Jan. 11—There's been a lot of famous dynasties in sports history, ranging from the UCLA Bruins in the '60s and '70s, the Dallas Cowboys in the mid '90s, and the Golden State Warriors of today. Just up the road in Maryville, Missouri, a town labeled "title town" is home to the most dominating dynasty in college basketball, the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats.

In sports, a dynasty is defined as a team or individual that dominates their sport or league for an extended length of time. For Northwest, the dynasty was kick-started by the hiring of Ben McCollum for the 2009 Bearcat basketball season.

Since 2018, the 'Cats have posted a spectacular mark of 145-9 and have won all three of the national championships that have been contested.

"I think the blueprint for winning, though, is completely different than like your x's and o's objective talent that people would have," McCollum said. "I think the blueprint for winning still goes back to do you get tough kids? Do you compete in practice? Do you work hard, and so the only blueprint that they can figure out is exactly the cultural things that we do."

The culture McCollum is referencing was built upon the hard work expected of the athletes, and not undercutting the process to winning. For senior Diego Bernard, his unselfishness and level of humbleness is the definition of the type of player McCollum looks to recruit.

"Mac's (McCollum) not going to promise you anything. You got to go in there and you got to earn everything that you get," Bernard said. "Just coming in, just going in there, not asking for playing time, just showing my work and just building a relationship."

Last season, around 1,500 players entered the transfer portal, including All-American talent. It's not a surprise to see numerous athletes transfer from any given program in today's landscape.

However, given the talent of Northwest's roster in recent years, they've held onto great players like Trevor Hudgins, Bernard, Wes Dreamer, and more.

"We don't lie to kids in the recruiting process, so we don't lay out the red carpet and say, 'you're going to get this amount of shots, you're going to play this, we see you doing this,'" McCollum said. "Then when you get here, there's not an expectation, and so our relationship is built on trust."

As Northwest sits at 14-1 and aims for another national championship in 2023, the dynasty remains strong among fans, athletes, and families.

"I just feel like coming into this program, he's not just recruiting kids, he's recruiting their parents too," Bernard said. "Just building that family chemistry with everybody."

Calvin Silvers can be reached at calvin.silvers@newspressnow.com.