Barta, Ferentz totally focused on 2015 season

CHICAGO - No matter what happens in 2015, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz will have four years remaining on his contract, which runs through the 2019 football season.

It's industry standard for a football coach to have five years remaining on a contract, so the program can sell recruits that the coaching regime will be in place for their entire five-year careers at the school. It's generally handled with a rollover clause. During his final few seasons in the late 1990s, Hayden Fry had one. It's procedural, but it's also a topic that will come up for Iowa and Ferentz at the end of the 2015 season.

The key phrase there is 'the 2015 season.”

At Big Ten media days this week, Ferentz and athletics director Gary Barta said there has been no movement on that front. They almost uniformly said the season is the thing that matters now.

'Not even thinking about it,” Ferentz said. 'We're just worried about playing well this year. That's where our thoughts have been. The University of Iowa has been more than fair to me, historically going back to 1981. That's the least of my worries right now. I think all of us are worried about performing as well as we can.”

In September 2010, Ferentz and Barta agreed to a 10-year contract extension that included $39.8 million of guaranteed money. Barta said Thursday there has been no change.

'The contract we worked out several years ago, we continue to operate off that,” Barta said. 'I've been very public about my support for Kirk. It's not blind support. It's support based on working with him for many years. I think he's one of the best coaches in the country in terms of his overall (resume). He's proven he can win. His graduation rates are among the best in the country. And he does things the right way.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com