Ben McCollum at Drake Diner

7/31/2024

Ben McCollum is Drake University’s new head men’s basketball coach. Previously, he won four national championships including three in a row at Northwest Missouri State. In town amongst recruiting trips to Atlanta, Augusta and Phoenix, we asked him to lunch and met at, where else, Drake Diner.

That historic café opened 100 years after the great swashbuckler Francis Marion Drake founded his namesake college a block away. It’s been a favorite of coaches since Lisa Bluder and Jan Jensen’s days at Drake. It sports “Happy Days” era design, music, blue plate specials and four-scoops-sized malts and shakes served in steel canisters. Over fried chicken salad, French dips, and beef vegetable soup, we talked about Drake basketball and Coach’s first impressions of his new home of three months. 

Has he had time to find a favorite restaurant? 

“Drake Diner. I need to learn more about its history. I know it’s important to Drake. And 801 Chophouse. I went with the ribeye there, and it had to have experienced serious hang time. That was fabulous.”

Ben’s children are ballers in their own right. They would be a happy addition to any high school. Has the family found a house and school district yet? 

“Yes, I think so. It looks like we will be living in the Waukee Northwest district. (Realtor and former Drake basketball and track star) Rick Wanamaker found us a place there. Peyton is 17 and will be a senior. Tate will be a sophomore. My daughter, Grace, is 10 and not sure yet about her sports.” 

Caitlyn Clark was quite a soccer player her freshman year at Dowling Catholic. Analysts credit her soccer background for her extraordinary vision and passing skills. Are sports interdisciplinarian? 

“Soccer and basketball are. I am a big advocate of (Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City championship coach) Pep Guardiola’s books and videos. His ‘kick ball, pass ball’ philosophy teaches attacking tactics and defensive strategy that is instructive in basketball. In both sports, success depends on spacing and controlling space.”

McCollum’s assistant coach Xavier Kurth told me that, on the recruiting trail, his boss looks for “lengthy players who can shoot it up.” Isn’t that about spacing, too?

“Absolutely. Length (long arms and height) stretches an opponent’s offense outside its comfort zone. Shooters stretch their defenses, opening space.”

Are there other coaches in any sports that have good things to teach? 

“(Two time national champion coach of Villanova) Jay Wright. Everything about him is instructional. How he carries himself with class and humility. He demonstrated that it’s about society not just basketball. (NCAA and NBA coach of the year) Billy Donovan. He was the last coach to win back-to-back (national championship) titles, at Florida, before (Connecticut coach) Dan Hurley did it this year. I talked to both of them about repeating. That’s the hardest thing to do in sports, all sports. After one, there’s a target on your back every night.

“I study continued success whether it be the Yankees, the Patriots, or Pep Guardiola. ‘Dynasty’ is the ultimate epithet in my line of work. You learn from the winners. The victors write the history books. I learned a lot from Florida State’s football success under Bobby Bowden. John Wooden was the most successful coach ever. I learned from him to always focus on the process. You learn success from that better than any other way. I loved (Wooden’s star player) Bill Walton. His enthusiasm was unbridled. If you love what you do, you will be successful.”

Drake and Iowa women’s basketball coaches Lisa Bluder and Jan Jensen told me during their first year at Iowa that Kirk Ferentz had impressed them tremendously by reaching out and offering to exchange crossover thinking and instruction. That was after his 1-10 first season. They said he was more supportive and wider thinking than any basketball coaches were at the time. 

“Ferentz is awesome. His achievements have completely overachieved realistic expectations. That doesn’t surprise me, his reaching out to them. He thinks outside the box.”

Coach found success in northwest Missouri, but he’s an Iowa boy. What does that mean? 

“I think it means a high work ethic. An Iowa boy is tough. Dan Gable is the prime example.

“Personally, I am all Iowa. I was born in Iowa City, lived in Mason City, graduated high school from Storm Lake St. Mary’s and went to North Iowa Community College. Our high school teams couldn’t get by Newell-Fonda; they took us out of the state tourney every year.”

As coach at Northwest Missouri State, McCollum’s record was 394-91 and he won four national titles, three in a row. 

“I think it would have been four in a row. The 2020 tournament was canceled for COVID. That might have been my best team.”

There was a legendary coach at NWMS before him? 

“Henry Iba. I think we beat his records.”

How does one go about trying to transfer success to a higher level? 

“Focus on process. Basketball is basketball. Four of my players transferred to Drake from Northwest. Two others from Wyoming. Half our team will be from Kansas City.”

Is any part of the schedule set yet? 

“Nothing was when we got here. We will play Kansas State in Kansas City on Dec. 17. That’s for our players from there and for Drake fans and alums. I think it’s important to test ourselves, to upgrade the non-conference schedule. We are going to Charleston, South Carolina, for an early tournament with Oklahoma State, Miami, Vanderbilt, Seton Hall, VCU, Florida Atlantic and Nevada. After that, we will know a lot about ourselves.” 

We have been asking for decades why Drake is not perceived in Des Moines like Creighton is in Omaha, Dayton in Dayton, Tulsa in Tulsa, Gonzaga in Spokane, Bradley in Peoria, or BYU in Provo. Those are all similar sized cities where a private school is the town’s team. How can you make Drake Des Moines’ team?

“I think that is important. It helps to identify with the whole metro. The DSM airport designation does that. I think Tucker (DeVries, a Waukee grad who starred at Drake) helped with that. Katie Dinnebier (Drake women’s star from Waukee), too. 

“Mainly, though, we need to connect with the community. It all comes down to people relating to other people. We recruit players who want to do that.” n