The McCaffery family added another chapter to their long and drawn out history of berating officials on Tuesday night in Columbus.
After No. 22 Iowa’s 90-70 loss at Ohio State, Fran McCaffery -- the father and head coach -- reportedly berated official Steve McJunkins with a barrage of expletives. According to the Toledo Blade and the Columbus Dispatch, McCaffery screamed, “You cheating motherf-----! You’re a f------ disgrace!” as he chased McJunkins down a hallway.
Iowa announced on Wednesday afternoon that Fran McCaffery will be suspended for two games due to the outburst. The Big Ten also fined the school $10,000.
“I am in total agreement with the suspension by Iowa Athletics and the fine levied by the Big Ten Conference,” McCaffery said in a statement. “My comments directed toward a game official were regretful. I apologize to Big Ten Conference officials, Iowa Athletics, my players and staff, and the tremendous Hawkeye fans. This behavior is not acceptable and I take full responsibility for my inappropriate comments.”
Asked about it at the press conference after the game, McCaffery told reporters, “I can’t talk about that.”
McCaffery and his eldest son, freshman guard Connor McCaffery, both received technical fouls within the span of a minute in the waning minutes of the blowout loss. Connor received the first technical for arguing a defensive foul that he was called for where he appeared to take a shoulder directly to the chin. That came just a few possessions after McCaffery was whistled for an offensive foul on a similar play.
About a minute later, Fran was hit with a tech after stepping onto the court to argue a call with an official following an Iowa basket.
“I can’t,” Fran said when asked about those technicals. “I would love to, trust me, I can’t.”
This is hardly the first time that the coach has been in the headlines for a confrontation with an official. This is his first technical foul of the season, but he was ejected from a game as recently as last January at Maryland after charging onto the court to confront officials. In 2014, he was ejected from a game after running onto the court and bumping an official while arguing a call during a timeout. He was suspended for a game and the school was fined $10,000 for his behavior. Two years before that, cameras caught up destroying a chair while he was in the midst of a blowout loss against Michigan State.
And of course, there was the game in 2006, while he was still the head coach at Siena, when Fran was ejected from a game for the first time in his career right before his wife, Margaret, was thrown out of the stands following her own tirade at the officials.