Drake’s Ben McCollum could be on the move this offseason after cryptic postgame response

Four-time Divison 2 National Champion Ben McCollum ended his first season as a Division 1 head coach with 31 wins after leading Drake to a first-round NCAA Tournament upset of sixth-seeded Missouri. McCollum has already become a hot name in this offseason’s head coach hiring cycle, and after his Bulldogs were eliminated on Saturday with a 77-64 loss to Texas Tech, he seemed to hint that he could be on the move. 

McCollum replaced Darian DeVries last offseason when DeVries left for West Virginia after a six-year tenure in Des Moines that included three trips to the NCAA Tournament. Now DeVries is on the move again, becoming the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers, a job that McCollum surprisingly emerged as a candidate for. 

DeVries was reportedly slated for the job since midway through the season when now-former Indiana head coach Mike Woodson announced that he was stepping down after the year, but McCollum’s impressive first season in Division 1 and 31-4 record will have him on the radar of other Power Conference programs, potentially including West Virginia. 

When Drake hired McCollum to replace DeVries last offseason, the program was likely expecting a long-term solution. McCollum spent 16 seasons at Northwest Missouri State, building a Divison 2 powerhouse, but like current Colorado State head coach Niko Medved who preceded DeVries for just one season, his stay in Des Moines could be short-lived. 

McCollum brought a methodically paced style with him to the Missouri Valley Conference, finishing 364th out of 364 D1 teams in possessions per game, but maybe more importantly, he brought his point guard Bennett Stirtz. The Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and All-American honorable mention led the Bulldogs with 21 points in the first-round win over Mizzou and added 21 more on Saturday night against Texas Tech. He has one year of eligibility remaining and could potentially be granted more as other Division 2 players have in recent years. 

With Stirtz and McCollum potentially being a package deal, the veteran head coach’s next program could build an instant contender with one of the best point guards in the country. With DeVries heading to Indiana, Will Wade signing a six-year deal with NC State, Duke assistant Jai Lucas already in the process of rebuilding Miami, and VCU's Ryan Odom making the one-hour drive to UVA, McCollum might be the top candidate on the coaching carousel. With West Virginia now open and Villanova looking to replace Kyle Neptune after three failed seasons on the Main Line, there are still plenty of dominoes to fall.

McCollum managed a first-round upset as a No. 11 seed, but he was one of the few. Two No. 12 seeds also won their first-round contests, but no 13 seed or higher won a game in this year's NCAA Tournament. The NIL era and the incoming revenue share are only making it more difficult for Cinderella to fight her way into The Big Dance, so McCollum may need to capitalize on this momentum and make the jump to a Power Conference program.