This week the Big Ten found a successor to Bob Knight as a chair-thrower in Iowa's Fran McCaffery.

Fran tapped into his temper during the Iowa-Michigan State blowout Tuesday. He got himself a technical foul and took some frustration out on a chair at the Breslin Center.

I don't think he will get a bill for any damage, and his throw was immeasurably shorter than Knight's across-the-court heave several years ago at Indiana. Incidentally, the picture of Knight throwing that chair is still prominently exhibited in the offices at Mackey Arena at Purdue.

McCaffery has five technicals and an ejection this year. And let me tell you this: From my view of the second-year Iowa coach, these are well-organized, well-thought-out explosions that have gotten him the technical fouls.

In the short time I have viewed McCaffery, I don't think he does anything without purpose and without thinking. The danger here is that the players might get into a disconnect mode with the head coach.

However, I do not think that is going to happen. I also think the Hawks, when they get through with the top teams in the conference, will win more than they lose against the third-tier teams.

They still have the Nebraskas, Northwesterns and Penn States to deal with and should be able to get victories in the majority of those competitions. So yes, my friends, it's a bumpy ride to build a program, but McCaffery is still on course and not out of control with his on-court activity.

Hang loose, there are some victories ahead.

On the other hand, at Iowa State it looks as if the transfer program instituted by Fred Hoiberg is starting to pay off. The Cyclones have themselves, led by Royce White, a shot at a top 2 or 3 finish in the Big 12.

The team has been blended together by the coach and his assistants, and I look at the Cyclones to be even better as the season moves along to February.

NOTES: Northern Illinois' 38-20 victory at the Go Daddy Bowl in Mobile, Ala., over Arkansas State should set off a storm warning for the Hawkeyes for their opening game next year at Soldier Field, because many of those Northern Illinois players are returning.

A tip of the fedora to Kennedy golfer Brigham Stewart. He hit a shot from center court last Friday during halftime of the Kennedy girls basketball game and won $500.

Let's hope no NCAA violation is unveiled, because Stewart is going to go to Butler on a golf scholarhsip. I hope he'll have a 60-foot putt in his bank when he gets to college.

(Bob Brooks is sports director at KMRY and has been one of the leading voices of college and prep sports in Eastern Iowa for more than 65 years. He is a 10-time winner of the Iowa Sportscaster of the Year Award, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana in 2004. His sports reports can be heard weekday afternoons at 4:30 and 5:30, and Saturdays at 6:40 for the Hawkeye football wrap-up.)