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News from the Big Ten on Wednesday should be of interest for Rutgers basketball fans. Iowa Head Coach Fran McCaffrey was suspended two games by the school due to an outburst at Big Ten officials following Tuesday’s 20 point loss at Ohio State. In addition, McCaffrey was publicly reprimanded and fined 10,000 dollars by the Big Ten Conference.
Here is what was tweeted by a reporter after the game:
Uh, wow. Iowa coach Fran McCaffrey was just screaming at an official walking down a hallway of Value City Arena. "You cheating motherfucker! You're a fucking disgrace!"
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) February 27, 2019
Here is video of Wednesday’s press conference announcing McCaffrey’s suspension:
"I'm a very passionate person...my emotions got the better of me. And I apologize for that. I regret that."@IowaHoops head coach Fran McCaffery addressed Tuesday night's incident and his two-game suspension: pic.twitter.com/eEedvpam8N
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 27, 2019
During the loss, McCaffrey and his son, guard Connor McCaffrey, we’re both issued technical fouls close together in the game. That was certainly a factor in leading up to McCaffrey’s outburst. However, his behavior was completely unacceptable and he had to receive some type of punishment for accusing officials of cheating.
In regard to Rutgers, they travel to Iowa City on Saturday to take on the Hawkeyes at 5 p.m. While Iowa players could be inspired by the loss of its coach, not having McCaffrey on the sidelines certainly isn’t a positive. He is a very good in-game coach and although he took things too far regarding this incident, McCaffrey works officials on the floor as well as any head coach. In his absence, assistant coach Andrew Francis will serve as head coach for the Rutgers game. He has been an assistant under McCaffrey for the past 11 seasons, previously at Siena and during his entire tenure at Iowa beginning in 2010.
No. 22 Iowa (21-7; 10-7) is 6-3 at home during Big Ten play this season and Saturday is their last at Carver Hawkeye Arena. They’ll honor their lone senior, forward Nicholas Baer and are on pace to make the NCAA Tournament in March.
As for Rutgers (13-14; 6-11), Saturday’s game is a chance for revenge after suffering a last second loss to Iowa at home on February 16th. The Scarlet Knights are in the middle of a two game spread separating 8th and 12th place in the Big Ten standings. They have a real opportunity to make even more progress down the stretch of this season with three games remaining as well as the Big Ten Tournament in two weeks. After a rare five days off between games, I expect Rutgers to be ready to play on Saturday in front of what should be a spirited home crowd.
Our game preview for Rutgers-Iowa is here.
Good call by Iowa and the Big Ten: Iowa coach Fran McCaffery suspended two games for his postgame comments toward an official after loss at Ohio State. Coaches can’t call an official a “cheater” and not be disciplined. Big Ten added $10,000 institutional fine and reprimand.
— Andy Katz (@TheAndyKatz) February 27, 2019