By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Regardless how you feel about Iowa’s decision to fire Fran McCaffery, we finally got our first real look at how Beth Goetz operates as the Iowa Athletic Director.

In this case, she acted swiftly, decisively, and in sort of an odd way, politely.

She issued a brief statement thanking and praising Fran McCaffery, but with no mention of why he was let go.

It was just sort of a thanks, and good luck to you.

Goetz had to act swiftly because when you’re looking to hire new head coach in men’s basketball, every day and every hour counts.

She obviously already had a short list of candidates because every athletic director has a short list of candidates tucked away for the sports that matter the most, namely football and men’s basketball.

The fact that Fran McCaffery just coached his 15th season and is 65 years old made Goetz’s list even more significant, and probably more up to date.

If the rumors and speculation are true, the Iowa job is Darian DeVries’s to lose.

I’ve been told by more than one source that it is basically close to being a done deal, and that only the financial details have to be finalized, meaning it isn’t a done deal.

We’ll see.

DeVries is nearing the end of his first season as the head coach for West Virginia, which failed to make the NCAA Tournament.

His buyout is somewhere around $3.5 million, while Iowa will owe Fran McCaffery slightly more than $4 million with his buyout.

Because of Darian DeVries’s life-long ties to the state of Iowa, and because of his sustained success as the Drake head coach, he would have a strong case if he wants the job.

Darian DeVries played basketball for Northern Iowa, and was an assistant coach at Creighton for 17 years. But but his younger brother, Jared DeVries, was a former Hawkeye consensus All-America defensive lineman in the late 1990s.

So, there’s your Hawkeye connection, and just another reason why the Darian DeVries to Iowa narrative is building momentum.

With West Virginia being left out of the NCAA Tournament, that could make it easier for Iowa to pursue DeVries if he is the No. 1 target.

DeVries has shown in his first year at West Virginia that he could build a roster quickly and effectively in a short time by using the transfer portal.

And of course, Darian DeVries would also almost certainly be a package deal with his talented son, Tucker DeVries, a 6-foot-7 forward who has one season of eligibility remaining.

With West Virginia being left out of the NCAA Tournament, that could make it easier for Iowa to pursue DeVries if he is the No. 1 target.

I thought hiring Steve Alford to replace Tom Davis was a great way to move on from how poorly the Davis situation had been handled by the Iowa administration, making Davis a lame duck head coach for the 1998-99 season.

But then Alford turned out to be self-absorbed and divisive, and his teams weren’t good enough to make up for his personality flaws as Iowa only made the NCAA Tournament in three of Alford’s seven seasons as head coach.

So, I was wrong about the decision to hire Alford, as were many others who believed that he checked all the boxes.

I didn’t really know what to think when Iowa hired Todd Lickliter.

Anybody other than Alford would have been a refreshing change, so Lickliter received the benefit of doubt.

He was also the reigning National Coach of the Year for Butler, so he obviously knew how to coach.

And yet Lickliter’s three seasons would turn out to be a disaster as Iowa finished with a losing record in each season.

There were also multiple player defections, including some of the best players on the team.

Lickliter also had the nerve to play his son at point guard despite his son’s obvious shortcomings for this level of competition.

Iowa had to fire Lickliter before the program hit rock bottom, if it hadn’t already.

Enter Fran McCaffery.

He already had led three different Division I programs to the NCAA Tournament, and he also spent a decade as a Notre Dame assistant coach.

Fran McCaffery had paid his dues and was ready for his chance on the big stage, which Iowa presented to him.

And now 15 yeas later, it’s over.

Fran McCaffery leaves as Iowa’s all-time winningest head coach with 297 wins, and with his head held high because he accomplished a lot of good things as the head Hawk.

He just didn’t win enough games in the NCAA Tournament, and he failed to stop the fan apathy from growing to a disturbing level.

Iowa also struggled to raise more NIL money under Fran McCaffery, but Fran McCaffery certainly shouldn’t take all the blame, or even most of the blame for that problem because that’s more of an Iowa problem.

It probably is safe to say that negotiations with the next head coach will include some heavy discussions on how Iowa plans to raise more NIL money, because the current contribution, which ranges from about $1.1 to $1.5 million annually, ranks near the bottom of the Big Ten and just won’t cut it.

If by chance Darian DeVries doesn’t get offered or take the Iowa job, then where would Goetz go from there?

Current Drake head coach Ben McCollum also has been linked to the Iowa job due to his incredible success in his debut season with the Bulldogs, who are 30-3 heading into the NCAA Tournament.

Before he replaced Darian DeVries as the Drake head coach, McCollum built a dynasty at Northwest Missouri State where his teams won four Division II national titles.

The 43-year-old McCollum was also born in Iowa City and grew up in Storm Lake.

So like with Darian DeVries, Ben McCollum has the instate ties that could make you believe that the Iowa job is special to him.

Another coach to consider, and this is just me throwing it out there, is Northwestern head coach Chris Collins.

If he had any interest in the Iowa job, it would make sense for Goetz to at least talk with him.

That could be a big if, though, because Chris Collins already has a pretty good job with the Wildcats.

He is the only coach in program history to lead Northwestern to the NCAA Tournament, and with that comes a lot of security, leverage and appeal.

Collins, who grew up in suburban Chicago, doesn’t have an instate connection to Iowa, but he seriously considered playing basketball for the Hawkeyes under Tom Davis before ultimately choosing Duke.

He took a recruiting visit to Iowa and was hosted by Chris Street, so Collins certainly understands what Street means to Iowa’s tradition, and to the fan base.

Beth Goetz raised a few eye brows when she fired Brian Ferentz as the Iowa football team’s offensive coordinator with four games left in the 2023 season.

She had stood up to the mighty and powerful Kirk Ferentz, though, it’s more likely that the decision to fire Brain Ferentz, who is Kirk Ferentz’s son, came from those to whom Goetz answers to, namely UI President Barbara Wilson.

And while Iowa also had to sign off on the decision to fire Fran McCaffery, this dismissal feels more like it was Goetz’s decision.

She is now under considerable pressure to make the right hire, because with the current decline in attendance, the wrong hire would be disastrous.

There would almost certainly be a spark in interest initially because that always happens with a new head coach.

But if the wins didn’t start to pile up under the next head coach, and if it were to turn out to basically be the same as it was under Fran McCaffery, or even worse, then Iowa would be facing a major problem with fan apathy and Goetz would likely be feeling some heat.

In other words, Goetz and Iowa can’t afford to be wrong in this case.