Iowa men’s basketball has come a long way during a decade under Fran McCaffery
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Fran McCaffery had a pretty good thing going at Siena 10 years ago.
He had been men’s basketball coach for five seasons and the program had combined to finish 77-26 in the previous three seasons, while also making three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
McCaffery was a big fish in a small pond, but then somebody from the big pond came calling, in this case, Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta, who was under pressure to find a replacement for Todd Lickliter following the 2009-10 season.
Iowa had suffered through three consecutive losing seasons under Lickliter, players were transferring from the program at an alarming rate and attendance was on the decline.
It was a disaster in the making, and Barta had to make the right hire to prevent a bad situation from getting worse.
A decade later, it’s fair to say that Barta made the right choice with McCaffery.
The same program that had sunk to near the bottom of the conference under Lickliter is now basking in the glow of being a national contender.
Iowa was the talk of the college basketball world on Sunday as All-America center Luka Garza announced that he would return to Iowa for his senior season after having had declared for the 2020 NBA Draft.
Garza’s decision turns what would have been a respectable team without him into a potentially great team as McCaffery enters his 11th season as head coach.
You could make a strong case for Iowa being the top team in the conference on paper right now, and that is a tribute to McCaffery, who gives much of the credit to University of Iowa Athletic officials and key donors for helping to upgrade the facilities.
“Our facilities were good, but they were substandard in relation to the other Big Ten teams,” McCaffery said Monday on the HawkFanatic/KCJJ radio show and podcast. “We’ve done a couple of renovations on Carver. We did the practice facility, a new weight room, a new office complex, a new locker room. We were in that probably a year and a half into my time. But at least we could sell that right away.”
“You’ve got to be able to bring a prospect who wants to play in the NBA, like Luka Garza, and say look, here’s out practice facility, it’s open to you every day. You want to get in an get extra shots up, it’s handprint technology. So, you want to work out at 10:00 on a Sunday night you can. Come on in and turn the lights off when you leave. That doesn’t sound like much, but if you don’t have that, you can’t compete.”
In addition to making Iowa competitive again, McCaffery also has recruited players with high character.
There have been very few legal incidents involving players that McCaffery has recruited to Iowa over the past decade, and that’s a big deal.
McCaffery talked on Monday about the extensive vetting process that is used for when recruits visit the UI campus.
“The other piece I would say is kind of how we recruit and the expectations we have of the character of the guys we’re bringing in,” McCaffery said. “Obviously, wouldn’t mention any names, but there have been times where we have brought players on campus and sent them home. They’re on official visits and you get to know them a little bit better and OK this is not somebody we want. They players can come in and say ‘hey, this guy, you can’t believe what he said, what he wanted to do’. We just send them home. I’m not saying we’re perfect. But, I think if you really focus on the character component of the players that you bring in to visit, ultimately you’re going to get guys that have that kind of character and then are able to perform together in an unselfish way and compete at the level they’re expected to compete.”
It hasn’t always been a smooth ride for the 61-year old McCaffery to reach this point, with him having twice been suspended for berating officials, and with Iowa just two seasons removed from finishing 14-19 overall.
But if we’ve learned anything about Fran McCaffery, it’s that he is resilient, persistent and consumed by the moment.
The fact that McCaffery might lose his temper every now and then is a contrast to the level-headed approach that he takes with the daily grind of coaching players and leading a team.
McCaffery doesn’t get too high after big wins or too low after costly defeats. He just moves on to the next challenge.
He might lose it during a timeout by slamming a clipboard and screaming at his players. But there is always a method to McCaffery’s perceived madness.
And he never dwells on anything or holds grudges.
McCaffery also gives his players a lot of freedom on the court because he trusts them. His players don’t have to look over their shoulder if they miss a shot because they know if it’s a good shot that McCaffery still will encourage them to shoot.
Players appreciate a head coach who they know always has their back.
Iowa has a potentially awkward situation with two of McCaffery’s sons on the current team. It’s unusual enough for a Power 5 coach to have one son on his team, so the situation at Iowa is incredibly rare.
And yet, so far, the McCafferys have made it work.
It helps that 6-5 junior guard Connor McCaffery has earned his playing time by being the best passer on the team, and arguably the most versatile player on the team.
Connor played a lot of minutes last season because he earned the right to play those minutes, not because he was the head coach’s son.
Patrick McCaffery only appeared in two games last season as atrue freshman before taking a redshirt. He still suffers from residual effects from having had a malignant tumor removed from his thyroid in 2014.
But when healthy, Patrick McCafery is a highly skilled 6-9 small forward.
Three of the current players have tested positive for the Coronavirus, causing Iowa to pause its practices for two weeks.
Fran McCaffery said Monday that he has tested negative three times, and that he tries to follow the social distancing guidelines as closely as possible.
He, along with assistant coaches Sherman Dillard and Kirk Speraw are all over the age of 60, making them more vulnerable to the virus.
And speaking of Dillard and Speraw, they both have been with Fran McCaffery throughout his time at Iowa, loyal and devoted sidekicks who help to provide stability, but who are also treated well.
Iowa has come a long way during a decade under Fran McCaffery, but the climb is far from over.
The 1978-79 season marks the last time that Iowa won the Big Ten regular-season title, and the 1998-99 season marks the last time Iowa has advanced beyond the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Iowa also hasn’t won the Big Ten Tournament since the 2005-06 season under former head coach Steve Alford, who also led Iowa to a conference tournament title in 2001, and to a runner-up finish at the 2002 Big Ten Tournament.
So there still is plenty for Fran McCaffery to accomplish, another level for his program to reach as he enters into his second decade as head coach.
And that should be inspiration enough, a chance to turn a job well done into something truly special.