Report: Fran McCaffery to be Fired by Iowa; Winningest MCBB HC in Program History

The University of Iowa is reportedly planning to fire longtime head men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery.

According to ESPN's Pete Thamel and Jeff Borzello, an official announcement regarding the dismissal of the program's all-time wins leader with 297 could be made as soon as Friday.

Thursday's season-ending, 106-94 loss to Illinois in the second round of the Big Ten tournament dropped the Hawkeyes to 17-16 on the year, putting them in position to miss the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive season.

The 65-year-old McCaffery has spent the past 15 seasons as the head coach at Iowa following head coaching stints at Lehigh, UNC Greensboro and Siena.

During his time at Iowa, McCaffery has compiled an overall record of 297-207, and he has led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA tournament on seven occasions.

Iowa's one and only conference title under McCaffery came in 2022 when they won the Big Ten tournament, however, the Hawkeyes were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tourney.

March Madness success eluded Iowa for most of McCaffery's tenure, as the Hawkeyes never made it past the second round of the NCAA tournament during his 15 years at the helm.

The loss to Illinois on Thursday was far from an ideal end to McCaffery's time at Iowa, as he was ejected in the second half after receiving two technical fouls for arguing with the officials.

Last season, Iowa went 19-15, but it was not selected to the NCAA tournament, ending a streak of four consecutive years in the tourney for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa got off to a strong start this season with a 12-4 record, which included conference wins over Northwestern, Nebraska and Indiana, but the Hawkeyes went just 5-12 the rest of the way.

Now, Iowa is poised to make a head coaching change for the first time since 2010 when Todd Lickliter was fired on the heels of a 10-22 season and replaced by McCaffery.