Hawkeyes bonding under McCaffery

IOWA CITY - Ten games into his first season as coach, Fran McCaffery hasn't yet built his Hawkeye fiefdom into a basketball powerhouse.

But he's successfully enabled his players to bond through off-season workouts and an up-tempo brand of basketball.

“I liked our guys last year and the coaches last year, but it's different,” Iowa junior guard Matt Gatens said. “I think guys enjoy this system probably and enjoy getting up and down playing hard and being there for each other. It's been a fun time with these coaches and players.”

Iowa's players and coaches spent the last two years racked with strife, from the way the 2009 season ended to the dismissal of former coach Todd Lickliter last March. In 2008-09, Iowa started 10-3, but faltered in Big Ten play to finish 15-17. Then four players with eligibility bolted following the season, including starting guards Jeff Peterson (Arkansas) and Jake Kelly (Indiana State).

Last year was perhaps more tumultuous with starting guard Anthony Tucker suspended after a mid-December alcohol infraction. Tucker later left the team, which left scars among some of the players. Iowa lost a school-record 22 games, and Lickliter was fired. The school then lost premier power forward Aaron Fuller (USC) and recruits Ben Brust (Wisconsin) and Cody Larson (Florida).

When McCaffery arrived on campus in late March, he had to build relationships and mold the team into his philosophy. He didn't have any problems with attitude, just players.

“When I first got here it was really a unique situation,” McCaffery said. “I'm going to skill development, and we had two players that were in academic jeopardy at the time in (Brennan) Cougill and (Devon) Archie, so I'd come work the team out and there'd be four players. So it was, ‘OK, let's take the four players that are here and help get them better and try to implement some of our philosophy.'”

Eventually, Cougill (now Kirkwood) was out for academics and Archie was in. But the bond was built before the season began.

The players met several days each week this summer for 6 a.m. workouts, which included conditioning and plyometrics. Strength-building exercises were designed to form leaner muscle than mass. The players universally despised the time of workouts but forged a cohesiveness because of it.

Senior Jarryd Cole has played under two coaches and committed to a third - Steve Alford - before his Iowa career began. He's liked the groupings of the past, but admits this unit is special.

“McCaffery makes it so easy,” Cole said. “He's definitely a players' coach.

“We actually want to play the kind of basketball that he's allowing us to play. We feel like we're involved players.”

Gatens also committed to Iowa when Alford was coach, and his father, Mike, played at Iowa in the 1970s. He's noticed one difference from the past to this year: there's been no discussion of transfers so far.

“This year seems like everybody wants to be here,” Gatens said. “There aren't any rumors of anybody leaving. We hae a pretty close group, good chemistry it's been good this year. We need to win some games and get some payback on that.”