The Hawkeyes head coach turned down pursuits from UNC to remain chasing titles at Iowa.
Iowa Hawkeyes coach Ben McCollum came home to Iowa City and made the Hawkeyes transcend heights they hadn’t reached since 1987. The connection is so strong that he turned down one of the more prestigious openings in college basketball to stay. Iowa is now extending McCollum on a six-year deal, according to ESPN, to follow up a breakout debut season that saw Iowa run all the way to the Elite Eight.
That impressive campaign drew the eye of the North Carolina Tar Heels, who pursued McCollum as part of their search, but he ultimately opted to stay with the Hawkeyes while UNC settled on former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone. It means more that McCollum is an Iowa City native. In his debut season, he guided the team to a 24-13 record, an upset over No. 1 Florida Gators in the second round of the tournament as a No. 9 seed before ultimately being bested by Illinois in the regional final. It marked their first appearance in the Elite Eight since 1987.
To read more about the major extension, here is the full story from Hawkeye Roundtable writer Brad Schultz.
His success at Iowa was in line with his track record of a decorated resume. He won four Division II titles with Northwest Missouri State and went 31-3 at his next stop at Drake in 2024 where they upset Missouri in the NCAA tournament. That same hot hand followed him to the Hawkeyes and made him an attractive candidate on the market. But ultimately, he chose to build upon his foundation in the Big Ten heading into Year 2.