Exciting Business Trip

Drake Taking NCAA Tournament in Stride

(Wichita, KS) – Drake’s basketball season would be something of a Hollywood movie script. A Division 2 coach brings four of his Division 2 players with him to a D1 program and they win 30 games and a conference title. But watching Ben McCollum’s team this season, is really more like watching an exciting business trip.

McCollum’s straight forward, intensely strategic way of building the Bulldog program takes away some of the ‘what a magical ride’ story line out of the equation. Apparently, winners know how to win, regardless of the competition level.

During our preseason conversation, I realized this coach was poised to work as hard or harder than anyone in the Valley, if not the country. His attention to detail and ability to steer clear of the outside noise is exceptional.

Exciting Business Trip

Missouri Valley Conference ‘Player of the Year’ Bennett Stirtz reflects his coach’s ways. When asked about facing a highly athletic and fast Missouri team, Stirtz says the Bulldogs just have to do what they usually do.

“Yeah, I think it’s just we’re going to have to play our game,” said Stirtz. “Obviously the SEC is the best conference in the nation. Mizzou will be ready to go. They play really physical. They try to speed you up. Obviously I have the ball in my hands a lot of the game, but just getting trapped most of the season, stuff like that. Knowing that I’m not the only guy out there, I trust my teammates. They’ll put me in the right positions, and I’ll try and put them in the right positions. Also, just trust the coaching staff. They’ll obviously put me in the right positions as well.”

All Valley second-teamer Mitch Mascari says he and his teammates trust in their highly prepared coach.

“It’s more so just doing what we do on defense,” said Mascari. “You can only control what you can control. When it comes down to it, it’s just our habits that we need to focus on. I think it’s really just listening to coach. We have some of the best coaches in the country, and I think they’re going to put us in the right position to be effective on offense and defense. So it’s really just focussing on what we do and imposing our will.“

With six Drake players from the Kansas City area, Stirtz was asked about potential added pressure and he simply said there’s not any extra pressure or motivation.

He’s on an exciting business trip.

McCollum’s Approach

The first-year Drake coach can be light-hearted and engaging, but his ‘death by a thousand paper cuts’ approach serves him well. He doesn’t get caught up in overthinking every situation and instead trains his players to impose their will or game plan on the opposing team.

“In taking this job, we wanted to play in the Division I NCAA Tournament, and we didn’t know how quickly it would come,” said McCollum. “Fortunately it came year one. Our whole objective was to get our culture set early with tough kids. We always felt like that could create the results that we obviously created this year.”

McCollum is more focused on helping his young players grow as people, but is obviously glad that he’s able to accomplish his primary task and still be highly successful on the scoreboard.

“Sometimes I think you have to experience ‘hard’ to grow and to essentially thrive and make yourself a better person, make yourself a better coach,” said McCollum. “It ended up working out great. Now it’s obviously a lot more fun when you win games, but I still think the growth would have came regardless of winning or losing games.“

Job Offer Rumors

The proverbial elephant in the room about potential job offers coming McCollum’s way.  McCollum has been linked to numerous power conference openings with Iowa among them. He says he refuses to be distracted by the rumors and refuses to have a ‘divided heart’.

“You know, some of those rumors have been around for six, seven, eight years,” explained McCollum. I mean, it’s just the nature of having a level of success. It’s kind of a gift and a curse, I guess. You’ve learned how to not have a divided heart and to focus everything on the team that you have. I’ll continue to focus all my attention on this team. That’s what I’ve done. That’s what I did for seven, eight years at Northwest Missouri State. Yeah, just focus on this is a great accomplishment, and this is a great team. I just refuse to have a divided heart in regards to that.”

Not a Fairy Tale

Drake is not your typical mid-major, Cinderella team with a larger than life ‘Angels in the Outfield’ persona. The Bulldogs and their coach are focused on what works and being committed to a plan.

While excited to be here in Wichita, McCollum isn’t ready to be satisfied with what has been.

“So, it’s been a year that I will always remember,” said McCollum. “I want to continue this year, though, so I don’t want to necessarily get nostalgic or look back. You know, you would be lying to say if winning isn’t hard. It looks really cool and really fun and this is the coolest story ever, but there are some tough days there. I’m proud of our kids for fighting through them.”

With just nine active players on the roster, the Bulldogs are resolute about ‘doing their jobs’. From the star player to the guy that handles to the towels (Sam), they are committed to performing their tasks at a high level.

Don’t misunderstand, they are thrilled to be playing in the NCAA Tournament, but it is just another exciting business trip.

Do Good