# Ben McCollum

Benjamin Matthew McCollum (born April 12, 1981) is the men's basketball head coach at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

## Biography

McCollum was born in Iowa City, Iowa, and grew up in Storm Lake, Iowa, where he graduated from St. Mary's High School in 1999. He played basketball for two years at North Iowa Area Community College before transferring in 2001 to Northwest Missouri State, where he played for Steve Tappmeyer as the school made its first Elite Eight appearance. He graduated from Northwest in 2003 with a degree in business finance and received a master's degree in athletic administration from the school in 2004. He was an assistant coach at Emporia State University from 2004 to 2008, then joined Northwest Missouri State as its head coach in 2009.
McCollum's team struggled the first two seasons with records of 12–15 in 2009–10 and 10–16 in 2010–11. In the 2011–12 season, his team went 22–7, won the regular-season MIAA crown and played in the first round of the NCAA tournament. In 2012, he was honored for the turnaround with the Clarence Gaines Award as the best NCAA Division II coach.
His teams then went on the greater success, reaching the Division II Sweet 16 three years in a row from 2013–2014 to 2015–2016, and in 2016-2017 he won his first of four DII national championship at Northwest Missouri State. He then led the team to more national championships, in 2018–2019, and then back to back in 2020-2021 and 2021–2022. He also won the Clarence Gaines Award again in 2020 and 2022. McCollum finished his Northwest Missouri State career with four national titles.
McCollum was hired as head coach of the Drake Bulldogs in 2024.

## Head coaching record

Statistics overview :
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason |
| Northwest Missouri State Bearcats (Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association) (2009–2024) ||||||
| 2009–10 | Northwest Missouri State | 12–15 | 7–13 | 9th | |
| 2010–11 | Northwest Missouri State | 10–16 | 8–14 | 10th | |
| 2011–12 | Northwest Missouri State | 22–7 | 15–5 | T–1st | NCAA Division II First Round |
| 2012–13 | Northwest Missouri State | 21–10 | 11–7 | 6th | |
| 2013–14 | Northwest Missouri State | 24–9 | 16–3 | T–1st | NCAA Division II Sweet 16 |
| 2014–15 | Northwest Missouri State | 25–7 | 15–4 | 1st | NCAA Division II Sweet 16 |
| 2015–16 | Northwest Missouri State | 27–6 | 19–3 | 1st | NCAA Division II Sweet 16 |
| 2016–17 | Northwest Missouri State | 35–1 | 18–1 | 1st | NCAA Division II National Champion |
| 2017–18 | Northwest Missouri State | 27–4 | 16–3 | 1st | NCAA Division II First Round |
| 2018–19 | Northwest Missouri State | 38–0 | 19–0 | 1st | NCAA Division II National Champion |
| 2019–20 | Northwest Missouri State | 31–1 | 18–1 | 1st | NCAA Division II canceled |
| 2020–21 | Northwest Missouri State | 28–2 | 21–1 | 1st | NCAA Division II National Champion |
| 2021–22 | Northwest Missouri State | 34–5 | 18–4 | T–1st | NCAA Division II National Champion |
| 2022–23 | Northwest Missouri State | 31–3 | 20–2 | 1st | NCAA Division II Second Round |
| 2023–24 | Northwest Missouri State | 29–5 | 20–2 | 1st | NCAA Division II Sweet 16 |
| Northwest Missouri State: | Northwest Missouri State: | 395–91 (.813) | 241–63 (.793) | | |
| Drake Bulldogs (Missouri Valley Conference) (2024–present) ||||||
| 2024–25 | Drake | 30–3 | 17–3 | 1st | NCAA Division I |
| Drake: | Drake: | 30–3 (.909) | 17–3 (.850) | | |
| Total: | Total: | 425–94 (.819) | | | |
| National champion   Postseason invitational champion   Conference regular season champion   Conference regular season and conference tournament champion  Division regular season champion  Division regular season and conference tournament champion  Conference tournament champion ||||||