Fran McCaffery
Fran McCaffery (born May 23, 1959)
Current position: Head men’s basketball coach
Current team: Iowa Hawkeyes
Current conference: Big Ten Conference
Lehigh record: 49-39 (.557)
UNC Greensboro record: 90-87 (.508)
Siena record: 112-51 (.687)
Iowa record: 281-191 (.595)
Overall record: 532-368 (.591)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 12 (1988, 2001, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 0
- NCAA Tournament Final Four: 0
- NIT Championships: 0 (Runner-up in 2013)
- NIT Appearances: 5 (2002, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2024)
- Big Ten Regular Season Champion: 0
- MAAC Regular Season Champion: 3 (2008, 2009, 2010)
- SoCon Regular Season Champion: 1 (2002)
- Big Ten Tournament Champion: 1 (2022)
- MAAC Tournament Champion: 3 (2008, 2009, 2010)
- SoCon Tournament Champion: 1 (2001)
- East Coast Tournament Champion: 1 (1988)
Awards:
- MAAC Coach of the Year: 1 (2009)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 2010-present | Iowa |
| 2005-2010 | Siena |
| 1999-2005 | UNC Greensboro |
| 1988-1999 | Notre Dame (asst) |
| 1985-1988 | Lehigh |
| 1983-1985 | Lehigh (asst) |
| 1982-1983 | Penn (asst) |
Fran McCaffery Facts
- Francis John McCaffery
- Born May 23, 1959
- Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Alma Mater: University of Pennsylvania (BS, 1982) / Lehigh University (M.Ed., 1985)
- Started his playing career at Wake Forest (under Carl Tacy) before playing three seasons for Bob Weinhauer at Penn
- After graduation, spent one season as an assistant coach (and head sub-varsity coach) at Penn under Craig Littlepage
- Got his master’s degree from Lehigh while working as an assistant coach there under head coach Tom Schneider
- Took over as Lehigh’s head coach in 1985, becoming the youngest Division I head coach in the country (age 26)
- Went 49-39 in three seasons at Lehigh, winning the 1988 ECC Tournament to reach the Big Dance
- Spent eleven years as an assistant at Notre Dame under Digger Phelps and John MacLeod
- Next head coaching jobs were a six-year tenure at UNC Greensboro and five years at Siena
- Led the Saints to three-straight MAAC Regular Season and Tournament titles, going to three NCAA Tournaments and twice winning their opening round matchup
- First head coach to lead three different programs from “one-bid leagues” to the NCAA Tournament
- Left Siena for Iowa on March 28, 2010, taking over a Hawkeyes team that had won just 10 games the year prior
- Had Iowa in the NIT by year two and NCAA Tournament by year four (2014)
- Reached the NCAA Tournament seven total times with Iowa (2014-16, 2019, and 2021-23)
- Passed Tom Davis (270) in 2024 as the program’s all-time leader in head coaching wins (281 as of March 2024)
Fran McCaffery Coaching Tree
- Mitch Buonaguro (Siena)
- Ronnie Burrell (Long Island Nets)
- Dave Duke (Lehigh)
- Carmen Maciariello (Siena)
- Brett Reed (Lehigh)
- Billy Taylor (Elon, Belmont Abbey, Ball State, Lehigh)