Iowa basketball head coach Ben McCollum adds additional staff from Drake: Jesse Shaw as chief of staff and Xavier Kurth as director of player development.
Iowa’s head coach Ben McCollum is quickly implementing his vision for the Hawkeyes’ men’s basketball program by bringing in familiar talent experienced in his system. A significant aspect of this initiative is the hiring of Jesse Shaw as chief of staff and Xavier Kurth as director of player development. Both played vital roles alongside McCollum during their impressive tenure at Drake University.
The addition of Shaw and Kurth underscores McCollum’s aim to create the winning culture he established at Drake and during his successful time at Northwest Missouri State. Their extensive experience and deep understanding of McCollum’s philosophy were key to the Bulldogs’ record-setting 31-win season last year.
Jesse Shaw, with 16 years of experience in various college basketball roles, will take on the important position of chief of staff after a strong year at Drake. He previously coached at Maryville University, achieving the second-best winning percentage in the program’s history and earning notable wins over ranked teams. He also served as an assistant at Missouri-St. Louis, helping the team to a record 27-6 season and their first conference title. At Pratt Community College, he transformed a last-place team into regional champions in just three years, earning NCAA Region VI Coach of the Year honors for his talent development.
Xavier Kurth, the new director of player development, has an even longer history with McCollum. He played for McCollum at Northwest Missouri State, contributing to their first NCAA Division II national championship. After graduation, Kurth joined the coaching staff and helped secure three more national titles while achieving an impressive 191-16 overall record. At Drake, he focused on player skill development, demonstrating his ability to nurture talent within McCollum’s system.
These hires are part of a comprehensive staffing strategy at Iowa, which also includes assistant coaches Josh Sash, Bryston Williams, and Connor Wheeler from Drake, along with Texas Tech’s Luke Barnwell, known for his recruiting and player development expertise.
McCollum’s approach appears promising in its initial stages, as evidenced by the influx of transfer commitments from players who flourished under him at Drake. By assembling a team of familiar faces with shared success, Iowa’s head coach Ben McCollum is setting the stage to replicate his championship-winning formula in Iowa City
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