aThe Penn Quakers are heading to the big dance. Penn knocked off Yale in overtime with an epic comeback to punch their ticket to March Madness and give head coach Fran McCaffery another conference championship.
McCaffery also joined an exclusive group with the NCAA Tournament berth, joining a group of five coaches who have led five different teams to the NCAA tournament, according to The Field of 68.
Fran McCaffery MAKES HISTORY after his first season at his alma mater!!! pic.twitter.com/7bEw33D8Op
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) March 15, 2026
McCaffery has been coaching since 1982, when he joined the Penn coaching staff as an assistant after finishing his playing career there. He would then become a head coach in 1985, joining Lehigh. The legendary coach led Lehigh to the tournament in 1988, then UNC Greensboro in 2001, Sienna in 2008, 2009, and 2010, and then led Iowa to the big dance seven times.
He joins Rick Pitino, Lon Kruger, Tubby Smith, and Steve Alford as the only coaches to lead five different teams to the NCAA Tournament. Pitino has actually done it at six different schools. He has led Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville, Iona, and St. John's all to the tournament.
Kruger did it with Kansas State, Florida, Illinois, UNLV, and Oklahoma before retiring following the 2020-21 season with Oklahoma. Smith got his first trip to the NCAA tournament with Tulsa, before trips with Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Texas Tech. He never made the tournament with Memphis and High Point at the end of his career. Finally, Alford made the tourney with Southwest Missouri State, Iowa, New Mexico, UCLA, and Nevada.
McCaffery and Penn will wait to find out where they are seeded in the bracket on Sunday night, but before the game, Yale was projected as a 12-seed.
