Kirk Ferentz moves up one spot on my list of greatest Iowa football coaches of all time

By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Entering his 26th birthday^e As coach of the Iowa American football team, Kirk Ferentz goes a step further than any other Iowa American football coach.

Hayden Frys' 20-year reign from 1979 to 1998 was the longest in the program's history, but Ferentz has since created considerable distance between himself and his former boss in terms of longevity.

Ferentz also moved up one spot on my updated list of the greatest Iowa football coaches of all time.

In June 2021, I wrote a column ranking the four greatest Iowa football coaches of all time. Hayden Fry was ranked first, followed by Forest Evashevski, Kirk Ferentz, and Howard Jones.

But since Kirk Ferentz has since won two Big Ten West Division titles, he now ranks second on my list, behind the man who hired him as Iowa's offensive line coach in 1981.

Iowa will face Illinois State in the 2024 season opener on Aug. 31 at Kinnick Stadium in what will be Kirk Ferentz's 316^e play as the main Hawk.

To put this number in perspective, Fry coached 244 games as head Hawk, while Evashevski coached only 83 games in his nine seasons from 1952 to 1960.

Ferentz, Fry and Evashevski are widely recognized as the three greatest head coaches in the program's history, but a case could also be made for Howard Jones, who led Iowa to two consecutive undefeated seasons in 1921 and 1922.

But if you had to pick one player as the greatest Iowa football coach of all time, who would it be?

There is no wrong answer, because every answer deserves it in its own way.

It is also difficult to compare head coaches from different eras, especially Evashevski and Jones, who both coached before the current two-team system was introduced.

But again, if you could only pick one, who would it be?

For me it's still Hayden Fry and here's why:

Fry rescued Iowa from the depths of despair.

He took over an Iowa program that had gone 19 winless seasons.

There was a culture of loss that many feared was irreparable.

The circumstances were so dire that Bump Elliott likely would have been fired as director of Iowa's athletic department if Fry had not been able to rebuild the program.

Elliott had already missed the ball twice with his previous football signings Frank Lauterbur and Bob Commings, so Fry would have had three strikes and then you would be out.

Fry, however, proved to be a real home run asset when he led Iowa to a Big Ten title against all odds and the 1982 Rose Bowl in his third season as head coach.

He won the Big Ten title twice more in 1985 and 1990 and coached in two more Rose Bowls.

Iowa was ranked No. 1 in the country for six weeks during the 1985 season.

Fry, who died in 2019 at age 90, was also the first Iowa head coach to record a double-digit win season and surrounded himself with one of the best assistant coaches in college football history.

Fry helped launch the coaching careers of Barry Alvarez, Bill Snyder, Dan McCarney, Bob Stoops, Don Patterson and, of course, Kirk Ferentz.

Fry also broke the stranglehold that Ohio State and Michigan had on the Big Ten during the 1970s. He ended the three-yard-and-a-dust mentality that was used to describe Big Ten football at the time. He installed an open passing attack that led to Chuck Long becoming the first Big Ten quarterback to amass 10,000 career passing yards.

But Fry's genius extended beyond the playing field and hiring assistant coaches.

He had a smooth talk and was a master of promotion and marketing.

Fry's designed the tiger hawk logo, and now, more than 40 years later, it is one of the most recognizable logos in college sports.

Kirk Ferentz, meanwhile, has perhaps held on better than any other coach in the program's history.

Overall, Ferentz has a 196-119 record with the Hawkeyes, which ranks him third all-time in wins among Big Ten coaches.

Iowa was clearly in decline when Ferentz replaced Fry shortly after the 1998 season, while Ferentz kept the Hawkeyes very competitive in the 1921-25 seasons.

Ferentz, who turned 69 on August 1, also suffered no serious physical complaints while Fry retired and battled prostate cancer.

This season, Iowa celebrates its 20th anniversary, as the nation's last Big Ten championship team won in 2004.

That season was also likely Kirk Ferentz's best as Iowa coach, considering everything the team had to overcome, most notably injuries to the running back position.

Iowa won a share of the conference title and 10 games in total in 2004, despite the team having little to no offense.

The 2004 team was defeated 44-7 by Arizona State in Game 3 in Tempe, Arizona, and then lost 30-17 to Michigan in the Big Ten season opener.

The team was 2-2 and the season could have gone in the wrong direction, but Kirk Ferentz and his assistants stayed the course and Iowa would win its final eight games. The season ended with a 30-25 victory over Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl, with Drew Tate throwing a game-winning 56-yard touchdown pass to Warren Holloway as time expired.

Kirk Ferentz has faced adversity off the field, including the racial unrest since the summer of 2020.

In 2017, he also promoted his son Brian Ferentz to offensive coordinator, but that decision backfired when Brian Ferentz was fired with four games left in the 2023 season.

But as Kirk Ferentz prepares for Year 26, his team appears poised to win at least 10 games for the fourth time since 2019 despite major concerns about the offense.

Kirk Ferentz's legacy will be affected by how Tim Lester performs as Iowa's new offensive coordinator. The offense has held Iowa back from being elite, and if Lester could just make the offense average, Iowa could have a playoff-caliber team, assuming the defense and specials teams continue to perform at a high level.

Kirk Ferentz still has a chance to surpass Hayden Fry as my pick for the greatest Iowa coach of all time. But that will require winning another Big Ten title, which certainly won't be easy.

As for Evashevski, he simply wasn't coach long enough to be considered the best in program history, or now the second-best in program history.

Evashevski's glory years were perhaps the best of any Iowa coach. He still holds the distinction of being the only Iowa coach to win a Rose Bowl, having won two in 1957 and 1959.

Some believe that Iowa would have become a traditional powerhouse, much like Nebraska was in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, if Evashevski had remained coach.

But he didn't, and the program quickly declined in the 1960s after Evashevski went from head coach to athletic director.

The situation only improved when Fry finally arrived with his West Texas humor and a winning formula.

The Greatest Iowa Football Coaches of All Time

1. Hayden Fry

2. Kirk Ferentz

3. Bos Evashevski

4. Howard Jones