Randy Peterson
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March 14, 2025
You know as well as I know that the first question, at least one of the first questions, a prospective Iowa men’s basketball coach will ask AD Beth Goetz will be about money – and we’re not talking about how much Fran McCaffery’s replacement will make.
We’re talking here about exactly what will be the University of Iowa’s commitment to men’s basketball, and more specifically, how does that compare to football?
In other words, what percentage of the up to $20.5 million each school is supposed to get in July from a $2.8 million antitrust settlement will go to men’s basketball?
“It’s the first thing coaches want to know,” a coach told USA Today’s Dan Wolken last week. “If you’re at a school spending $3 to $4 million on the roster and you're looking at a perceived 'better' job that isn’t going to spend that much, you’re not going to take it.”
That question is not just pertinent at Iowa, where Goetz, as everyone anticipated, canned McCaffery Friday. It’s a major topic of concern throughout this current basketball coaching interview cycle.
Just where does men’s basketball figure into the University’s importance, in comparison to football, women’s basketball and, at some places including Iowa, wrestling? Are you all-in for men’s basketball, or are you just dipping toes?
That question will be asked throughout the interviewing process at Iowa, where McCaffery’s 15-season reign is over. It will be asked at Minnesota, where the Gophers have fired fourth-season coach Ben Johnson. Ditto at Indiana, NC State, and Virginia – among major places searching for men’s coaches. And what if the high-proifle Texas position opens? I cannot wait to see how Longhorns’ athletics boss Chris Del Conte answers those money question, and then there’s this:
How much NIL money is available for the men’s basketball roster?
Longtime columnist Minny Star-Trib columnist Patrick Reusse wrote recently that Johnson’s program received $1.2 million in money during the 2024-25 season. Des Moines Register columnist Chad Leistikow has written that the Iowa men’s basketball player payroll is “in the range of $1.1 million to $1.5 million.”
“I think the numbers this year, you'd probably need $6 million, and we were nowhere near that,” McCaffery said after Thursday’s Big Ten tourney’s ouster against Illinois. “I think you know that. Those numbers are going to go north of that.”
The now-former Iowa coach also said this, regarding the potential pot of financial gold awaiting, through the portal, at major programs:
“We have guys that might be offered seven-figure deals, which will challenge their thought process,” McCaffery told reporters from the podium Thursday night. “If you were 21 and somebody called you up, and said they'd come play for me for a million-five (bucks), you might think about it. So, we're dealing with that -- or we will deal with that.”
And don’t look now, but Iowa and Minnesota likely are fishing in the same potential candidiate pond – bodies of water that likely include West Virginia coach Darian DeVries and Drake’s Ben McCollum, among others.
And with the transfer portal opening again between March 24 and April 22, swift hiring decisions are important, because coaching changes not only mean new incoming players, but often an exodus of players with eligibility remaining.
I haven’t covered Iowa since Todd Lickliter was the coach, so I’m staying away from opining about McCaffery. However, whoever gets the job, Iowa must do a better job promoting him – and the entire athletics program, for that matter.
Now living up here in Okoboji, I’m occasionally asked when Iowa will bring its coaches back up for one of those summertime meet and greets the Hawkeyes once did throughout the state. The question popped uo again just the other day, interestingly.
“Are they too good for us?” one longtime Iowa fan who lives on the lake inquired.
According to fan apathy of the men’s basketball program, the Hawkeyes aren’t exactly too good for anybody. Maybe that’ll change with the new coach, providing Goetz hires someone with an out-going, meet-the-public personality.
DeVries? McCullom?
Fromer Aplington-Parkersburg high school. Former Storm Lake St. Mary’s High School.
Minnesota, Indiana or Iowa?
Whatever happens, expect it to happen with head-spinning swiftness.
(Award-winning columnist Randy Peterson can be, and has been, reached at randypete4846@gmail.com or at any Okoboji-area beverage/food establishment between the hours of open and close.)