Iowa City Today

Dan McCarney, a former University of Iowa football player and assistant coach, will serve as honorary captain for the Hawkeyes' Homecoming game against No. 11/12 Indiana this Saturday. The game is scheduled to begin at 2:35 p.m. Central Time and will be streamed on Peacock.

McCarney, who grew up in Iowa City and graduated from City High School, played for the Hawkeyes from 1972 to 1974 and was a team captain during his senior year. He earned his degree from the University of Iowa in 1975.

He started his coaching career at Iowa under Hayden Fry, spending 11 years as an assistant coach after working as a graduate assistant in 1977 and 1978. During his tenure as defensive line coach, the Hawkeyes participated in eight bowl games and won two Big Ten titles in 1981 and 1985. Following those seasons, Iowa appeared in the Rose Bowl each time.

In addition to the Rose Bowl appearances, McCarney helped lead teams to the Peach Bowl (twice), Gator Bowl, Freedom Bowl, and Holiday Bowl (twice) while at Iowa.

After leaving Iowa, McCarney became defensive coordinator at Wisconsin under Barry Alvarez. In four years there, he contributed to turning around a struggling program into a Big Ten champion and Rose Bowl participant.

McCarney later served as head coach at Iowa State for 13 seasons. He led the Cyclones to five bowl games between 2000 and 2005 and was named Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year in 2004.

His coaching career continued with positions at South Florida as assistant head coach for one season and then at Florida from 2008-2010. While with Florida, he helped guide the team to two Southeastern Conference Championship games and three bowl appearances. The Gators finished with a record of 13-1 in 2008 and won the BCS National Championship that year behind a defense ranked fourth nationally in scoring defense and ninth in total defense.

McCarney then took over as head coach at North Texas from 2011 to 2015. His tenure included nine victories and a win over UNLV in the Heart of Dallas Bowl after the 2013 season.

Over his career spanning more than three decades, McCarney coached in 21 bowl games—five of which are current BCS bowls—and mentored players who went on to be drafted by NFL teams, including nine selected within the first three rounds.

As honorary captain on Saturday, McCarney will join Iowa's captains for the pregame coin toss at midfield and will be present with the team before and after the game.