IOWA CITY, Iowa — It was a gold-tie welcome for Coach Ben McCollum on his arrival to Iowa City for an introductory press conference. Volunteers were called via Facebook to come to Carver Hawkeye to don gold ties, provided by the Athletic Department marketing team.

First, a lesson on how to tie a tie, that is for those who did not know how, which was mostly everyone.

Herky managed to get his tie on without help, even though he did not have a collared shirt.

Athletic Director Beth Goetz, even stopped by to check out the ties.

“You’re going to love Coach McCollum,” said Goetz. ” I can’t wait for you to meet him.”

The gold tie event also had some students who are die-hard hawk fans.

“I mean it’s exciting,” said Dravin Murti, a student from Pennsylvania. “You know Ben McCollum, he’s gonna do great things with Iowa Hawkeyes, it’s that simple.”

“McCollum has proven tournament success even though only been at D1 for one year, really exciting,” said Sam Larson, a UI student from Peoria.

“I think it’s gonna be great, like he’s exactly what this program needed for a long time and I’m really excited to see what he does, especially with the Drake transfer, Bennett Stirtz coming in as well,” said Logan Kee, an Iowa student from the Chicago area.

“I think the way he brought Drake past Mizzou as an under seeded team. He won many championships at Northwest Missouri State as a D2 program, immediately goes to Drake, makes them an 11 seed, we get their best player,” said Chris Ormsby, a UI student from suburban Chicago. “I think he could really bring Iowa back. You have a lot more in NIL to work with, we have a lot of good players in the portal you could bring back.” 

During the coach’s news conference, the Hawkeye team waited patiently to meet their new coach. They all were wearing the white shirt and gold tie.

The sign on the big board said Welcome Ben McCollum, Hawkeye Men’s Head Coach.

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