By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

The breakup was never going to be clean.

It started with the rumors, and then the official announcement on Friday — Fran McCaffery was out as Iowa’s men’s basketball coach.

Fifteen seasons and a program-record 297 wins weren’t enough to save McCaffery. Nor was this season’s 17-16 team, a record that hid the fight that this team had despite the injuries that plagued them all season and the swirling speculation about the coach’s future that hung over this program for most of the Big Ten schedule.

The tears in the locker room after Thursday’s 106-94 loss to Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament’s second round were a sign that this team knew what was coming, despite McCaffery’s insistence in the post-game press conference that he thought he would be the Hawkeyes’ coach next season.

His dismissal was announced by athletics director Beth Goetz, who said in a statement, “Fran McCaffery has been an integral part of our Hawkeye family for the past 15 years. He is a tremendous coach and teacher, and we are grateful for the positive impact he has made on the institution and the community. We have a deep appreciation for his dedication to our student-athletes and his passion for the game that will have a lasting impact on our program.”

And that was how it ended.

There is no question of McCaffery’s impact on the program since he took over after the malaise of the Todd Lickliter years in 2010. McCaffery was given time to rebuild the Hawkeyes, and the pace was methodical and had a perfect rhythm.

The Hawkeyes were 11-20 in his first season, but there were moments that you realized something good was being built. There was the 72-52 home win over Michigan State on February 2 a day after a historic snowstorm hit Iowa, the 67-65 home win over No. 6 Purdue in the regular-season finale, followed by a 66-61 loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament.

They won 18 games and made the NIT in McCaffery’s second year, with four wins over nationally-ranked teams. They won 25 games a year later and reached the NIT championship game, and then won 20 and played in the NCAA Tournament opening-round game in Dayton, the program’s first NCAA appearance since 2006.

What happened next were NCAA Tournament appearances that always ended on the first weekend. McCaffery produced a national player of the year in Luka Garza and consensus All-Americans in Garza and twin brothers Keegan and Kris Murray. Jarrod Uthoff and Peter Jok were also All-Americans.

McCaffery’s players graduated and stayed out of trouble. There were some transfers, but nothing ever appeared acrimonious.

Those NCAA Tournament failures, plus the declining attendance — Iowa’s average reported attendance this season was 9.161, only 61.12% of Carver-Hawkeye Arena’s capacity — and back-to-back seasons without an NCAA Tournament appearance proved to be fatal.

It is all about money in college sports, especially when it comes to compensating players, and Iowa is woefully behind compared to other Big Ten schools, a point McCaffery drove home after Thursday’s game.

“I think the numbers this year, you’d probably need $6 million, and we were nowhere near that,” McCaffery said. “I think you know that. Those numbers (next season) are going to go north of that.”

And with McCaffery gone, the NCAA’s transfer portal is open to any Hawkeye with eligibility left. McCaffery knew that some of his best players were already going to get offers from other schools, and that’s a given now.

“We are in a different world, as you know,” McCaffery said. “That’s why you asked me the question. We have guys that might be offered seven-figure deals, which will challenge their thought process. If you were 21 and somebody called you up and said they could come play for me for a million five, you might think about it. So we’re dealing with that, or we will deal with that.”

There will also be buyouts for Iowa to pay — McCaffery’s buyout is approximately $4.3 million, although it can be paid out over three years, and Iowa would be on the hook for a buyout of a coach it wants to hire. That’s more money to find.

The names of possible candidates are out there — West Virginia’s Darian DeVries is on that list, so is Drake’s Ben McCollum. Even a coach like Northwestern’s Chris Collins could be available — Collins’ name came up as a favorite to take over at Villanova.

Those names, though, are on everyone’s lists. And a lot of those among the everyone have the cash and the resources the Hawkeyes lack.

Those who remember history recall that Tom Davis, then Iowa’s winningest coach, was let go after the 1999 season because of a desire to get the program to the “next level.” Instead, there was a steady decline that McCaffery had to stop.

There is a decline that the next coach will have to stop, from on-court performance to fan apathy. The difference from 1999 is the new coach may likely have to start completely over, with a bank account that doesn’t match everyone around him.

The rebuild is going to cost much, much more.

Photo: Iowa’s Fran McCaffery argues with an official during a win over Washington earlier this season. (Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)