Randy Peterson
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March 26, 2025
Maybe Brian Hardin is the problem. Yeah, that’s it. The Drake athletics director is so good at his job, that other schools wait to see who he hires, then after a successful season in the one-bid Missouri Valley Conference – swoop him up with more cash and more promises than Hardin’s employer and donors can come up with.
Sure, that’s the simplistic, street version of what’s happened again at the school just a few blocks from downtown Des Moines. New coach has a few great seasons (or one), larger university with much deeper pockets fires coach – then hires Hardin’s guy.
Darian DeVries?
Gone. Six seasons-and-outta-here to West Virginia.
Ben McCollum? One-and-done to Iowa (his dream job).
If Two Men and a Truck isn’t on speed dial, it should be.
Hardin has hired two men’s basketball coaches since becoming the Bulldogs AD on Dec. 11, 2017. Both moved on to jobs at bigger schools.
He’s got three former Drake coaches in the Big Ten – DeVries at Indiana after doing the one-and-done thing at West Virginia, Niko Medved, the new guy at Minnesota . . .
And now with McCollum all packed up and trying to restore Iowa’s program, roster, fan base and whatever else went sour during recent Hawkeye seasons -- Hardin is doing what he obviously does best.
He’s replacing his third basketball coach in eight years as the Bulldogs’ athletic director. He’s been searching someone to replace McCollum, who replaced DeVries, who replaced one-and-done Medved (who Hardin inherited from the previous athletic director).
The dude knows his basketball. He knows what kind of coach fits the high-academic, mid-major with the national basketball reputation. And then, by golly, Brian Hardin gets him. I just hope he gets a finder’s fee.
Don’t blame Hardin for Drake being a safe-place stopover, where coaches go to prepare for higher-paying jobs and more intense migraine headaches. It’s not his fault that the coaches he hires, leave a school whose men’s basketball heritage includes the 1969 Final Four.
Loyalty?
At a mid-major?
Cats are loyal. Dogs are loyal. Old cars are loyal.
Coaches?
Pshaw.
Medved was out the door after a season. DeVries’ stay at West Virginia lasted all of a season. McCollum was gone after 11 months.
And we complain about transferring players being disloyal? From top to bottom, there’s no loyalty in college sports. And for the first time, both are chasing the same thing: More money, although we can give McCollom a pass on that one, considering he’s from Iowa City.
I listened to Hardin’s press conference Monday – just hours after the Bulldogs coaching vacancy became official. Among what I learned, was that a coach like McCollum can indeed make something better in a short amount of time.
Average attendance at the 6,400-seat Knapp Center was higher than any season at least during the last decade. Season-best 31 wins. Missouri Valley Conference champ. NCAA Round of 32, but there’s more.
Success brought more financial support. More financial support meant everything from what players eat and how they travel to road games, to salaries for both head and assistant coaches.
Hardin even said he had enough in his money buckets for a Hail Mary pitch to McCollum.
“We had amazing support from our fan base that allowed us to create a total package, unlike anything we’ve done in Drake history, (and) unlike anything in the Missouri Valley Conference history,” Hardin said. “We took our swing.”
That’s Hardin. He swings for the fence – even if it means a successful one season and done.
"I'd rather be around somebody great for two or three years, than someone mediocre for five or six years," Hardin said at the press conference. "That comes with the territory. I think the problem we have, is when it’s just one year; that’s frustrating.
“We didn’t sign Ben to a one-year contract; it was a 5-year agreement. I grew up in this state. I know what Iowa means to a lot of people here – and certainly Ben was born in Iowa City.
“I think our program is in a great place. We have so many supporters that have elevated what Drake has become.”
He also said:
"We should never apologize for winning.”
And Drake fans wouldn’t have it any other way – regardless what may be the fallout.
(Award-winning columnist/Drake graduate Randy Peterson can be, and has been, reached at randypete4846@gmail.com or at any Okoboji-area beverage/food establishment between the hours of open and close.)