In the new era of college football, few coaches stick to one program for the entirety of their career, or at least most of it. Kirk Ferentz’s tenure with the Iowa Hawkeyes is a rare case but is a lesson in longevity and continued success.
In Iowa’s recent win over Washington, Ferentz notched his 200th career Big Ten win. The win has him sitting in second place behind Woody Hayes with sights set on taking over the record. In typical Kirk Ferentz fashion, he downplayed the moment after the game.
“Then as far as the 200 part, you have to be lucky. You have to be in the right place, first of all. You have to be with a lot of good people, and that’s coaching staff and support staff. A lot of people are involved in this. I’ve worked with nothing but great coaches my entire career. I’ve been lucky wherever I’ve been,” Ferentz said in his postgame press conference.
Once again, Ferentz was asked about the achievement this week during his press conference he gives each Tuesday. Ferentz talked about how he and his team are handling being within striking distance of the record.
“Yeah, not to be a smart aleck, you can’t help it. All this stuff is out there all the time.
It would be great to get all these things done just to get them done. But as I said the other day, I feel fortunate to be at a good place. You just have to have a lot of things fall in place to have something like this happen.
A couple thoughts. First of all, I never got into it for that. I got into it because I like being around young people. I still want to retire as a line coach. That’s my real secret dream. That’s what I enjoy as much as anything, coaching guys in a small room.
I’ve learned to love this job, too. It’s a different job. There’s some things about it that are really neat and cool. You’ve got to be at the right place and with the right people, as I said the other day. That’s one constant. If Coach Hayes were still alive, I’m sure he’d say the same thing. You have to be around good people. I feel very fortunate in that regard.
Caveat, year one, 2-18, because the body count was out there weekly, nobody would have envisioned that. Go back to Will’s point that you just never quit,” Ferentz said.
The record is well within reach and it is in play to accomplish this season if Iowa can continue to play as they did last week. With six games left, all Big Ten contests, Iowa would need to run the table to take over the record.
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