Kirk Ferentz and Hayden Fry have plenty of great things in common.
Both men have led the Iowa football program for lengthy periods and have been very successful in the process, with Fry winning a then-school record 143 games during his 20-year tenure. Ferentz succeeded him in 1999 and has collected 204 victories and counting over his 26-season career with the Hawkeyes.
Fry’s accomplishments with Iowa earned him a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003, an honor that Ferentz is on track to receive if he reaches a career-winning percentage of .600.
Both of these coaches will undoubtedly remain Hawkeye legends until the end of time, but there is one unfortunate correlation that stands out between both Fry and Ferentz: They may have stayed in their position for too long. Let’s explain.
Before Fry took over in 1979, Iowa was regarded as one of the worst programs in college football and hadn’t even recorded a winning season since 1961. Despite the massive obstacle in front of him, it only took three seasons for Fry to win the Big Ten and reach the Rose Bowl.
Fry’s success continued throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s, which included two additional conference crowns and nearly a national championship during the 1985 season.
After an incredible 10-1-1 season in 1991, things began to go sour for Fry and the Hawkeyes. Iowa missed a bowl game in two of the next three seasons, and it became clear the Hawkeyes’ glory days under Fry were already well in the past.
The Hawks responded with respectable seasons of 8-4 and 9-3 in 1995 and 1996, but a mediocre 7-5 campaign in 1997 signaled Fry’s legendary reign as head coach was coming to an end. Sure enough, Fry retired after a dismal 3-8 season in 1998, his worst season in Iowa City.
While many fans were sad to see Fry leave, the general consensus amongst the fanbase and even Fry himself was the 69-year-old coach had stayed just a little too long. Health issues began to take their toll on Fry in his last years, including a bout with prostate cancer during his final season that likely affected his ability to recruit and fully manage day-to-day team responsibilities.
These final down years left Ferentz entering a difficult position, but he also didn’t take long to bring the program back to national prominence, winning Big Ten titles in 2002 and 2004, including a berth in the 2003 Orange Bowl.
Iowa entered a down period after 2004, forcing many fans to call for Ferentz’s job, but responded with an 11-2 campaign during the 2009 season. The Hawkeyes narrowly missed out on another conference title but claimed a historic victory in the 2010 Orange Bowl, the school’s first and only major bowl game triumph since the 1959 Rose Bowl.
Iowa has remained a consistent winner under Ferentz since then but hasn’t really come close to those glorious 2009 heights, with the lone exception being the historic 12-2 campaign in 2015. Sure, the Hawks have won a couple of Big Ten West titles in recent years, but they did not put up anything resembling a fight in those games, failing to score a touchdown in each contest.
Winning 10 games every few seasons is a nice accomplishment, but the consistent discourse from the national media surrounding Iowa’s putrid offense has washed away any fond memories from those campaigns.
Those problems fall on Ferentz.
The Hawkeyes have never featured explosive offenses in the Ferentz era, and that’s not something that’s going to change for the rest of his career. But when you consider that some of those horrible offenses have ruined elite, championship-caliber defenses, then that’s a huge problem.
New offensive coordinator Tim Lester showed some improvement in 2024, but that doesn’t hide the fact that 2024 was one of the most disappointing seasons under Ferentz.
Iowa returned plenty of starters on both sides of the ball and faced a favorable schedule, leading some national analysts to project the Hawkeyes as a potential dark-horse candidate to make a run to the College Football Playoff.
Instead, Iowa slumped to a frustrating 8-5 finish that included losses to 5-7 Michigan State and UCLA teams. The Hawks continued an embarrassing nine-game losing streak against ranked opponents and suffered a second consecutive home loss to in-state rival Iowa State.
These failures have left many longtime Iowa fans anxious about the future of the program, and the calls for athletic director Beth Goetz to move on from Ferentz have increased in the weeks following the end of the season.
I don’t envision Iowa slipping down to a losing record like it did with Fry in 1998, but Ferentz’s inability to compete in big games and field even an average offense over the last few seasons has left a bit of a sour mark on an otherwise fantastic career.
It’s hard to forecast what could happen in 2025, but the Hawkeyes could be in for a difficult campaign considering their recent history with inconsistent quarterback play and a challenging schedule.
If things cannot get turned around in 2025, then it might be best for Ferentz to step away on his own terms, a right he has earned and deserves, before he follows in the unfortunate footsteps of his predecessor.