New Drake basketball coach Ben McCollum has gone to work rebuilding the Bulldog roster. The native of Storm Lake spent the past 15 years at Northwest Missouri State and won four Division II national championships. He takes over a Drake program that enjoyed six straight seasons of 20 wins or more and three trips to the NCAA Tournament under former coach Darian DeVries.
More than a dozen players from a Bulldog team that won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament are in the transfer portal.
“You know there are challenges but when you lose the roster you can also build very quickly”, said McCollum. “There is kind of a blessing and a curse right there where we can build it quicker and get the players we want. Obviously it is going to take a little more time because of the amount of players that left.”
The second time was a charm for McCollum, who interviewed for the Drake job six years ago when DeVries was hired.
“Honestly I think I am more ready now and I think I still had more to learn”, added McCollum. “The opportunity presented itself again and we felt good about it and now we’re hear.”