Fran McCaffery was ousted as the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes’ men’s basketball team in 2025 following a 17–16 campaign, his worst record with the program since 2018.

After 15 seasons in the role, and as the returns diminished on the floor, things seemed to have been just as tumultuous behind the scenes.

Reporter Scott Dochterman revealed on Friday’s episode of Legends & Listeners that McCaffery and even his wife, Margaret, were brutal to the media in the final years of his tenure with the Hawkeyes, including toward Iowa staple Gary Dolphin, the longtime play-by-play voice for the football and men’s basketball teams for Learfield/IMG College and the Iowa Hawkeye Sports Network.

“Gary Dolphin had it the worst… [McCaffery] tried to force him out twice,” Dochterman said.

Dochterman went as far as to provide an example, saying that after Dolphin innocuously asked a player about turning around a losing streak, Margaret lost her composure and screamed at him.



“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… 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, the Voice of the Hawkeyes.”

It’s far from the first time the McCaffery’s mistreatment of the media has been touched on. Earlier this week, WHO-TV sportscaster Keith Murphy spoke about the McCaffery family’s bullying tactics on Murphy & Andy, recounting a story from when he hosted the annual Coaches Versus Cancer event, during which the McCafferys were upset about Murphy’s coverage of Fran’s contract extension.

Here is the story of Fran McCaffery insisting the emcee of Coaches Vs Cancer be removed or he would no longer attend.

His wife also heckled Keith Murphy as he was talking at the event.

You truly don’t hate this family enough.

Anything to say? @connor_m30 pic.twitter.com/0H6kSjlqen

— hawkeye_reggie (@hawkeye_reggie) May 13, 2026

“So at Coaches Vs. Cancer, you were up there, and as memory serves, Margaret McCaffery is heckling you from the audience?” Andy Fales asked.

“Correct,” Murphy responded, saying that although Fran eventually went on stage, he refused to shake hands. “They avoided me. And the whole point of that commentary wasn’t that he shouldn’t get a contract or anything. It was just that if you think enough of your coach to give him more years and more money, think enough of your fans to share this good news with them…

“And then Margaret took the stage and said, ‘Thank you for welcoming me, unlike our MC here who wants my husband fired.’ I didn’t say anything like that. I didn’t say he needed to be fired or anything.”

Now that the McCafferys are no longer involved with the program, the sportscaster is back as the Coaches Vs. Cancer host.

I am so glad Keith Murphy is back as the host of the Coaches vs. Cancer event and that Andy Fales called out the McCaffery family for who they are. An absolute abomination what they did to my great friend Keith who is world class in every aspect of life.

— Chris Hassel (@Hassel_Chris) May 13, 2026

It sounds like, by the end of their time in Iowa City, the McCafferys felt bigger than the program. Considering the Hawkeyes made it to the Elite 8 in Ben McCollum’s first season as the head coach, fans are probably just as happy as Dolphin and the rest of the media that Fran and Maraget are no longer around to berate the pillars in their community.