Fran McCaffery at Penn men’s basketball practice. (Photo courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania men’s basketball team)
Ivy League schools do not hire coaches like Fran McCaffery.
In the history of the Ancient Eight, Penn men’s basketball’s recent appointment of the 1982 Wharton graduate is relatively unprecedented. After 15 years at the helm of a high-major program in Iowa, one that peaked at No. 3 nationally in 2021 and 2016, McCaffery arrives at his alma mater with a breadth of experience — experience that will help him revive a once dominant team, experience that the league has never seen before.
The trajectory of collegiate coaching careers varies depending on the individual, but McCaffery’s path is truly unique. After tournament appearances at Lehigh, UNC Greensboro, and Siena, McCaffery made the jump to the high-major ranks when he was hired at Iowa in 2010, where he spent the last 15 years before being dismissed at the end of this past regular season.
Plenty of mid-major coaches have made similar jumps, but few experience as much success as McCaffery, who finished as the all-time winningest coach in Iowa history with 297 victories. It’s even rarer that such a candidate comes across the desk at a school like Penn.
In the history of the Ivy League, there has never been a coach hired with more career NCAA tournament appearances than McCaffery’s 12. High-major experience is a rarity in its own right: In the last 20 years, just two coaches have been hired by Ancient Eight programs after previously coaching in a power basketball conference (Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big 12, Pac-12, Big East).
Those coaches are Steve Donahue, who was recently fired by Penn, and Harvard’s Tommy Amaker. But both Donahue and Amaker flamed out at the high-major level — Donahue went 54-76 in four years at Boston College, while Amaker went 109-83 in six seasons at Michigan. Neither led those schools to a tournament appearance.
McCaffery, on the other hand, thrived at Iowa. In 15 seasons, the Hawkeyes made the tournament seven times and had just two losing campaigns. Though he was often criticized for never advancing to the second weekend of the tournament, McCaffery nonetheless oversaw one of the most consistent eras in the history of the program, one that produced 2020-21 John R. Wooden Award winner Luka Garza, 2022 NBA No. 4 overall pick Keegan Murray, and two other All-Americans.
Penn rarely gets the chance to hire those kinds of coaches. And when it does, players notice.
“I think there’s a few opportunity costs you work with here at Penn,” junior guard Ethan Roberts, the team’s leading scorer, said. “[McCaffery] having that elite ball knowledge is huge. … That’s why I’m so excited to get back in the gym and learn from somebody who does produce pros.”
Prior to McCaffery’s hire, Roberts had been reported as a potential candidate for the transfer portal. Now, signs point to his remaining with Penn. On March 25, freshman guard AJ Levine announced he would enter the transfer portal. The next day, following the initial report of McCaffery’s hiring, Levine announced his return to the Quakers.
“We were already excited when we heard about it,” Levine said of McCaffery’s hiring. “He blows [it] out of the water with his plan for us and really just his excitement to be here.”
After back-to-back seventh-place Ivy League finishes, Penn will look to rebound under its new coach and return the program to its previous status as an Ivy League power. In 2024-25, Penn ranked No. 304 out of 364 Division I teams in the NCAA NET rankings and No. 294 in KenPom, a far fall for a program that once prided itself on being a nationally relevant program out of the Ancient Eight.
If there’s one coach that can restore the Quakers to national prominence, it’s the one with national experience. In Ivy League recruiting, it is a significant bargaining chip for a coach to say they have coached a conference player of the year. McCaffery alone can say he has produced a national player of the year. In the Ivy League, it is a massive win for a former player to make an NBA roster. McCaffery has coached a top-five pick.
As he takes over a struggling program with an unprecedented resume, McCaffery will be under significant pressure to produce results at his alma mater. But in hiring a coach like McCaffery, in putting the necessary pieces in place for the team to rise again, Penn has already won.
WALKER CARNATHAN is a College junior studying English and cinema and media studies from Harrisburg and is also a former DP sports editor. All comments should be directed to dpsports@thedp.com.
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