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One week after coach Darian DeVries left for West Virginia, Drakeโs menโs basketball team hired Ben McCollum of Division II Northwest Missouri State, the university announced Monday.
๐๐๐ฅ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ, ๐๐จ๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฆ โผ๏ธ
We are thrilled to announced the hiring of Ben McCollum as the 30th head coach in Drake menโs basketball history.#DrakeALLIN | #DSMHometownTeam | @CoachMcCollum pic.twitter.com/qwGOv5FQJK
โ Drake Basketball (@DrakeBulldogsMB) April 1, 2024
McCollum, 42, guided the Bearcats to four Division II national titles since 2017 and has won the last 11 MIAA conference championships. Northwest Missouri State lost the regional title this year to Minnesota State-Mankato 43-42 on a buzzer beater. The Bearcats won Division II championships in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022.
He was 394-91 overall but since 2017, Northwest was 253-21.
In DeVriesโ six years at Drake, the Bulldogs were 150-55 and had six straight 20-win campaigns. Drake appeared in three of the last four NCAA Tournaments and won the last two Missouri Valley Conference tournament titles.
What this mean for Drake
McCollumโs success in a solid Division II league proves his coaching prowess. There will be a slight adjustment to the recruiting uptick but not as stark as it first appears.
McCollum is from Storm Lake, which is northwest Iowa, and has recruited primarily in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri plus the Chicagoland, which all are key areas in the Bulldogsโ footprint. McCollum now will have access to slightly higher-echelon talent in that region.
DeVries was widely respected and it was his time to take over at a power conference program. McCollum has garnered the same respect in basketball circles. He played junior college basketball at North Iowa Area Community College followed by two years at Northwest.
For 12 straight seasons, the Bearcats have won at least 25 games โ the longest stretch in the NCAA.
Required reading
(Photo: A.J. Mast / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
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