Jim McCafferty

Jim McCafferty (1916-2006)

Teams coached: Loyola (LA) Wolfpack, Xavier Musketeers
Loyola (LA) record^: 63-60 (.512)
Xavier record: 91-71 (.562)
Overall record: 154-131 (.540)

Career Accomplishments:

  • NCAA National Championships:  0
  • NCAA Tournament Appearances:  3  (1954, 1957, 1961)
  • NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen:  0
  • NIT Championships:  1  (1958)
  • NIT Appearances:  1  (1958)

Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):

1957-1963 Xavier
1953-1957 Loyola (LA)
1950-1953 Loyola (LA) (asst)
1949-1950 Loyola (LA)
1942-1949 Loyola (LA) (asst)

Jim McCafferty Facts

  • James Joseph McCafferty
  • Born March 14, 1916
  • Died September 18, 2006
  • Hometown: Henryetta, Oklahoma
  • Alma Mater: Loyola University New Orleans (BS, 1942)
  • Born in Kansas and raised in Oklahoma, McCafferty originally attended Loyola of the South (New Orleans) to play football
    • The football team was disbanded after his freshman year and he switched to basketball for the rest of his collegiate career; played for three years under head basketball coach Jack Orsley
  • Started his coaching career as an assistant under Orsley and also assisted Orsley’s successor Thomas Haggerty
    • Was an assistant in 1945 when the Wolfpack won the NAIA National Championship
    • In between assistant stints, McCafferty coached the Wolfpack for one season (1949-50), going 9-15
    • At the same time as assisting with the basketball team, McCafferty was a coach for the track program
  • Became the head coach officially in 1953, leading the Wolfpack to the NCAA Tournament twice over the next four years
    • Went 63-60 in five total seasons at the helm of the program, then a University Division (D-I) Independent
  • Left for Xavier in 1957, coaching the Musketeers for the next six seasons
  • Took on the role of Athletic Director at Xavier in 1962 and stepped away from coaching the following year
    • Served as AD for 17 years, working to get Xavier into the D-I Midwestern City Conference (now the Horizon League)
    • Also worked as Assistant VP of Student Development at XU
    • Stepped down in 1979 and served as the first-ever commissioner of the MCC for the 1979-80 season
  • Inducted into both the Xavier Hall of Fame (c/o 1982) and the Loyola Wolf Pack Hall of Fame (c/o 1993)
    • Also a member of the Cincinnati Basketball Hall of Fame and Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame (2011)
    • The winner of the annual rivalry game between Xavier and Dayton is awarded the Blackburn/McCafferty Trophy, named after McCafferty and former Dayton head coach Tom Blackburn

Jim McCafferty Coaching Tree

  • Don Ruberg (Xavier)

 

^ during McCafferty’s tenure at Loyola (LA), the program competed at the University Division (now known as Division I) level