The Athletic shares preseason coaching tier for Iowa’s Fran McCaffery
The men’s college basketball season is just around the corner. The Iowa Hawkeyes are looking to extend their string of NCAA Tournament appearances to five straight.
Iowa is one of just 10 teams in the country that can say it has taken part in each of the past four NCAA Tournaments. The Hawkeyes join Purdue and Michigan State as Big Ten teams carrying that distinction.
This season will be marked by new faces playing prominent roles. Point guard Brock Harding and forwards Pryce Sandfort, Owen Freeman and Ladji Dembele are freshmen Iowa head men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery seems excited about.
Iowa’s most proven playmakers are senior guard Tony Perkins, redshirt senior forward Patrick McCaffery and junior forward Payton Sandfort.
Perkins averaged 12.3 points per game, Sandfort averaged 10.3 points per game and McCaffery averaged 9.8 points per game last season, so, essentially, Iowa is bringing back three double-figure scorers from a season ago.
The Hawkeyes should see significant contributions from sophomore guards Dasonte Bowen and Josh Dix. Iowa also added depth to its frontcourt this offseason via the transfer portal, bringing in bigs Even Brauns from Belmont and Ben Krikke from Valpairaiso.
Still, Iowa is replacing its top two scorers and rebounders from last season: 2023 first-round NBA draft pick Kris Murray (20.2 points, 7.9 rebounds per game) and ABA League pro Filip Rebraca (14.1 points, 7.5 rebounds per game).
That means head coach Fran McCaffery has his work cut out for him in terms of getting this team to improve rapidly, peak at the right time and go grab another tournament berth.
It’s also the perfect season for McCaffery to remind Iowa fans why he is one of the nation’s finest Power Five coaches. Knocked for his inability to punch the Hawkeyes’ ticket into the Sweet 16 during his tenure, fans probably don’t always give McCaffery the proper credit he deserves for consistently winning.
Iowa has made the NCAA Tournament in seven of the past 10 years and won 20 or more games in eight of the past 11 seasons as well. In one of those seasons Iowa was headed for the tournament, but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, fans are fans and it’s understandable why they want to see Iowa snap its stretch without a Sweet 16 trip since 1999. Lack of success in March is probably the main culprit holding McCaffery back in The Athletic’s preseason men’s college basketball coaching tiers list, too.
Just like last season, McCaffery checks in as a Tier 3 head coach nationally per The Athletic.
Where do all of the Big Ten coaches fall in The Athletic’s preseason coaching tiers ranking and who joins McCaffery from the league in Tier 3? Let’s take a look at their tiers along with their coaching record at their current school.
Tier 1
Tom Izzo, Michigan State head coach: 687-280
Tier 2
Matt Painter, Purdue head coach: 413-198
Tier 3
Fran McCaffery, Iowa head coach: 261-176
Greg Gard, Wisconsin head coach: 164-93
Chris Holtmann, Ohio State head coach: 123-75
Steve Pikiell, Rutgers head coach: 117-106
Mike Rhoades, Penn State head coach: 129-61 (at Virginia Commonwealth)
Brad Underwood, Illinois head coach: 114-79
Kevin Willard, Maryland head coach: 22-13
Tier 4
Juwan Howard, Michigan head cocach: 79-48
Mike Woodson, Indiana head coach: 44-26
Tier 5
Chris Collins, Northwestern head coach: 156-162
Tier 6
Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska head coach: 40-83
Tier 7
Ben Johnson, Minnesota head coach: 22-39
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