Former Iowa guard Connor McCaffery is joining the staff of the Indiana Pacers, he told the Des Moines Register.
Among his tasks as a team assistant will be to help run the scout team and assist with film study and anything else the coaching staff needs.
“It’s a way in. It’s an entry-level job,” said McCaffery, 24, who said he aspires to have a career in coaching. “You’ve got to work hard and work your way up. That’s obviously what I want to do.”
McCaffery played six seasons for his father, Fran McCaffery, at Iowa, where he also was a baseball standout.
He starts his new role in September.
“I’m really excited. I want to get away and try to learn from someone else, somewhere else,” McCaffery said. “I’ve always been under my dad’s shadow and tutelage. Now, learning from someone like coach [Rick] Carlisle … and the assistants they have there, they’re all good basketball minds … I’m just going to try to take everything in.”
McCaffery played in 166 games, which ranks second in Iowa history. 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 second best in NCAA history.