Big Ten Basketball: Ranking all 14 head coaches in 2023 offseason

By Joey Loose | Apr 17, 2023

Feb 16, 2021; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Purdue Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter fist bumps Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo after the game at Mackey Arena. The Purdue Boilermakers defeated the Michigan State Spartans 75 to 65. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports /

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Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery Big Ten Basketball /

8. Fran McCaffery – Iowa

A former point guard at Penn more than four decades ago, McCaffery has been a name in college coaching circles for quite a long time. He was head coach at Lehigh back in the 80’s before a longtime stint under Digger Phelps at Notre Dame. He’s taken four different programs to the NCAA Tournament, accomplishing the feat at UNC Greensboro and Siena as well before taking over at Iowa way back in 2010; actually winning a pair of Tournament games with Siena in the late 2000’s.

Iowa has been a very solid program under McCaffery’s leadership for these past thirteen seasons. They’ve had seven Top 5 finished in the Big Ten, including in each of the last four seasons. He’s also led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA Tournament seven times, including the last four Tournaments consecutively. Unfortunately, Iowa has yet to advance beyond the opening weekend of the Big Dance.

Nearly all of McCaffery’s seasons have seen Iowa as a solid team, which is certainly better than the program he inherited over a decade ago. That lack of postseason success means he’s not in the higher echelon of Big Ten head coaches, but it’s hard to deny that McCaffery has had a significant impact. The Hawkeyes have only been under .500 once in conference play in the last 11 years, which is pretty impressive for how strong this league is on a regular basis.

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