By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Bennett Stirtz is part old school, part new school.

Iowa’s new and highly decorated point guard is part throwback and part new wave.

The 6-foot-4 Stirtz is preparing to play for the same head coach for the fourth straight season in college, which is about as old school as it gets in this age of the transfer portal and NIL.

But he is also preparing to play for his third different school in four years, which represents his new wave side.

Stirtz played his first two seasons under Ben McCollum at Northwest Missouri State before following McCollum to Drake where last season they combined forces in leading the Bulldogs to a 31-4 record and to a victory in the NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 1971.

And now they’re both in Iowa City adjusting to life as a Hawkeye and to the challenges that come with it.

The surroundings and the circumstances might have changed dramatically over the past three years. But the one constant is the bond between the star point guard and head coach.

“That’s my dude,” Stirtz said of McCollum Tuesday after practice. “He helps me out with so much. We’ve been through a lot together and it’s going to be a fun last year with him.”

The respect is mutual.

“It really benefits me. It makes me look like I can coach a little bit,” McCollum said of having Stirtz as his point guard for four straight seasons. “But for him, I think just understanding the system; he’s got a grip on it and it took me a little time to figure out how to use him the right way because he’s such an elite passer, where in the past we had a lot of just straight-down-the-hill guards. Now we’ve got a guy who can also pass, shoot and move around a little bit. It’s definitely been helpful.”

McCollum believed in Stirtz when few other college head coaches did.

Stirtz is from Liberty, Missouri, which is approximately 94 miles straight south of the Northwest Missouri State campus in Maryville.

McCollum as the head coach for Division II Northwest Missouri State for 14 seasons had the chance to see Stirtz play early and often in high school. They built a relationship that reached a new level when Stirtz was offered a scholarship in his junior year.

McCollum then waited to see if other head coaches from bigger schools would finally see in Stirtz what McCollum already saw in him.

But fortunately for McCollum, it never happened as Stirtz stayed under the Division I recruiting radar.

“Honestly, I thought he was high-major guy, I really did when we recruited him,” McCollum said of Stirtz, who was named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year this past season. “And obviously now he is.

“He gives you a level of humility, excellent physicality. You’ve got to use him the right way. But it was a fun process to recruit him. It got easier to recruit him to Drake, and even easier to recruit him to the University of Iowa.”

Stirtz was asked Tuesday if he always saw himself as a high major player?

“Not at all,” he said. “I feel like when I was in high school, the coaches didn’t believe in me.

“Luckily (coach McCollum) believed in me and he’s help me take the steps and I’m here now.”

Stirtz in addition to being skinny in high school, also had his career disrupted by the global pandemic and he played on what he called a “low” AAU team.

“So, not a lot of coaches got to see me and I’ve made huge steps since then,” Stirtz said. “So, I think I’ve gotten a lot better.”

After mostly being overlooked in high school, Stirtz is now considered one of the top college point guards in the country and a potential NBA draft pick.

McCollum certainly believes that Stirtz has NBA potential.

“Because he’s won his whole life,” McCollum said. “He’s won his whole career. He’s developed the right way. And, honestly, some peoples’ bodies develop a little later. He’s a little later bloomer, too. When he came out of high school, he was pretty gangly and then eventually he just developed.

“Because a lot of your early draft picks are so physically developed. Now he’s just starting to hit what some people would be at 18 or 19, plus he’s learned the system and we ran an NBA-style system from our ball screens and from the things that we do. On top of all that defensively, we were number two in the country on defense. When you go to the NBA, what keeps you there is your defense and he’s gotten so good defensively.”

Stirtz said “for sure” when asked Tuesday if he sees himself as an NBA player. He seriously considered entering the 2025 NBA draft and was leaning that way for the first few weeks after the 2024-25 season ended.

But right now, Stirtz is thinking more about the present.

“Obviously, I’ve got this one last year, so I’ll look at that after this season, next year” Stirtz said. “But that will be down the road. I’m just trying to enjoy this year.”

“I’m just trying to take it all in. It’s been a quick summer, so my senior year is going to go by quick and it’s going to be gone and it’s going to be done sooner than later. Just trying to take it all in.”