Penn Men’s Basketball Nearing Deal With Fran McCaffery

Penn Men’s Basketball has their new head coach, with reports circulating beginning on March 25 that the Quakers are nearing a deal with former Iowa head man Fran McCaffery. The 65-year-old got his start in the world of college hoops in West Philadelphia, playing for Penn from 1979 to 1982 (after a brief stint at Wake Forest). He then began his coaching career as an assistant at Penn, later spending time as the head coach at Lehigh, UNC Greensboro, Siena and Iowa.

Although he took the Hawkeyes to the NCAA Tournament in seven of his 14 eligible seasons (excluding the 2020 tournament cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic), McCaffery received a pink slip after missing the Big Dance in each of the past two seasons.

Possessing a 548–384 record all time, McCaffery will look to bring a resurgence to a Quakers program that stagnated in the final years under former head coach Steven Donahue.

Elsewhere in the Big 5, LaSalle hired Darris Nichols to replace Philadelphia legend Fran Dunphy, who announced his retirement in February. Nichols, 38, spent the last four seasons at Radford, compiling a 68-63 record in his first stint as a head coach.

With LaSalle and Penn Men’s Basketball both accounted for, that leaves just one open head coaching position in the Big 5… Villanova.