Iowa Basketball: Can We Stop Comparing Ben McCollum to Jerome Tang?

Ever since Ben McCollum signed a new six-year contract extension with Iowa men’s basketball, outsiders have criticized the move. 

McCollum just led the Hawkeyes to the Elite Eight for the first time in 39 years in just his first year at the helm and garnered interest from blue-blood programs such as North Carolina as a result, so why wouldn’t Iowa quickly make the move and lock up its rising head coach? 

Most of you reading this statement agree with it, but this piece wouldn’t exist without the other 10% disagreeing. The folks against the move aren’t just harping on Iowa pulling the plug on a rare extension after one season, they’re trying to compare McCollum’s Hawkeye tenure to Jerome Tang’s controversial four-season stint at Kansas State. 

The primary thing the pair have in common is their unexpected successful first season. 

Tang took over a Kansas State program in desperate need of a fresh voice after longtime coach (and current Big Ten Network analyst) Bruce Weber’s tenure flamed out in 2022. The Wildcats gained a major boost when point guard Markquis Nowell decided to stay, but nobody was prepared for the season ahead. 

Kansas State was one of the major storylines of 2022-23, winning 26 games and advancing all the way to the Elite Eight, where they were defeated by Florida Atlantic and some no-name coach called Dusty May. 

The Hawkeye program was also in a similar position when McCollum was hired, but he responded by taking Iowa to postseason heights it had not reached in the 21st century with his Elite Eight berth. 

Tang was rewarded with a seven-year contract extension after Kansas State’s postseason run, and McCollum earned a six-year contract extension after Iowa’s run, too. Both schools’ decision to extend their coaches makes sense after they received national media attention, but what happens next is the important part. 

It will take a few years to find out if McCollum can build upon his remarkable first year, but all signs point to that happening. He’s got a track record of developing talent, with Bennett Stirtz, Cooper Koch, and Tate Sage being primary examples this past season. 

And not only does McCollum develop players, he’s a proven winner. Not everyone can win four Division II national championships, but McCollum built a dynasty at Northwest Missouri State that level of basketball may never see again. 

That’s really the primary difference when you compare Tang and McCollum. McCollum already had 426 wins to his name before he even coached a game in Iowa City, whereas Tang had zero. Tang was a trusted assistant coach under Scott Drew at Baylor for 19 seasons, but his only head coaching experience came at the high school level. 

Tang lucked out when he assembled the 2023 Elite Eight team, but his poor roster construction led to his downfall. Kansas State gave Tang all of the funding he needed to run a successful Big 12 program, but his teams got worse each season, culminating in a disastrous 10-15 start to the 2026 campaign. 

Tang was making the headlines for all of the wrong reasons for his weird antics and accusations (Iowa State fans know all about those) by this point, and the Wildcats fired him on Feb. 15. 

Could McCollum meet this same fate in a few years if the shine of his first year wears off? It’s possible, but again, all signs point to that not being the case. Besides, the 2026 Hawkeyes featured a far worse roster than the 2023 Wildcats. 

McCollum and Tang are not the same, folks.

Looking for some cool Hawkeye swag to wear during the summer months? Look no further! HawkeyeRoundtable.com will be giving away prizes to lucky members throughout the summer and all you have to enter is follow these very easy and quick (under a minute) instructions to join. 

Click here to join the contest! 

HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at [email protected]