With the current coaching carousel of college basketball, Drake University has former men’s basketball coaches spread out across the country. 

Niko Medved, who coached the Bulldogs for the 2017-18 season, is in his first year with the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. Darian DeVries, who coached at Drake from the 2018-19 season to 2023-24, is in his first season with the Indiana University Hoosiers after one year at West Virginia University. Ben McCollum, who coached last season at Drake and led the Bulldogs to 31 wins and the program’s first appearance past the round of 64 in March Madness since 1971, is in his first season with the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. 

With the conference tournaments approaching and the college basketball regular season concluding, let’s see how their seasons are going. 

Niko Medved

Before heading to his alma mater, Minnesota, Medved was the head coach at Colorado State University for seven years. He amassed a record of 143-85 at Colorado State and led the Rams to three NCAA tournament runs in his last four seasons.

His first season at Minnesota, however, has been rocky. The Golden Gophers are 14-15 and 7-11 in conference. Medved’s team has secured some impressive wins, including a 73-64 rout of DeVries’ Indiana Hoosiers, who were nationally ranked No. 22 at the time, and a 70-67 win over McCollum’s Iowa Hawkeyes, who were ranked No. 19 at the time. 

Despite rough stretches, the Gophers have shown flashes of hope that Medved can build on in the coming years. 

Darian DeVries

After back-to-back March Madness appearances with Drake in 2023 and 2024, Darian DeVries accepted the head coach position at West Virginia, a Big 12 school, bringing his son Tucker DeVries, a two-time Missouri Valley Conference player of the year, with him. Early last season, Tucker DeVries got injured and eventually took a medical redshirt to preserve his final year of eligibility. 

Despite losing a talented scorer in his son, Darian DeVries coached the Mountaineers to a 19-13 record and 10-10 in conference. That season earned Darian DeVries the opportunity to coach at Indiana, bringing Tucker DeVries along and picking up former Drake guard Conor Enright as well, who transferred from DePaul University. The Hoosiers got off to a strong start and earned a top 25 ranking. 

Now, as the conference tournament approaches, Indiana is 17-12 overall and 8-10 in conference. According to the NCAA Men’s Basketball NET Rankings released through the Feb. 26 games, Indiana is No. 38 in the nation. With the under .500 record in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers still have work to do to earn a March Madness bid.

Tucker DeVries is second in scoring on Indiana, averaging 13.8 points per game. Enright is scoring 4.4 points per game and leads the team with 4.6 assists per game. 

Ben McCollum 

After a wildly successful season last year, McCollum moved east to coach the Hawkeyes in Iowa City. He brought a core from Drake with him, too: Bennett Stirtz, Tavion Banks, Kael Combs, Isaia Howard, Cam Manyawu and Joey Matteoni. It was a concern how McCollum’s team would translate from the MVC to the Big Ten, but they’ve squashed those concerns. 

Iowa is 20-9 overall and 10-8 in conference play. The Hawkeyes have spent time in the Top 25 rankings, and currently slot in at No. 28 in the NET Rankings. Iowa received a boost after securing a signature win against the then-No. 9-ranked University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Iowa City on Feb. 17. The fans stormed the court after the win that proved this Hawkeyes team can hang with anyone in the country. 

Just like last season at Drake, Stirtz is the center of Iowa’s offense. After averaging 19.2 points last season, he’s up to 20.5 this year on higher efficiency. Earlier this month, he was listed as the No. 22 prospect on an ESPN draft board for the 2026 National Basketball Association draft. Banks is the only other Iowa player averaging double figures with 10.5 points per game. 

An ESPN article from Feb. 26 said that Iowa is a team that “should be in” the March Madness tournament. This team must finish the season strong to solidify the bid, but last year McCollum, Stirtz and company demonstrated what they can do in March Madness, and it’d be a shame if they didn’t make it back to the big stage.  

Although these coaches aren’t at Drake anymore, they provided great memories for Bulldogs fans. As these former Bulldogs continue to coach winning teams in power conferences, Drake can see the fruits of its successful basketball program play out across the country. 

Statistics and standings are current as of March 2.