McCollum was born in Storm Lake, Iowa and played basketball for two years at North Iowa Area Community College before transferring to Northwest in 2001 where he played for Steve Tappmeyer as the school made its first Elite Eight appearance.
He graduated in 2003 from Northwest with a degree in business finance and then received a masters in athletic administration from the school in 2004.
He was an assistant coach at Emporia State University from 2004 to 2008 when he came to Northwest as head coach in 2009. McCollum was the second youngest coach in Division II when he was hired. His teams struggled the first two years with records of 12-15 in 2009-2010 and 10-16 in 2010-2011.
In 2012 he was honored for the turnaround with the Clarence Gaines Award for best National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II coach.
