Tag: Kirk Ferentz

Kirk Ferentz has directed a number of wins on the Iowa sidelines during his 26 seasons. Precisely 200 of them in fact.

Those 200 victories at Iowa have Ferentz trailing only Woody Hayes in overall wins by a Big Ten head coach in college football history.

As one of the models of consistency in college football, Ferentz is appropriately well compensated.

After signing a four-year contract extension following the 2021 season, Ferentz earns $7 million annually. It includes a $500,000 base, $5.5 million in supplemental compensation and a $1 million longevity bonus.

Ferentz’s contract runs through the 2029 season and expires on Jan. 31, 2030. If Ferentz stays for the duration of his contract, he will have served as Iowa’s head coach for 30 seasons.

In USA TODAY Sports’ updated college football head coach salary rankings, Ferentz checks in as the nation’s No. 23 highest-paid head coach. Ferentz ranks eighth among Big Ten head coaches.

“I don’t know what I’ll feel like at 70 or 72. If I feel like this, I’ll keep going for a while. I will say this. I’m not going to do this at age 78,” Ferentz said in June 2021.

The longtime Hawkeye head coach has been a part of a pair of Big Ten championships in 2002 and 2004. Ferentz also led Iowa to Big Ten West titles in 2015, 2021 and 2023.

With Ferentz steering the Hawkeyes, Iowa has earned 21 bowl invitations. Ferentz is tied for first all-time among Big Ten head coaches with 10 bowl victories.

Iowa has finished with a winning record in each of the past 11 seasons and looks primed to make that 12 seasons in a row given the start in 2024.

In Ferentz, Iowa knows the consistent results it’s going to get.

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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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On two occasions in the first half of the Hawkeyes’ eventual 35-7 loss at No. 3 Ohio State, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz faced fourth down decisions.

Ultimately, in both instances, Ferentz chose the conservative route.

After driving to the Ohio State 33 yard-line on Iowa’s second offensive series of the game, Ferentz opted for a 51-yard Drew Stevens field goal attempt instead of attempting to convert a 4th-and-3. The junior kicker missed the 51-yard attempt wide left.

Then, with Iowa still trailing 7-0 on its ensuing offensive series, the Hawkeyes faced a 4th-and-1 from midfield. The Hawkeyes faked a punt and converted the fourth down, but Ferentz had called a timeout before the play from the sideline.

After the timeout, Ferentz decided to punt the football away. Freshman punter Rhys Dakin shanked the punt, sending it just 22 yards. After a 21-yard carry from running back Quinshon Judkins on Ohio State’s first offensive snap on the next possession, the Buckeyes were right back at midfield.

Ferentz said he and the Hawkeyes never considered going for it on the initial 4th-and-3 situation.

“Yeah, not really. I mean, we were in pretty good position at that point. Not really. The other one, we were obviously thinking about a fake punt and we felt good about that until I called a timeout.

“Saw their linebackers kind of nudging up to the line. They had been coached on that during the timeout. I think their coach was out in the middle of the field. Looked like a high school game a little bit. We still were going to give it a shot until I saw those guys coming towards the line,” Ferentz said.

Ferentz was asked why he didn’t attempt to convert the 4th-and-1 situation with his offense and instead had opted for the fake punt.

“Yeah, I mean, you can do that. Field position is what I was thinking. It was a tight ball game. Again, maybe that’s too conservative, but at that point, our thought was, let’s pin them in, which we’ve done a pretty good job of this year, but today wasn’t a great example of punting the way we want to.

“My thought was, pin them in. Maybe force a turnover or something like that or get the ball back in good field position. And then the other part is, I wasn’t about to give them the ball at midfield. I’m not sure I want them to have to go 99, but midfield’s a little… At that point, we were right in the middle of things,” Ferentz said.

Iowa (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 12 with an 11 a.m. kickoff against Washington (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) from Kinnick Stadium.

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The cream of the crop in the Big Ten is full of national title contenders year in and year out. Last year provides evidence as the Michigan Wolverines were crowned champions of the College Football Playoff.

Up there this year is the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Penn State Nittany Lions. Sitting right behind them in that next tier, at least viewed by many, is the Iowa Hawkeyes.

During his weekly press conference, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz was asked his thoughts about that gap and if it exists in the conference.

“Yeah, I’m not looking at it that way. We just take each week individually.”

“But it kind of goes back, we’ve been playing pretty well defensively. We’ve had issues with the offensive line. Then last year we obviously had some challenges at the quarterback spot. It’s yesterday’s news. If you’re going to play a team that is nationally ranked, top-10 team, and those teams you mentioned typically are in that neighborhood, I’m not saying you’ve got to be firing on all three cylinders, but it certainly helps. It gives you a chance.”

“I guess I look at it the other way. I look at last year, I’ll go back to that because I know has been written about how many points we scored about whoever it was a year ago, and I think maybe you look at it the other way, maybe we did a hell of a job winning 10 games. There’s two ways to look at every coin.”

“Talent ebbs and flows. I’ve been here 25 years, going on 26 now, and it’s true every year. Every year has got its own challenges. You deal with the challenges that are in front of you, try to play to your strengths and do the best you can on an annual basis.”

“Over the long haul, we’re proud of our record. How it all pans out, it’s a year-to-year basis kind of thing,” Ferentz said when asked about the gap in the Big Ten conference.

Kirk Ferentz, the longest-tenured coach in the Big Ten and college football, currently holds a 199-120 overall record as the head coach of Iowa and carries a 123-85 record in Big Ten play.

Iowa’s last win against Ohio State came in 2017, Penn State in 2021, and Michigan in 2016.

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Dating back to the spring, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz has remained consistent that it would take time for graduate quarterback Cade McNamara to work himself back into full game shape.

Ferentz has also remained optimistic that it would happen for McNamara and the Hawkeyes.

Through three games, Iowa owns a 2-1 record. Like the Hawkeyes’ offense as a whole, McNamara has shown some good and some bad. The 6-foot-1, 210 pound quarterback has completed 63.9% of his passes for 526 yards with three touchdowns against a pair of interceptions.

As he previewed Iowa’s Saturday date at Minnesota, Ferentz was asked how he feels McNamara’s progression is coming along and how close McNamara is to being back into complete game shape.

“We’ll see. I don’t mean that in a negative way by any stretch. But we’ve played three weeks right now, and I can’t stand here in front of you and say we’ve played a complete game start to finish yet. I wasn’t here for the first one, but I watched it.

“So, we’ve had peaks and valleys. As I said, the good thing is we’ve faced some adversity the other day, and it could have gotten worse after that muffed punt, too, just for the record. Nestor did a good job being there and scooping that thing up, but that could have been interesting. We’re at 17-14 at that point and the ball is at midfield. Those things are going to be good for us in the long run. I’d just as soon not have to go through all of them that we’ve done,” Ferentz said.

Ferentz remains optimistic that McNamara’s best football can still be in front of him.

“I think to the point, whether it be Cade or the offensive line, hopefully our best football is in front of us. That’s the way it’s got to work and does typically work for us. I know more about our program than I do others, but that’s usually how it works.

“But we have to be working at it and doing right, and I do think he’s more comfortable now, and now the challenge is can we keep it going week to week knowing that the degree of difficulty is going to get a little tougher, too. Because these guys, two straight shutouts in a row, it’s going to be a big challenge for us,” Ferentz said.

Iowa is slated for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff on Saturday at Minnesota with the game to be broadcast on NBC.

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The first half didn’t go according to plan for the Iowa Hawkeyes versus the Troy Trojans.

Despite arriving as a heavy underdog, Troy led Iowa at the halftime break, 14-10.

The Trojans got a pair of big plays from junior receiver Devonte Ross, who caught a 63-yard touchdown pass and also returned a punt 77 yards for a score to account for the Trojans’ two first-half scores.

Ross’ punt return touchdown came with 1:00 remaining in the first half. On the ensuing possession with one timeout left in its back pocket, Iowa opted to run twice with junior running back Kaleb Johnson and just take the game into halftime instead of trying for points.

It brought the boo birds out in Iowa City.

Boos are raining down, and can’t blame ’em. Why not go for points here, down 14-10? Really questionable decision. Can’t believe Iowa let the half go without using its final timeout.

— Chad Leistikow🆑 (@ChadLeistikow) September 14, 2024

“That’s totally my decision, yeah. You can blame that one on me. I know the fans weren’t happy.

“The way we were playing, why make a bad situation worse? I’m not saying it would have happened. It’s like the two-point thing last week. We talked about that Sunday and Thursday. I’m still not sure where these charts come from. A lot of it’s just how the game feels to you at some point. We’re sitting there at that point, one minute away, 70 yards away. Whatever it might have be, 75. Doesn’t matter.

“But, let’s just minimize the damage and see if we can regroup and play a good second half. We’re going to get the ball. There’s nothing in my mind right now that was instilling confidence in me we could go down the field and score,” Ferentz said.

Iowa’s offense did mount a pair of scoring drives in the first half versus Troy, cashing in on a 4-yard touchdown run from Johnson early in the second quarter on its third possession. Then, Iowa tacked on a 42-yard field goal from junior kicker Drew Stevens later in the second quarter.

But, the Hawkeyes were forced to punt twice in the first half and their second drive of the game morphed from a promising one to an eventual turnover on downs.

Ferentz’s conservative decision didn’t end up costing Iowa. Though the Hawkeyes punted on their first possession of the second half, Iowa ended three second-half offensive drives with touchdowns.

Junior quarterback Brendan Sullivan had a 2-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Addison Ostrenga, Johnson creased the defense for a 33-yard rushing score and sophomore running back Jaziun Patterson provided the finishing touches with a 39-yard rushing touchdown.

The Hawkeyes also added a 28-yard pick-six from graduate cornerback Jermari Harris in the 38-21 win over Troy.

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