After 15 entertaining years, coach Fran McCaffery's tenure at Iowa appears to have come to a close.
The Hawkeyes are dismissing McCaffery, according to a Friday afternoon report from Pete Thamel of ESPN. McCaffery, 65, is the winningest coach in Iowa's history—but his winning percentage had declined for four consecutive seasons.
A fixture of Big Ten basketball for nearly a generation, McCaffery was renowned with the Hawkeyes for his uptempo style and combustible on-court personality (if Thamel's report is confirmed, McCaffery was thrown out of his final game Thursday).
Iowa lured McCaffery away from Siena before the 2011 season; the Hawkeyes wound up making seven NCAA tournaments under his leadership. His best year in Iowa City came in 2021, when Iowa went 22-9 and spent all but two weeks of the season in the AP top 10.
Sources: Iowa is set to dismiss basketball coach Fran McCaffery after 15 seasons. He reached seven NCAA tournaments in his 15 years and is the school’s all-time leader in wins with 297. Iowa finished 17-16 this year. pic.twitter.com/ihZF39otFx
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 14, 2025
Before his hiring by the Hawkeyes, McCaffery coached Lehigh, UNC Greensboro and the Saints, which he took to a combined five NCAA tournaments.
His Iowa team went 17-16 in 2025, its lowest winning percentage since 2018.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Iowa to Dismiss Coach Fran McCaffery After 15 Seasons.