Caitlin Clark’s boyfriend Connor McCaffery was hired to a new job as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Butler University, the program announced Tuesday.
“Following a high-level playing career, Connor has had the opportunity to both contribute and learn alongside one of the best staffs in the NBA,” Butler head coach Thad Matta said in a statement. “Those experiences will be very valuable to our staff. He obviously comes from a basketball family that I know very well and I’m excited for the impact he is going to have on our program both quickly and in the long run.”
Clark expressed her feelings for his new job in an Instagram story on Tuesday.
“Yayy!! So happy for you,” Clark, 22, wrote alongside a white heart emoji and McCaffery’s Instagram handle.
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Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever and boyfriend Connor McCaffery attend a game between the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 10, 2024, in New York City. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
McCaffery will now get to coach his younger brother, Jack, an incoming freshman at Butler in the class of 2025. Connor will have some experience about coaching family members, but from the other side of the equation.
Connor played for his father, Fran McCaffery, who has been the coach at Iowa since 2010, across six collegiate season from 2017-23.
McCaffery played in 166 games, which ranks second in Iowa history. He dealt with injuries throughout the majority of his college career, but a redshirt year and COVID-19 campaign allotted him six seasons. He reached the NCAA tournament in each of his full seasons apart from his COVID season. He averaged 4.5 points and 3.0 rebounds, and played in 111 wins, tying Jordan Bohannon for most in program history. His career assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.59 (527 assists to 147 turnovers) is the second best in NCAA history.
Iowa is also where McCaffery met Clark when she was starring for the women’s team from 2020-24. The couple started dating in April 2023 after Clark had led Iowa on a run to the NCAA title game. But McCaffery was a senior at that time, and began his coaching career right after graduating.
Head coach Fran McCaffery of the Iowa Hawkeyes stands on the sideline during the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Jerome Schottenstein Center on January 21, 2023 in Columbus, Ohio. (Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
In May of that year, he began his career as an assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers. McCaffrey ended up with a job in Indiana before Clark even knew she was going to be playing for the Indiana Fever. By fate, the Fever finished with a bad enough record last season to earn the top pick in the WNBA Draft lottery this year, which sent Clark to Indiana too.
Now, even with McCaffery’s new job, the Butler campus would be just seven miles from the Fever’s arena, Gainbridge Field House. So, their fates will stay in Indianapolis together for now.
The couple celebrated their first anniversary on April 24, 2024, as seen in an Instagram post by Connor on that day.
“One year [with] the best doing life [with] [you] has been easy, and you never cease to amaze me.. can’t wait to watch [you] live out ur dreams in person, love you,” he wrote in the caption.
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Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark hugs her boyfriend Connor McCaffery after defeating the Phoenix Mercury at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Aug. 16, 2024, in Indianapolis. (Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Clark is gearing up to lead the Fever on its first playoff run in eight years. She toppled another WNBA rookie record in the Indiana Fever’s 110-109 victory over the Dallas Wings in their final home game of the regular season. Clark had a career-high 35 points as she broke the WNBA mark for most points scored by a rookie in a single season. Seimone Augusts set the bar 18 years ago when she scored 744 points in her first season with the Minnesota Lynx.
Just days before that she broke the WNBA’s single-season assist record.
However, Clark’s rookie season has also come with controversy. She is just one technical foul away from earning her first WNBA suspension, which is automatically dealt to any player who racks up seven technical fouls in a single season. This issue resulted in her teammates forcefully trying to hold her back during a tense moment against the Wings, preventing her from putting herself at risk with the referees.
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