Hayden Fry coached at the University of Iowa for 20 seasons, from 1979 through 1998. He handed the baton to Kirk Ferentz in 1999. Ferentz will coach his 25th season in Iowa City this year.
Hayden Fry made three Rose Bowl appearances at Iowa, Ferentz only one. However, Ferentz made the Big Ten Championship Game multiple times. He won a BCS bowl (the 2010 Orange Bowl over Georgia Tech). He also won a split Big Ten championship in 2002, when Iowa and Ohio State both went unbeaten in Big Ten play but never faced each other that season.
Both Fry and Ferentz are hugely important and noticeably successful coaches in Iowa history. Both had very long tenures (Ferentz is still active) and gave the program considerable stability. Which coach is better? Which coach did more for Iowa football? These are not easy questions to answer.
Hawkeyes Wire editor Josh Helmer joined us to talk about these and related topics on our USC Big Ten Tour’s summer podcast series. Our Hayden Fry episode is below: