UPenn head coach Fran McCaffery, the father of Caitlin Clark’s boyfriend Connor McCaffery, is married to Margaret McCaffery, a former Division I women’s basketball player, assistant coach, and dedicated philanthropist. She played at Notre Dame in the late 1990s and early 1980s under Hall of Fame coach Muffet McGraw, starting in 100 games for the Fighting Irish.
Academically, she’s also a lawyer, having obtained a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Notre Dame in the 1990s. She originally planned to attend Minnesota’s law school, but stayed in South Bend to be near Fran McCaffery, who was an assistant coach with the Irish at the time.
She and Fran McCaffery have four children. Patrick and Connor McCaffery, who both played college basketball at Iowa. As a teenager, Patrick battled cancer, which is now in remission. Marit, their only daughter, played college volleyball. Jack is their youngest and is currently playing college basketball at Butler, where his brother Patrick also played for a time.
After her collegiate career, Margaret McCaffery initially played basketball professionally in France, but eventually returned to become an assistant coach at Notre Dame’s women’s basketball program. It was then that she met Fran McCaffery. She’s also a dedicated philanthropist, heavily engaged in the American Cancer Society’s Coaches vs. Cancer initiative, helping raise over $2 million.
Fran McCaffery’s alleged encounter with the voice of the Iowa Hawkeyes
The McCafferys have a long story of affiliation with the Iowa Hawkeyes, with Fran McCaffery having led the men’s program for over a decade. It seems, according to recent reports, that he was running some sort of dictatorial nepotism over at Iowa City.
According to a report by The Athletic’s Scott Dochterman, the relationship between the McCafferys and the local media was contentious at best, in particular during the final leg of Fran’s tenure. This Thursday, he recounted an episode in which Margaret McCaffery went after Iowa play-by-play voice Gary Dolphin:
“Gary Dolphin had it the worst,” Dochterman said on the “Legends and Listeners” podcast, as transcribed by Awful Announcing. “[McCaffery] tried to force him out twice.”
“Margaret came unglued, F-bombed him, screamed at him to the point where the leadership of both Iowa and Learfield had to be called in,” Dochterman said. “She would scream at them when she’s there, ‘I don’t need to be babysat!’ – and this is to keep the coach’s wife from yelling at the ‘Voice of the Hawkeyes.’”
Another incident included local media sportscaster Keith Murphy hosting an American Cancer Society’s Coaches vs. Cancer charity event. The McCafferys asked Murphy, who was critical of them, not to host the event if they were to attend. According to Murphy, Margaret McCaffery heckled him from the public during the event.
Fran McCaffery was fired at the end of the 2024-25 season and is now leading the UPenn Quakers in the Ivy League.
