Fran McCaffery Set to Land Ivy League Job Just Weeks After Iowa Dismissal

Former Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery has landed the head coaching job at Penn. / Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Penn Quakers are set to hire former Iowa coach Fran McCaffery as the program’s new head basketball coach, according to a report from Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.

News of McCaffery’s imminent hiring was first reported by college basketball reporter Sam Federman.

McCaffery, who is a Penn alum, lands the Ivy League job just weeks removed from his dismissal from Iowa, where he coached the Hawkeyes for 15 seasons. The 65-year-old is the winningest coach in school history, but was in the midst of a program downturn over four consecutive seasons that culminated with Iowa missing the NCAA tournament each of the last two seasons. He went 297–207 at Iowa with seven NCAA tournament appearances. It likely would have been eight had the 2020 NCAA tournament not been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

McCaffery will take over for Steve Donahue, who was fired after going 8–19 this season in his ninth year on the job.

Published 4 Hours Ago|Modified 11:04 AM EDT

MIKE MCDANIEL

Mike McDaniel is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where he has worked since January 2022. His work has been featured at InsideTheACC.com, SB Nation, FanSided and more. McDaniel hosts the Hokie Hangover Podcast, covering Virginia Tech athletics, as well as Basketball Conference: The ACC Football Podcast. Outside of work, he is a husband and father, and an avid golfer.