BOSTON, Mass. – Drake men's basketball head coach
Ben McCollum has been named a finalist for the Hugh Durham award, Collegeinsider.com announced. The award is presented annually to the top mid-major head coach in college basketball.
McCollum led the Bulldogs to a 27-3 overall record to conclude the regular season, which saw Drake claim its first outright Missouri Valley Conference regular season title since 2008. With McCollum at the helm, the Bulldogs went 17-3 in conference games which marks the most conference wins in program history.
McCollum ranks second on the list of first-year coaching wins at Drake at 27, trailing only Keno Davis who went 28-5 in his first year at Drake in 2007-08. His current coaching record of 421-94 ranks No. 5 on the all-time collegiate coaches list in winning percentage (.818).
The Hugh Durham award is named in honor of the former Florida State, Georgia and Jacksonville head coach. In eight seasons, at Jacksonville University, Durham became the Dolphins' all-time winningest Division I coach (106 wins), making him the only coach in NCAA history to be the winningest coach (pct. or wins) at three different Division I schools.
He built national programs at Florida State where he holds the record for best winning percentage with a 230-95 (.708) record in 12 years. And at Georgia where he is also the all-time winningest coach in the 99-year history of the Bulldog program, having won 297 games in 17 seasons.
Durham coached Florida State and Georgia to a combined 8 NCAA Tournament appearances, and 2 Final Fours. He is one of 17 coaches to take multiple teams to the Final Four.
Coaches of teams in the following conferences are eligible for the award: America East, ASUN, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Coastal Athletic, CUSA, Horizon, Independents, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, SWAC, Summit, Sun Belt, WAC, West Coast.
The recipient of the award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com.
The 2025 award will be announced in San Antonio, TX, site of the men's Division I Basketball Championship.
HUGH DURHAM AWARD FINALISTS
Lennie Acuff Lipscomb
Randy Bennett Saint Mary's
Alvin Brooks Lamar
Chris Crutchfield Omaha
John Dunne Marist
Brian Earl William & Mary
John Groce Akron
Ray Harper Jacksonville State
Alan Huss High Point
Kevin Johnson Southern
James Jones Yale
Robert Jones Norfolk State
Chris Markwood Maine
Ben McCollum Drake
David McLaughlin Dartmouth
Ritchie McKay Liberty
Eric Olen UC San Diego
Todd Phillips Utah Valley
Tony Pujol North Alabama
Ritchie Riley South Alabama
Patrick Sellers Central Connecticut State
Pat Skerry Towson
John Tauer St. Thomas
Andy Toole Robert Morris
Will Wade McNeese
