April 1, 2022

BEN MCCOLLUM WINS 2022 AWARD

NEW ORLEANS, LA -- Northwest Missouri State coach Ben McCollum is the recipient of the 2022 Clarence Gaines Award, presented annually to the top Division II college basketball coach.

McCollum, 40, led the Bearcats to the Division II national championship for the fourth time in the last five tournaments and third consecutive title this season. NW Missouri State finished with a 34-5 overall record, improving McCollum’s career mark over 13 seasons to 334-83 (.801) at his alma mater.

NW Missouri State became the first school to win three consecutive national titles. The Bearcats are 131-8 over the last four seasons.

The Clarence Gaines Award, which is presented annually to the top Division II basketball coach, is named in honor of the former Winston Salem State head coach.

One of the true legends of all-time, Gaines retired from Winston-Salem State University in 1993 with a record of 828-446. At the time he was the winningest active basketball coach in NCAA history. Gaines was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982.

During his 47-year tenure as coach and athletic director at WSSU he coached professional basketball greats Cleo Hill, the first African-American from an historically Black college and university to be drafted No. 1 by the National Basketball Association, St. Louis Hawks, 1961, and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe.