Iowa HC Wants Team to Play With Edge

The Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball season is now officially less than 20 days away from the Nov. 4 tipoff date. With a new head coach at the helm in Ben McCollum, the program is looking for a change in identity and, the likes of which it hasn't seen in more than a decade, a reset.

After last season's 17-16 (7-13) finish, a shift of culture was necessary to the black and gold moving forward and maintaining any semblance of athletic dignity that still remained. By all conceivable metrics, at least so far, HC McCollum was the right guy for the job.

His suitability for the role goes well beyond his literal success as a coach, too; it's also the mindset McCollum is working to instill in Iowa City that should have fans excited, and the team's new HC expounded on those ideas when he spoke at Iowa's media day earlier this week.

"They need to have a chip on their shoulder. You need to play with a little edge," McCollum said, specifically of the team's expected needs to compete in the B1G. "

"Understanding that I've always worked better with a chip on my shoulder, like either doubted or whatever, and same with those guys, and so making sure that we continue to have that edge and don't have a sense of arrival," he continued, "more so than anybody in the league, that's what we're going to need to have to be successful in the Big Ten."

Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Ben McCollum in practice | HAWKEYESPORTS.COM

On arrival specifically, McCollum doesn't want his new regime to create a sense of naievity for a team that he seemingly suspects should already belong in the conference. The Hawkeyes, whether under a first or 10th year head coach, are made to compete in one of the NCAA's most "fire and brimstone" basketball conferences.

"I think the biggest thing that I want to do is, one, make the state of Iowa and the University of Iowa proud of the kids that we coach and proud of the toughness that they show and the communication and the connectivity that they show. Then two, bring everybody with us in regards to that," said McCollum, as the sort of cherry on top to his admirable sentiment.

As year one approaches, fans have little to grab onto beyond what the coaches and players are saying about the upcoming year. But when they're fitted around the very thing your team has been missing for the better part of the last 10 years, it's hard not to be convinced before you see a ball hit the floor all the same.

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