NCAA Basketball: Top 10 impact head coaching hires from 2010 offseason

2. Fran McCaffery (Iowa)

Needing a breath of fresh air in the program, the Hawkeyes were trending in the wrong direction at this point in time. Each of Todd Lickliter’s three years as head coach had ended under .500 and it was certainly time for new direction. Iowa had been struggling to compete in the Big Ten in recent years but nabbed one of the more recently successful mid-major coaches.

Fran McCaffery had been around quite a bit in the three decades of his coaching career. He was briefly head coach at Lehigh before spending over a decade on staff at Notre Dame. Back as a head coach, he took UNC Greensboro to the NCAA Tournament before winning a pair of first-round Tourney games with Siena, a pretty impressive feat. He headed to Iowa, looking to make NCAA Tournament glory with his fourth different program.

McCaffery has had a great impact in his first eleven years with the Hawkeyes. He’s turned them back into a Big Ten contender, sending the program to five NCAA Tournaments. He recruited Luka Garza and plenty of other impressive talents over the years and has certainly resurrected this program along the way. Time will tell if he can take the next step with the program, having yet to advance beyond the Tourney’s opening weekend.