The Fran McCaffery era at Iowa is over. The Hawkeyes’ longtime coach of 15 years was fired one day removed from the Hawkeyes’ 106-94 second-round loss in the Big Ten Tournament to Illinois.
Even McCaffery’s final game was cut short with a second-half ejection after picking up two quick technical fouls. The Hawkeyes are 17-16 and will miss the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season. Previously, Iowa made the NCAA Tournament seven times under McCaffery but never made it out of the second weekend.
With McCaffery out, Iowa will embark on a coaching search for the first time since 2010. McCaffery was hired at Iowa following his run at Siena, and the program may look to the mid-major level once again for its next coach. One of the hottest names in the upcoming coaching carousel will be Drake coach Ben McCollum.
McCollum is a native of Storm Lake, Iowa, and spent the last 15 seasons at Division II power Northwest Missouri State University before guiding Drake to the NCAA Tournament in Year 1 with the school after his team won the Missouri Valley Conference title.
Another name that could be in play is West Virginia coach Darian DeVries, who spent last season as the coach at Drake. Like McCollum, DeVries is a native of the Hawkeye State and played basketball at Northern Iowa.
Here are some of the top coaching candidates Iowa might consider to replace McCaffery.
College basketball coaching changes: Iowa ousts Fran McCaffery, Ben Johnson fired at Minnesota
Matt Norlander
Ben McCollum, Drake
McCollum guided Northwest Missouri State to four Division II national championships and is 30-3 in his first season at the helm at Drake. McCollum should draw interest from a handful of high-major programs this cycle — including Indiana — but if Iowa can land one of the top up-and-coming coaches in the sport, it would be a home run. Drake won the Missouri Valley regular season and conference titles and will be a dangerous out in the NCAA Tournament.
Darian DeVries, West Virginia
Similar to McCollum this coaching cycle, DeVries was viewed as an ideal candidate last offseason to move to the high-major coaching level after guiding Drake to back-to-back Missouri Valley titles. West Virginia had an up-and-down season in DeVries first year, which can be tied back to star guard and son Tucker DeVires missing most of the season due to injury. Still, West Virginia finished 19-13 overall and 10-10 against Big 12 competition. McCollum and DeVries should be the first two calls Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz makes in the search.
Jans is a native of Fairbank, Iowa, and has had success at Mississippi State. Jans has won at least 20 games during his first three seasons at the helm, and Mississippi State is on track to reach the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year. Before he arrived at Mississippi State, the Bulldogs reached the NCAA Tournament in three straight seasons only once (2002-05). Jans is an outside-the-box candidate from the high-major level Iowa could consider.
The former Drake and Furman coach is from Big Ten country and graduated from Minnesota. Medved has been at Colorado State since 2018, and the program has reached the Big Dance twice under his watch. One reason Iowa might fail to land Medved is if he decides to take the job at his alma mater: Minnesota fired coach Ben Johnson earlier this week after four years.
Drew has spent the last five seasons at Grand Canyon and guided the program to three NCAA Tournament appearances. GCU is in the WAC Tournament semifinals against California Baptist on Friday. If GCU wins its next two games, Drew’s squad will be going dancing for the fourth time. Drew is one of the best mid-major coaches in the sport and could be due to move up. Drew is 278-146 during stops at Valparaiso, Vanderbilt and GCU.
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