Ben McCollum Brings Important Pieces Of Puzzle With Him From Drake To Iowa

Ben McCollum was a rising star head coach at Drake and after taking the Bulldogs to the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and upsetting Missouri in Round 1, he was ultimately named Fran McCaffery's replacement at Iowa.

It's a homecoming for McCollum, who was born in Iowa City. For the Hawkeyes, it was a chance to get a dynamic new voice in the locker room after 15 seasons under McCaffery. They were 15 relatively successful seasons, but the Hawkeyes had missed March Madness for the past two seasons and ultimatly, it was time to move on.

McCollum is now tasked with turning things around in Iowa CIty and it's not going to be an easy task. Yes, his Drake team just won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and conference tournament, but things are going to be much different in the Big Ten.

Iowa clearly feels McCollum is the right person for the job, but he can't do it alone. It's important for him to be surrounded by a staff he can trust, and Iowa announced some important news in that regard on Tuesday.

Josh Sash and Bryston Williams, who were both assistants under McCollum at Drake last season, will be joining him in Iowa City for the 2025-26 season.

“Josh has been an integral part of our success at Drake,” said McCollum in a statement. “He continues to impress me with his basketball acumen and his ability to be a sounding board for me as he is a former head coach. We’re so excited to have him on our staff."

Williams was actually a player under McCollum at Northwest MIssouri State, so the two know each other well.

“Bryston was my first recruit ever in coaching. He brings an unmatched energy and is relentless in recruiting. He is great with player relationships and will be a huge asset to our program," McCollum said.

Sash has strong ties to Iowa as an Oskaloosa native. He was the head coach at Des Moines Area Community College in 2019-20 and Indian Hills Community College (Ottumwa, Iowa) in 2023-24. He's had other stops as an assistant at UMKC, State Fair Community College, Temple College, Providence College and William Penn.

Notably, Sash is also the older brother of former Hawkeyes All-Big Ten safety Tyler Sash, so the ties to the Hawkeyes are there and strong.

As far as Williams is concerned, he's had assistant coaching stops at Wyoming and Indiana State alongside Drake, and he was an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons of the NBA for three seasons.

These are two coaches with tremendosu experience and they have the trust of McCollum. The importance of them following him from Drake to Iowa can't be understated.