One Coach Reportedly Top Target If Iowa Moves On From Fran McCaffery

It's been a tough season for Fran McCaffery and the Iowa Hawkeyes. Their latest loss was a heartbreaker to Oregon that dropped their record to 14-12 and 5-10 in Big Ten play.

It's basically a straight-up guarantee that the Hawkeyes will miss the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season. This is likely also going to end up being the worst season in McCaffery's time with the program since his first season. He went 11-20 in 2010-11.

Not only has Iowa been losing this season, but the Hawks have been playing poorly as well. That's a tough combination for any head coach to battle through, but the desire for the winds of change seem to be blowing in Iowa City. This tough season plus the fact that McCaffery has been around since 2010 has some feeling that he's perhaps finally lost his voice in the locker room and has played out his time as head coach at Iowa.

That's ultimately up to Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz, who would have to reach a separation agreement with McCaffery unless he resigns or retires, which would be unlikely. If she decides to move on though, there is one potential replacement who keeps on popping up on the Iowa radar.

Long-time Iowa beat writer Pat Harty reports that West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries would be the top target.

"There is a growing belief that West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries, due to his ties to the state of Iowa, is the person that Iowa will eventually zero in on to replace Fran McCaffery," Harty wrote in a wide-ranging piece on McCaffery's time at Iowa.

DeVries was born in Aplington, Iowa and played college hoops at Northern Iowa. After a long stretch as an assistant at Creighton, he became the head coach at Drake for six seasons, where he went 150-55 overall with three March Madness appearances.

The problem with DeVries would be the buyout, per Harty.

"DeVries wouldn’t come cheap if you were to combine his buyout with Fran McCaffery’s buyout and with the cost of what it would take from a contract standpoint to land DeVries," Harty said. "Add all those numbers up and it’s more than $30 million because it would likely take a six-year contract paying at least $3.5 to $4 million annually to get DeVries."

If it's not DeVries, his replacement at Drake, Ben McCollom, is another name who has been mentioned.

His buyout would be much more palatable for the Hawkeyes, but he lacks the overall experience and consistency that DeVries has. With that said, he does have Drake playing 24-3 ball atop the Missouri Valley Conference.

Either way, change may be coming soon in Iowa City.