Bobblehead quandary: Iowa's Fran McCaffery or Fox's Joe Buck?

IOWA CITY - Fran McCaffery looked the miniature version of himself and just laughed.

Iowa's men's basketball coach wasn't sure if the 5-inch bobblehead looks like him or a well-known national sportscaster.

“It looks more like Joe Buck than me?” McCaffery said while chuckling. “I think that's probably true.

“There's only so much they can do to make me look better.”

For five different games this winter, Iowa will hand out bobbleheads of athletes or coaches. The first 3,000 fans attending Tuesday's game against Louisiana Tech will receive McCaffery's bobblehead. Iowa will give away another 2,000 that night as part of an arena scratch-off game.

Iowa senior Jarryd Cole will have his own bobblehead night Jan. 12 against Northwestern. Bobblehead nights for women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder (Dec. 22 vs. Northern Iowa) and women's seniors Kachine Alexander (Jan. 8 vs. Ohio State) and Kelsey Cermak (Feb. 10 vs. Minnesota) also are scheduled.

Rick Klatt, Iowa's associate athletics director for external affairs, said McCaffery brought up the idea of bobbleheads for senior players in a marketing meeting shortly after he was hired. McCaffery held bobblehead nights for his seniors while at Siena, Klatt said.

Iowa commissioned the bobbleheads during the summer for about $3 apiece and they were produced in China. There are varying numbers of free bobbleheads depending on the game.

“There was significant strategy, to be honest,” he said. “We looked at games that might need a boost for attendance or games that worked well for kids to attend.”

The exception was picking Alexander's bobblehead for the Jan. 8 women's basketball showdown on CBS between the No. 16 Hawkeyes and No. 11 Ohio State.

“Our commitment to the Big Ten was we would roll up our sleeves and make a good effort to get a good crowd in the building,” Klatt said.

Cole, a senior from Kansas City, has yet to see his bobblehead in person. He plans to “definitely take a bunch home” and his mother is even more excited to see it, he said.

“She's been having all this talk, ‘My baby is going be on a bobblehead,'” Cole said. “She's definitely going to be excited to have one of those.”

One reporter joked to McCaffery that he could set one on the bench during the game or hand them out as Christmas gifts.

“My ego's not that big,” he said, laughing. “I can't do that.”