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Fran McCaffery out as Iowa's head coach

On3 imageby:Tom Kakert•about 10 hours•

HawkeyeReport

Fran McCaffery-Iowa-Basketball
(Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)

The Fran McCaffery era at the University of Iowa has come to an end. The Iowa head men’s basketball coach ended his run at the University of Iowa after a 15 year run.

Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz met with McCaffery on Friday afternoon to share the news with him that there would be a change in the leadership of the program.

On March 28th 2010, Iowa hired McCaffery from Siena and tasked him with reviving the Hawkeye basketball program. By all accounts he did just that. He leaves Iowa with 295 wins and 207 losses. In Big Ten conference games, McCaffery posted a record of 142-142. In his final season, Iowa wrapped up the year 17-16 overall and 6-14 in conference play. It marked the second straight year that Iowa failed to make the NCAA Tournament.

McCaffery led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA Tournament seven times in his tenure, winning four games, but failing to make the second weekend in each of those opportunities. Iowa also made the NIT four times, reaching the finals of that even one time. They also missed post season play three times, with one other year where post season play was cancelled due to Covid.

The Hawkeyes finished with more than 20 wins eight times under McCaffery, including 26 victories in the 2021-22 season. Iowa also finished in the upper division of the Big Ten standings in six of the last seven seasons.

During his time at Iowa, McCaffery coached four consensus All Americans. The first was Jared Uthoff in 2016 when he was named second team All American. Then there was Luka Garza, who earned those honors in back to back seasons (2019-20, 2020-21). He was also named to the National Player of the Year in 2021, setting Iowa’s career scoring mark at 2,360 points.

The following year Keegan Murray was a first team All American and finalist for national player of the year. The next season, his brother, Kris, was named third team All American. Both players were first round NBA Draft picks by Sacramento and Portland.

Overall, McCaffery had All Big Ten selections in 13 of the last 14 years and first team selections in eight of the last eleven years: Devyn Marble (2014), Aaron White (2015), Jared Uthoff (2016), Peter Jok (2017), Luka Garza (2020-2021), Keegan Murray (2022), Kris Murray (2023).  Also, Gabe Olasani (2015), Nicholas Baer (2017), and Payton Sandfort (2023) have been named six man of the year by the Big Ten Conference.

It’s currently unknown whether McCaffery will coach again. If he doesn’t the he wraps up his coach career with 590 wins and 384 losses. He took Lehigh to the NCAA Tournament once in his tenure there. He also took UNC Greensboro to the NCAA Tournament in his second season leading the program. Then he led Siena to the NCAA Tournament three straight years, including two wins, before becoming the Iowa head coach.

Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz will now conduct a national search for the replacement to McCaffery. That process begins immediately.

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