By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – As speculation grew last March that Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz was about to make a coaching change in men’s basketball, I said publicly that I would have been fine with Fran McCaffery being given another season to coach the Hawkeyes.

But I also understood why Goetz ultimately decided to make a change with Iowa failing to make the NCAA Tournament for two straight seasons, and with home attendance at alarmingly low levels.

The argument to give Fran McCaffery another season was based on a couple factors, most notably him being Iowa’s all-time winningest head coach. He also had led Iowa to seven NCAA Tournament appearances over 14 season and had coached some of the best players in program history, including Luka Garza and Keegan Murray.

But on the flipside, Iowa only won four NCAA Tournament games under Fran McCaffery and never advanced past the second round.

So again, Beth Goetz certainly had her reasons for making a change, and for hiring Ben McCollum, who at the time was a hot commodity after having led Drake to a 31-4 record in his only season as head coach last season.

And now almost a year later, both sides seem to have benefitted from the coaching change.

McCollum became just the second head coach to lead Iowa to the NCAA Tournament in his first season as head coach, joining Tom Davis, while Fran McCaffery has led his college alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, to the NCAA Tournament in his first season in his hometown of Philadelphia.

The Quakers defeated Yale 88-84 in overtime on Sunday to earn a spot in the Big Dance for the first time since 2018.

Fran McCaffery is now one of just five head coaches who have led five different teams to the NCAA Tournament.

In addition to Iowa and Penn, he also has led Lehigh, North Carolina-Greensboro and Siena to the NCAA Tournament.

As Sunday’s game between Penn and Yale played out, I found myself rooting hard for the Quakers, but mostly for Fran McCaffery.

Because say what you want about how his time at Iowa ended, the good still far outweighed the bad.

Iowa won at least 20 games eight times under Fran McCaffery, finished .500 or better in Big Ten play 11 times, won the 2022 Big Ten Tournament, and hardly ever had any players run afoul of the law. And the few times it did happen, it was for minor offenses.

Of course, Fran McCaffery didn’t like how his time at Iowa ended.

He felt that his body of work spoke for itself, especially with limited NIL resources, so to be fired probably was difficult for him to accept.

But he did accept it, and he moved on.

And as it turns out, the timing was perfect since his alma mater was looking for a new head coach.

Both sides quickly reached a deal and now a year later, Fran McCaffery is leading Penn to the NCAA Tournament where as No. 14 seed it’ll play three-seed Illinois in the first round Thursday in Greenville, South Carolina.

Penn is also in the same South Region as Iowa, which faces Clemson on Friday in a matchup between eight and nine seeds in Tampa, Florida.

Perhaps the best thing about coaching at his alma mater is that Fran McCaffery is now closer to his brother in Philadelphia as his brother struggles with health issues.

I texted Fran McCaffery on Sunday to congratulate him for leading his alma mater to the NCAA Tournament. He texted back a few hours later, saying thanks and that he is blessed to be back home.

That’s when it occurred to me that Fran McCaffery and Ben McCollum both have benefitted from the coaching change that occurred at Iowa.

Fran McCaffery was given a fresh start at his beloved alma mater, and in his hometown, which brought him closer to his brother and to his Philly roots, while Ben McCollum was given a chance to coach the team for which he grew up cheering.

McCollum was born in Iowa City and grew up in Storm Lake dreaming of being an Iowa basketball player.

But when that didn’t work out, he decided to getting into coaching after graduating from Northwest Missouri State, and that decision would eventually lead McCollum back to where he was born in 1981.

Hopefully, with more time, Fran McCaffery will be invited back to Iowa City as a show of appreciation, and that he would accept the invitation.

It’s easy to forget that the Iowa program was in shambles when Fran McCaffery was hired to replace Todd Lickliter in 2010.

Three straight losing seasons under Lickliter, coupled with numerous player defections had put the program in disarray when McCaffery took over.

By year two, Fran McCaffery had led Iowa to the National Invitation Tournament, proving that the rebuild was well under way.

McCollum also has had to rebuild, but under much different circumstances in this new age of NIL and the transfer portal.

Redshirt freshman Cooper Koch was the only scholarship player from the Fran McCaffery era to stay at Iowa following the coaching change.

The 6-foot-8 Koch has since become one of Iowa’s best players under McCollum; emerging as a potent 3-point shooter down the stretch.

McCollum’s decision to bring six of his players from Drake with him to Iowa might have been considered risky at the time, but it has mostly worked out.

Senior point guard Bennett Stirtz has been as good as advertised, while forwards Cam Manyawu and Tavion Banks, and guards Isaia Howard and Kael Combs also have played key roles throughout the season.

Ben McCollum and Fran McCaffery both have reason to smile these days, because in both cases, they’ve found happiness at home while doing what they love, which is coaching basketball.