After 15 seasons, the Fran McCaffery era has come to an end for the Iowa Hawkeyes. The 65-year-old coach was fired Friday by athletic director Beth Goetz, sources told CBS Sports, one day removed from the Hawkeyes’ 106-94 second-round loss in the Big Ten Tournament to Illinois.
McCaffery was ejected midway through the second half of the loss.
The Hawkeyes are 17-16 and will miss the NCAAs for the second straight season. McCaffery took Iowa to the NCAA tourney seven times, and it would have been eight if there had been a 2020 March Madness. But Iowa didn’t make the Sweet 16 once under McCaffery; the school last advanced that far in 1999 under Tom Davis.
The program suffered from notably poor attendance this season, one of its worst in the past two decades, as enthusiasm waned at the tail end of this phase. Iowa is considered a tough job in the Big Ten, but there were plenty of good times over the past decade. McCaffery coached 2020-21 national player of the year Luka Garza, in addition to 2022 top-five pick Keegan Murray and his brother, Kris, who was drafted 23rd overall in 2023.
WATCH: Iowa coach Fran McCaffery ejected from Big Ten Tournament game for jawing with officials
Kyle Boone
Payton Sandfort is another program great who was developed by McCaffery. He was in tears as he left the court Thursday night.
In the seven seasons prior to this one, McCaffery’s offenses were ranked in the top 20 in efficiency. The Hawkeyes had four top-four Big Ten finishes, but this season wound up 12th in the 18-team league, which was the worst under McCaffery. He leaves with a 297-207 record overall and a 4-7 mark in the NCAAs.
For his career, McCaffery is 548-384.
Iowa will try to move quickly on its next coach. Candidates could include the likes of Drake’s Ben McCollum (who is also drawing serious interest from Indiana), West Virginia’s Darian DeVries, Colorado State’s Niko Medved, Mississippi State’s Chris Jans and Bradley’s Brian Wardle.
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