum was hired to coach Iowa.

“I coached against Ben McCollum across six seasons. We built our roster and our defensive system with the goal of taking them down. While we beat them three times in a row, they always flexed greater winning four D2 National Championships and beating us a large majority of the time. There is no team we studied more as a staff than McCollum’s teams. Here is what he does better than most coaches in the country:

Doty’s post then goes on to list in specific detail all the things from a personnel and strategy standpoint that define McCollum’s success, starting with point guard development and team defense.

Those things were on full display against the Gators.

Florida looked superior on paper, because remember, this was an Iowa team that lost to Big Ten bottom feeders Maryland and Penn State on the road this season, and that had lost four of its last five games heading into the NCAA Tournament.

There wasn’t any reason to think that this Iowa team would finally be the one to get over the Sweet 16 hump, and yet, somehow McCollum and the players made it happen.

The play design that led to Alvaro Folgueiras making what now is one of the most famous shots in program history was executed almost flawlessly; from Cooper Koch’s perfectly thrown inbound pass that hit point guard Bennett Stirtz almost in full stride to Stirtz’s bounce pass to Folgueiras, who was wide open in the deep corner of the baseline; McCollum and his cohorts seized the momentum in spectacular fashion.

Freshman guard Tate Sage also helped Stirtz get loose with just enough of a screen to create space.

And now waiting is Nebraska, for third time this season, the rubber match with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line.

That’s right, the Elite Eight.

As crazy as it might seem after all these years, the Iowa men’s basketball team is just one win, just one, from making the Elite Eight for the first time since Tom Davis pulled it off in his first season as the head Hawk in 1986-87.

McCollum’s team isn’t nearly as deep or talented as the 1986-87 Hawkeye squad, which was arguably the most talented team in program history.

But McCollum’s team is tough, fundamentally sound, connected, at least most of the time, and led by a standout point guard in senior Bennett Stirtz.

Iowa was clearly the more physical team in its wins over Clemson and Florida in the firs two rounds of the NCAA Tournament as McCollum acknowledged following the win over Florida.

“Yeah, that’s the MO for us right now,” he said. “That’s who we have to be. We have to get 50/50 balls. We have to make sure we increase our possessions. We do have to be physical. We just have to fight. It’s hard because it puts so much onto Bennett where they put the whole game plan on him and he’s kind of our main scorer.”

“So they’re really physical with him, so we have to rely on other things when that happens, and I thought our guys did a good job of relying on it.”

Stirtz missed all nine of his three-point shots in the win over Florida. But he still controlled the pace of the game on offense, and he made the perfect pass to set up Folgueiras for the game-winning shot.

It was design and execution at its finest and now Stirtz and his cohorts get to enjoy everything that comes with surviving and advancing for two games in the Big Dance.

Iowa’s next game has a script that writes itself with Nebraska of all teams as the opponent.

Just having Nebraska as the opponent would be enough to create drama and intrigue.

But with former Hawkeye Pryce Sandfort leading Nebraska in scoring with a 17.9 per-game average, and with Cyclone legend Fred Hoiberg coaching the Cornhuskers; this matchup has all the trimmings to go along with the main course.

While it took Hoiberg some time to get over the hump at Nebraska, his current team is a testimony to his persistence and to Nebraska’s patience.

The closest Hoiberg came to a winning season in his first four seasons at Nebraska was a 16-16 record in the 2022-23 season.

His first two teams finished 7-25 and 7-20, respectively.

Nebraska has since won at least 21 games in three straight seasons and will bring a 28-6 record into Thursday’s game against Iowa at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

The teams split during the regular season, with each winning at home.

Hoiberg and McCollum couldn’t have traveled much different paths to reach where they are now as head coaches.

The spotlight has followed Hoiberg throughout his career, dating all the way back to his days as a star athlete at Ames High School.

He would go on to achieve stardom as an Iowa State basketball player, earning the nickname “The Mayor” because of his immense popularity that led to Hoiberg reportedly receiving several write-in votes during the 1993 Mayoral race.

He also played for a decade in the NBA with three different teams before getting into coaching.

Hoiberg was working in the Minnesota Timberwolves front office when Iowa State hired him to coach its men’s basketball team.

It was a bold move by Iowa State given Hoiberg’s lack of experience.

But it worked.

Hoiberg’s success at Iowa State then led to him coaching the Chicago Bulls.

But when that didn’t work out, Hoiberg returned to college, and to where he was born in Lincoln, Nebraska.

McCollum, meanwhile, was born in Iowa City, grew up in Storm Lake and played for two seasons at North Iowa Area Community College, and for two seasons at Northwest Missouri State before getting into coaching.

He was a solid Division II player, helping Northwest Missouri State to a 51-12 record over two seasons.

His coaching career started at Emporia State in 2004 as an assistant.

He returned to his alma mater as head coach in 2009, and won four national titles over 14 seasons before Drake hired him in 2024.

The year that McCollum spent at Drake, leading the Bulldogs to a 31-4 record, and to its first win in the NCAA Tournament since 1971, is when the Power 4 schools started to take notice.

Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz, after having fired Fran McCaffery the day after last season ended, wasted no time in landing McCollum as he was hired on March 24, 2024 and then introduced the next day in Iowa City.

And now a year later, Iowa is headed to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999, and long-time supporters of Ben McCollum hardly seem surprised.

Iowa (23-12) vs. Nebraska (28-6)

When: Thursday, 6:30 p.m. CST

Where: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas

What: NCAA Sweet 16

TV: TBS

But if Iowa were to defeat Nebraska on Thursday in Houston, which is certainly a possibility since they split in the regular season,