Iowa basketball parts ways with Fran McCaffery after he was committed to returning

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Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery watches the action Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in a first round game at the 2025 TIAA Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Ohio State Buckeyes at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery watches the action Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in a first round game at the 2025 TIAA Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Ohio State Buckeyes at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. | Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Iowa Hawkeyes basketball team has officially parted ways with head coach Fan McCaffery after 15 seasons with the team. Earlier this season, when asked if he was committed to the team, McCaffery made his feelings well-known that he was coming back.

Well, it wasn't really up to him as the administration chose to move on from the long-time head coach. This decision came one day after Iowa fell to Illinois in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament, a game in which McCaffery was ejected with 13:33 left in the second half after receiving back-to-back technical fouls for arguing with the refs. The Hawkeyes fell to the Fighting Illini 106-94.

McCaffery probably knew he needed to have a successful year this season with an NCAA Tournament appearance in order to retain his job for next season. Before last season, Iowa had made it to the NCAA Tournament five times in a row, and last season, that streak was broken when the Hawkeyes barely missed the big dance but made it to the NIT.

Even though Iowa had been a consistent presence in the NCAA Tournament during that span of time, they were never able to make it back past the Round of 32. Before that, McCaffery had three other tournament appearances, two of which also ended in the Round of 32, but in 2014, he led the Hawkeyes to the Final Four. Iowa also had three appearances in the NIT and was runner-up in 2013.

McCaffery will leave Iowa with a 297-206 overall record, a .590 win percentage, but a 143-141 Big Ten record, a .504 win percentage. This season, the Hawkeyes certainly faltered and struggled the whole way. It didn't help that they lost their leading scorer, Owen Freeman, halfway through the season.

It just seemed like McCaffery could never get his team into enough of them to find ways to win and even almost missed the Big Ten Tournament with the new format this season. Now, with the season over, Iowa will see if they receive an invitation to a consolation tournament, but will now turn their attention towards their head coach search, something they haven't had to do in a decade and a half.

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