For the first time in 15 years, the Iowa Hawkeyes will have a new head coach. The start of the 2025-26 season will be Ben McCollum’s first as Iowa head coach. The program hired McCollum shortly after the end of the regular season following the firing of longtime head coach Fran McCaffery. With the upcoming season still a few months away, McCollum spoke about goals and what success might look like, as per Sam Gillenwater of On3 Sports.

“We want to generate some enthusiasm for Iowa basketball. And we want to be out. We want to make sure that Iowa City embraces it, we want to make sure the University of Iowa embraces us,” McCollum said. “Just have them have a program that they’re very, very proud of with the kids we bring in and the effort that we play with is probably the main thing.”

“And then, obviously, ultimately, you want to win as many games as you can,” McCollum continued. “And so, how do you do that? You focus on your process of getting better and that’s what we’ll do throughout the summer and into the fall, and hopefully have a good season.”

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Ben McCollum will be inheriting an Iowa team that went 17-16 last season and missed the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year. He spent the past season as head coach at Drake, leading the Bulldogs to a round of 32 appearance and finishing with an overall record of 31-4. Last year was McCollum’s first in coaching Division 1 college basketball.

Prior to that, he had been the head coach at Division II Northwest Missouri State. Under McCollum’s leadership, the Bearcats won four D2 NCAA championships in 15 seasons.

Under McCaffery, Iowa had been a perennial Big Ten contender and NCAA Tournament participant. McCollum will be tasked with keeping the strong tradition Hawkeyes’ fans are accustomed to.