Former Iowa coach Fran McCaffery hired at Penn, his alma mater, after split with Hawkeyes

[ASFN Admin]

Fran McCaffery is headed back to his alma mater after his split in Iowa City.

The longtime Hawkeyes coach, who was fired after 15 seasons with the program earlier this month, struck a deal to take over at Penn on Thursday, the university announced.

McCaffery will replace Steve Donahue at the Ivy League school. Donahue was fired earlier this month, too, after the Quakers went just 8-19 this season. He reached the NCAA tournament just once in his nine seasons with the program, which is Penn’s only NCAA tournament appearance in the last 17 years.

Fran’s our man.#FightOnPenn pic.twitter.com/b3taogcORN

— Penn Men's Basketball (@PennMBB) March 27, 2025

"I am excited and honored to return to my alma mater and the city of Philadelphia to lead the Penn men's basketball program," McCaffery said in a statement. "It is a program that I have fond memories of from my previous time there as a student-athlete and assistant coach.

“My vision is to return Penn to prominence in the Ivy League and beyond and bring an exciting style of play to The Palestra … I relish the challenge and look forward to getting started."

McCaffery, 65, racked up a 297-206 record over his 15 seasons at Iowa, which was his first head coaching job at a Power 5 school. The Hawkeyes never made it out of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament under his watch, however, and they went just 16-15 this season while missing the tournament completely. He was known for his frequent sideline outbursts, too, and was actually ejected from his final game for screaming at officials in the Big Ten tournament. Iowa has since hired Drake head coach Ben McCollum to replace McCaffery.


McCaffery played at Penn for three seasons from 1979-1982, and he led the Ivy League in both assists and steals during his senior season — which earned him the nickname “White Magic.” They won the conference championship in all three of his seasons, and he played in the NCAA tournament twice. He also spent time as an assistant with the Quakers before launching into his coaching career, which included stops at Lehigh, UNC Greensboro and Siena.

"I am thrilled to bring Fran back to Penn and Philadelphia as our next head men's basketball coach," Penn athletic director Alanna Wren said in a statement. "Fran has had success at every level of Division I and is passionate about restoring our program to glory. His energy and enthusiasm for leading young men was apparent throughout the process and he has proven to be committed to player development and relationship-building with his student-athletes throughout his storied career."

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