Long-time Philadelphia friends Fran McCaffery and Chris Mooney to be foes in the NCAA Tournament

Iowa’s Fran McCaffery and Richmond’s Chris Mooney, two Philadelphia Irish kids, will oppose each other on the coaching sidelines for the first time Thursday. Fittingly, the game will play out on St. Patrick’s Day.

“We both played in the Philly Catholic League, and [Mooney] went to Princeton, and I went to Penn, which typically makes you not like each other, if you know anything about that rivalry,” McCaffery said Wednesday in Buffalo, on the eve of Iowa’s matchup with Richmond in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

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Even though McCaffery is 13 years older than Mooney, and has a lengthier coaching resume, the two men have forged a strong friendship over the years. McCaffery’s road to Iowa began back in the early 1980s, after he graduated from Penn and became an assistant on the Quakers’ coaching staff. His first head coaching stint was with Lehigh beginning in 1985, followed by stops at Notre Dame (as an assistant), UNC Greensboro and Siena, before taking over the Iowa head coaching reins in 2010.

Mooney, who went to Archbishop Ryan High School, was only 32 when he took over at Richmond in 2005, and had previously coached at Air Force and tiny Beaver College in Pennsylvania. He began his coaching career at Lansdale Catholic High School in 1994.

McCaffery, 62, said Thursday that he had followed Mooney’s career all the way back to when Mooney was playing under the legendary Pete Carril, in the early 1990s.

“I think anybody that played at Penn has so much respect for what Pete Carril did and what Bill Carmody did after that and right on through [current Tigers coach] Mitch [Henderson],” said McCaffery. “A lot of those guys probably went to Princeton not thinking they were going to be coaches — that’s not why you go to Princeton — but just fell in love with the game at another level and decided to become coaches.

“And Chris is certainly one of the best in our business.”

That is high praise coming from McCaffery, who earned the nickname, “White Magic,” during his Philly high school (La Salle College ) playing days. Mooney even called his elder coaching peer “kind of a legend in Philadelphia.”

“We’re pretty close. We’ve gotten to know each other very well over the past few years,” said Mooney of McCaffery. “You know, I can remember his Lehigh team. That’s a long, long time ago. When he was an assistant coach at Notre Dame, and I was kind of just coming up and getting into coaching, I knew who he was obviously because of his Philadelphia years.”

McCaffery’s demeanor during games can sometimes resemble the cartoon character Tasmanian Devil, and McCaffery’s outbursts have been costly at times. After a 2019 loss to Ohio State, McCaffery berated an official, reportedly yelling that the official was a “[expletive] disgrace.” That tirade resulted in McCaffery being suspended two games.

» READ MORE: Fran McCaffery was 'White Magic' long before he was Iowa's head coach

Mooney, 49, on the other hand, is the exact opposite, more measured and soft-spoken. After Thursday’s press conference, he thanked the media before making his exit. Still, the two coaching personalities have clicked, despite the age gap and different wiring.

“[McCaffery] is a great storyteller, very funny,” said Mooney, who added that he started to get to know McCaffery well during past Nike basketball coaching trips. “He has been a really, really good friend to me and somebody that, obviously, I look up to, and his success has been impressive.”

One personality trait both men do share is a worker mentality, which may be rooted in their Philly upbringing, where a blue-collar spirit reigns supreme, especially in sports circles.

“Chris and I are a little bit different being Ivy League guys that just kind of grinded our way through the business,” said McCaffery. “I enjoy seeing him on the road. We sit next to each other when we’re recruiting and talk. He has a great sense of humor. I have a lot of respect for what he has done.”