Iowa Hawkeyes, Ben McCollum Receive Eye-Opening Transfer Portal Ranking

Ben McCollum and the Iowa Hawkeyes have earned a rather intriguing ranking for their work in the transfer portal.

Iowa's new head men's basketball coach Ben McCollum waves at the assembled crowd while walking into his introductory press conference Tuesday, March 25, 2025 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It has certainly been a busy spring for Ben McCollum, who accepted the Iowa Hawkeyes' head-coaching job back in late March and has been tasked with rebuilding the roster ever since.

Iowa fired Fran McCaffery following a disappointing 2024-25 campaign, resulting in a mass exodus of players departing the program. To be exact, 13 players left via the transfer portal, and the Hawkeyes lost all of their 2025 and 2026 recruits.

Fortunately, McCollum has a pretty good feel for what he is doing, as evidenced by the fact that he just led the Drake Bulldogs to a 31-4 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

In fact, McCollum has poached a number of former Drake players via the transfer portal and has landed some other very intriguing talents that should make Iowa a competitive team next season.

As a result of McCollum's shrewd moves, the Hawkeyes have been ranked sixth among Big Ten teams in On 3's transfer portal rankings. Going a step further, Iowa was ranked a rather impressive 15th in the country in this category.

McCollum's transfer haul has been headlined by ex-Drake guard Bennett Stirtz, who just won the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year award after averaging 19.2 points, 5.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game on 49.8/39.5/79.4 shooting splits.

Of course, the Hawkeyes still have a long way to go, especially after recovering from a season in which they went just 17-16 and 7-13 in conference play.

We'll see if McCollum can truly rebuild this program in the coming years.

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