Hawkeyes' worst season in 7 years prompts firing of Fran McCaffery, program's all-time wins leader
Iowa fired coach Fran McCaffery on Friday after the Hawkeyes won their fewest games and had their lowest Big Ten regular-season finish in seven years.
The 65-year-old McCaffery, who was under contract through 2028, had said last week that he intended to return for a 16th season rather than retire.
Athletic director Beth Goetz decided a change was in order amid declining attendance at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and will sign off on McCaffery’s $4.2 million buyout. McCaffery was 297-207 with the Hawkeyes after Thursday night's 106-94 loss to Illinois in the conference tournament. McCaffery was ejected midway through the second half for arguing a foul call with officials.
McCaffery is Iowa's all-time wins leader and longest-tenured coach in program history.
“Fran McCaffery has been an integral part of our Hawkeye family for the past 15 years,” Goetz said. "He is a tremendous coach and teacher, and we are grateful for the positive impact he has made on the institution and the community. We have a deep appreciation for his dedication to our student-athletes and his passion for the game that will have a lasting impact on our program.”
The Hawkeyes, who finished 17-16, began spiraling after leading scorer Owen Freeman sustained a season-ending injury. They dropped seven of nine games in February, and calls for McCaffery's firing grew louder when Iowa blew a four-point halftime lead at Maryland and got blown out 101-75.
Iowa rallied at the very end of the season. In the final regular-season game, when it visited Nebraska with the last spot in the Big Ten Tournament going to the winner, the Hawkeyes won 83-68. They finished in a five-way tie for 12th with a 7-13 conference record, but they rode the momentum of their win over Nebraska to a 77-70 upset of Ohio State in Indianapolis on Wednesday.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo advocated for McCaffery last week after the Spartans won in Iowa City to clinch the outright Big Ten regular-season title. The Hawkeyes have struggled to attract elite talent because of their shallow pool of funds for name, image and likeness compensation, though McCaffery's 2025 class is ranked fifth in the Big Ten by the 247Sports.
“They don’t have the resources here,” Izzo said. “Everybody has different amounts of resources. They’re not on the middle or high end.”
The coaching change will coincide with the expected start of revenue sharing in Division I in July.
Among the challenges facing the next coach will be reviving fan interest that migrated to the women's team with the rise of superstar Caitlin Clark and has carried over to the first season without her. The women's team has sold out Carver-Hawkeye two straight years and is second in the nation with average paid attendance of 14,998.
Iowa's men were 10th in the Big Ten in average paid attendance this season, at 9,161 per game, though actual crowds appeared significantly less. That's an 8% drop from last season and 26% drop from 2022-23.
McCaffery was head coach at Lehigh, UNC Greensboro and Siena before former Iowa athletic director Gary Barta hired him in 2010.
He led the Hawkeyes to eight 20-win seasons and won a game in four of seven NCAA Tournament appearances from 2012-13 to 2022-23.
The McCaffery family has been prominent in Iowa City. Sons Connor (2018-23) and Patrick (2020-24) played for the Hawkeyes, and the community rallied around the McCafferys when Patrick was treated for thyroid cancer as a 13-year-old.
The 2020-21 and 2021-22 teams were McCaffery's best.
The first of those featured AP national player of the year Luka Garza, won 22 games, finished third in the Big Ten, made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and was ranked in the top 10 all but two weeks.
The next season, with the high-scoring Keegan Murray leading the way, Iowa won 26 games, finished fourth in the Big Ten and won the Big Ten Tournament before getting upset by Richmond in its NCAA opener.
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