Solon’s Tate McCollum has found his home as a Spartan

On a mild evening in early February, Ben McCollum slipped into the top row of the bleachers in a packed Solon gymnasium. He did so not as a college coach scouting a highly-touted recruit, but instead as a dad, watching his son.

Fresh off his team’s west coast trip to USC and Washington, McCollum listened as the public address announcer belted out, “number one, a junior, Tate McCollum,” and the Solon crowd erupted. Ben calmly rose to his feet, clapping softly and cracking a smile of approval.

When Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz hired Ben McCollum last March, her goal was to reenergize the Iowa program and return the Hawkeyes to their winning ways. What she didn’t realize was the impact that her decision would have on reshaping high school basketball 20 miles up Highway 1 in Solon.

Heading into the postseason, the Spartans are 20-2 and the 11th ranked team in Class 3A. And they’ve done it thanks in part to Tate McCollum, who leads the team in scoring with 20.1 points per game, and three-pointers made with 91.

“When he’s looking to score, we’re a better team,” Solon head coach Jared Galpin said.

Tate is well aware of the noise that comes with playing basketball as the son of Iowa’s head coach, but he doesn’t dwell on it.

“I try not to think about it, I just try to be Tate McCollum,” Tate said.

Just two years ago, he was still at Maryville High School. Last year, he scored only two three-pointers with Waukee Northwest. Tate could have never predicted that this year, he’d be a Spartan, leading his third high school team in the same amount of years to their most dominant season in a decade.

Three schools in three years

Tate has attended three high schools in three years following his father’s rapid head coaching rise from Northwest Missouri State, to Drake, and finally Iowa in consecutive seasons. Each move forced the McCollum family — Ben, his wife Michelle, and their children Tate, Peyton and Grace Ann — to pack up and start over.

Each move forced Tate to start over. New friends, new halls, and most importantly, new teammates. All along the way, Tate’s dad has been there to support him.

“He’s a second coach, and it’s good to talk to somebody about basketball whenever I can,” Tate said.

Growing up in Maryville, Mo., as the son of a college coach, Tate and his brother Peyton were constantly around the game. Tate would attend Northwest Missouri State’s practices all the time.

“That’s how I fell in love with basketball,” Tate said.

The players were always friendly with Tate, who idolized them.

Tate played for Maryville’s varsity basketball team as a freshman where he and Peyton, a junior at the time, had the chance to play together with consistent minutes on varsity. However, that season their dad made it clear to them that the two were not allowed to guard each other during practice.

“We’d guard each other and fight non-stop growing up,” Peyton laughed. “He didn’t want anyone to see a fight, I guess.”

Tate considers that season one of his favorites.

“Not a lot of people can say they played with their brother,” Tate said. “Our chemistry was pretty good since we kinda lived with each other.”

The team fought to an 18-8 record, losing in the first round of the Class 4 state tournament. Maryville’s McCollum duo lasted only one year.

Heading up north

After 11 NCAA Division II tournament appearances and four Division II national titles, Ben McCollum’s time at Northwest Missouri State was up. His promotion? Drake University in Des Moines. It was time for the McCollum family to leave where Tate had called home since he was two months old.

The McCollums chose Waukee Northwest for Tate and Peyton’s next school. Tate watched his new team at a Northwest Missouri State camp and came away impressed.

“They were really good,” Tate said. “You always want to play with high level players, and you could tell that all the guys wanted to win.”

As the season got underway, he rarely saw the floor. The sophomore spent most of the season on junior varsity while the varsity team advanced to the state championship game before losing, 61-47, to West Des Moines Valley.

“Sitting on the bench if you’re losing is tough,” Tate said. “You kind of just wanted to go in and start winning, you feel like you can change something.”

When the Wolves fell in the title game, Tate thought first about his brother.

“Once we lost I was kinda like, ‘oh shoot, Peyton just lost his last game,’” he said.

The experience frustrated him, but it also sharpened him.

“It was tough coming into the year, but it motivated me to get better,” Tate said.

Head coach Brett Watson believed Tate’s opportunity on varsity would come.

“He has a high level of understanding of the game of basketball, but also just in life in general,” Watson said. “He’s just a very high character kid.”

After Ben McCollum led Drake to a 30-3 record and the second round of the NCAA Tournament, another change was in store. Goetz had fired Fran McCaffery after 15 years in Iowa City and turned to McCollum to restore energy and excitement to the Iowa program.

When Watson first heard the news, his initial reaction was blurred by his fandom.

“Selfishly I’ve always been a die-hard Iowa fan, I was just excited that Ben was going to be the head coach,” Watson said.

Quickly, his fan instincts transitioned to coaching instincts.

“After a little bit I was like, ‘Oh, that means Tate’s going too,” Watson said. “I was very disappointed because I wanted to coach him and be around him more.”

Watson had told Tate before his sophomore season that in his upperclassman years, Tate was going to be their “main guy.” Now, that vision was no more.

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Solon the right fit

Basketball would factor into the decision of where the McCollums would look for their new home. Ben McCollum phoned Solon head coach Jared Galpin and discussed Solon’s program. Galpin invited Tate to attend an open gym with the Spartans and meet the team.

“When I was playing there it felt really good,” Tate said. “All the guys were just playing their own role.”

Galpin welcomed him immediately.

“I was excited to work with him,” Galpin said. “He’s a great kid and fit in really well with the team right away.”

Once the school year was over and Peyton had graduated, the McCollums packed up and ventured east. Tate wasted no time getting to know his new Solon teammates, training with them over the summer before the school year began.

At Solon, Galpin gave Tate something new in basketball: Freedom, and the chance to lead on his own terms. At his previous two schools, coaches asked the younger Tate to adapt to their systems. Galpin told Tate to do his thing.

“Galpin gives me a lot of confidence and just lets me make plays,” Tate said.

“He’s an unselfish player, he’s not forcing shots,” Galpin said. “He helps us spread the floor and helps his teammates out by pulling defenses toward him,”

The Spartans finished the regular season as Wamac champions.

Unfinished business

Last year, Tate watched from the bench as his team came up one game short of winning a state championship. This year, he wants nothing less than a second chance at the biggest stage, only this time he’ll be the star, and falling short again isn’t an option.

“When you get to the championship, you don’t want to lose,” Tate said. “Now I know what it feels like to be on the losing side, and I didn’t like it.”

Off the court, the adjustment has felt just as important. Tate quickly found local golf courses and friends to join him. For the first time in his high school career, he can finish a season knowing he will return to the same locker room in the fall.

“Instead of going into the school year thinking I don’t know anyone, I don’t know what the school is going to be like, I don’t know what the basketball team is going to be like, I’ll have established myself here,” he said. “I think I’m going to like it a lot.”

Ben McCollum believes the move has paid off.

“(Solon)’s been awesome,” he said. “It’s a big enough school but small enough that you can really get to know a lot of people.”

When Iowa hired Ben McCollum, Hawkeye fans saw hope. In Solon, they got a star — and Tate McCollum found a home with a chance to build something for himself, removed from the label of just the coach’s son.

Jonah Frey is part of the UI Prep Sports Report program at the University of Iowa