Dec. 28, 2009

Top Ten Moments

The Siena athletic department released its #3 Moment of the Decade today as selected by the office of athletic communications. The hiring of Fran McCaffery as men's basketball head coach checks in next on the list.

Following a dissapointing 6-24 campaign during the 2004-05 season, the men's basketball program at Siena needed a change and looked to McCaffery to restore the program to its past success. At the end of his initial remarks during the introductory press conference on that April afternoon, McCaffery noted what a proud and exciting moment this opportunity was for him. From that day forward, it would not only be that for him, but also for the Siena community.

In his first season, McCaffery led the Saints to a nine-win improvement and laid the foundation for a bright future. Siena would continue to take significant steps in Year Two, winning 20 games and making an appearance in the MAAC Championship game. That experience propelled the Saints to take the ultimate step the next two years, winning back to back MAAC Championships.

As the McCaffery era moves full force into Year Five, it is clear that his hiring in 2005 not only restored the program to past successes, but has continued to take the program to new heights which never before have been matched.

April 1, 2005 - Fran McCaffery has been named Siena's 14th head men's basketball coach, that announcement was made at a 1 p.m. press conference held at the College today. McCaffery had been the head coach at UNC-Greensboro since 1999.

"We are excited to have Fran leading our basketball program," director of athletics John D'Argenio said. "He has shown a history of building programs through deft recruiting, discipline, character and commitment. I know that our players will respond to him. I would like to thank all those involved in this process for their time, energy and commitment to Siena and its basketball program."

Over the last 20 years, McCaffery has enjoyed great success coaching Division I basketball and developing student-athletes on and off the court. Each of the programs he has coached has boasted a 100% graduation rate during his tenure, and he has recruited and coached several players who have gone on to play basketball professionally, some at the highest level.

McCaffery comes to Siena most recently from UNC-Greensboro, where he posted a 90-87 record in six seasons. In his first year at the helm, Greensboro posted a 15-13 record overall and a 9-7 Southern Conference mark, good for third place in the North Division. It was the 18th-most improved record nationally among NCAA Division I teams.

In McCaffery's second season, he guided the Spartans to unprecedented heights with a 19-12 record and the 2001 SoCon Tournament Championship. The Spartans defeated Chattanooga, 67-66, in the finals and received the SoCon's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The following year (2001-2002) McCaffery led the Spartans to their first 20-win season since joining the conference. It marked the first time the program claimed a share of the SoCon North Division title as well. After falling to eventual tournament champion Davidson in the conference tournament semifinals, the Spartans were awarded a berth into the 2002 NIT, where they lost to eventual champion Memphis.

This past season, McCaffery guided Greensboro to the brink of the NCAA Tournament before a SoCon Championship game loss to Chattanooga. He led the Spartans to a victory over Davidson in the semifinals, defeating a team that had been 16-0 in conference play. A big part of that success was SoCon Freshman of the Year Kyle Hines. Hines set UNCG and SoCon records for blocked shots, and also broke several other UNCG single-game and freshman single-season marks.

He spent the 11 years prior to his arrival at Greensboro at the University of Notre Dame as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, working on the staffs of Richard "Digger" Phelps and John MacLeod.

Among the players he recruited to play for Notre Dame were Pat Garrity, CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year in 1998, and Troy Murphy, the BIG EAST Player of the Year in 2000 and an eventual first-round NBA draft pick. Garrity was also a first-round NBA draft pick and the BIG EAST Player of the Year in 1997. In addition to Murphy and Garrity, McCaffery was involved in recruiting NBA First Round picks LaPhonso Ellis (1992 Draft, #5 Denver) and Monty Williams (1994 Draft, #24 New York).

At Notre Dame he helped the team to NCAA Tournament appearances in 1989 and 1990. The Irish reached the NIT finals in 1992, losing to Virginia in overtime, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the event in 1997.

At 26, McCaffery was the nation's youngest Division I head coach when he was hired Sept. 11, 1985, at Lehigh. McCaffery capped his three-year tenure with the Engineers with a 21-win season and an NCAA berth in 1988.

In three seasons as head coach at Lehigh, he compiled a 49-39 overall record and guided the team to the NCAA Tournament in 1988. At the time he was the youngest head coach to reach the NCAA Tournament. His Lehigh teams had two winning seasons in three years and the 1987-88 squad's 21-10 record remains the best in program history. Lehigh had just four winning seasons in the last 55 years prior to his arrival.

McCaffery was assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Lehigh from 1983-85 and helped the team to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1985. As recruiting coordinator, he helped sign Darren Queenan '88, who remains Lehigh's all-time leading scorer. Queenan was second in the nation in scoring in 1988, and went on to play in the USBL.

McCaffery was assistant varsity coach and head sub-varsity coach at his alma mater Pennsylvania during the 1982-83 season. At Penn, he worked for Craig Littlepage who is now the director of athletics at the University of Virginia.

McCaffery lettered three years as point guard on the men's basketball team at Pennsylvania as one of the first transfers to play for the Quakers. He earned a bachelor of science degree from The Wharton School of Finance and Commerce in 1982. In 1985 he received his masters degree in education from Lehigh.

In three seasons as a player he helped lead Penn to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and Ivy League titles and one berth in the NIT. As a senior in 1981-82 he led the Ivy League in steals and assists and was voted the team's most inspirational player.

Recruited as the successor at point guard to Skip Brown at Wake Forest, McCaffery played one season at Wake Forest, 1977-78, helping the Demon Deacons to a 19-10 record. Nicknamed "White Magic," he started 11 of 28 games as coach Carl Tacy's team finished runner-up in the ACC Tournament to eventual NCAA runner-up Duke. Wake defeated UNC Chapel Hill twice in three meetings and won five of the eight games it played at the Greensboro Coliseum.

"We are very pleased to have Fran as our head men's basketball coach at Siena," said President Father Kevin E. Mackin O.F.M. "Throughout his career, he has demonstrated the ability to develop student athletes both as players and human beings. He is a proven winner who places the best interests of his players first. We are thrilled to welcome him to the Siena community."

McCaffery, a Philadelphia native who attended LaSalle High School, and his wife Margaret have three children: sons, Connor John, born July 13, 1998, in South Bend, IN, and Patrick Dickerson, born March 20, 2000, in Greensboro, and a daughter, Marit Katherine, born August 14, 2002, in Greensboro.

McCaffery replaces Rob Lanier who was relieved of his duties on March 8, 2005.

Specific terms of McCaffery's contract were not released.

The Siena athletic department will highlight its most memorable moments from the first decade of the 21st century, revealing the top-10 daily beginning December 22 and ending New Year's Eve. Fans will also be able to vote among 30 predetermined moments through the Fan Poll currently live at SienaSaints.com and the results will be published in conjunction with the release of the top moment on December 31.