When Kirk Ferentz became Iowa's football coach, the other 11 current Big Ten coaches were up-and-comers

Kirk Ferentz became Iowa's head football coach in 1998. He joined a league that had head coaches such as Joe Paterno, Barry Alvarez, Lloyd Carr, Joe Tiller and John Cooper.

Veteran head coaches, to say the least.

But as Harry Chapin once sang in "The Mayor of Candor Lied," time passes quickly after all.  And as the summer follows spring so does the winter follow fall

We've made note of Ferentz becoming the dean of Big Ten coaches since Joe Paterno was fired at Penn State last year. So what about today's Big Ten head coaches? Where were they in December 1998 when Ferentz took the reins in Iowa City?

This morning, Bill Connelly of SB Nation posted where those other 11 coaches were and what they were doing 13 1/2 years ago.  I thought it was interesting, asked SB Nation if I could re-post it here, and here we go.

Current Illinois head coach Tim Beckman was finishing his first season as Gary Blackney's defensive coordinator at Bowling Green.

Current Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson was wrapping up his second season as Randy Walker's offensive coordinator at Miami (Ohio) and preparing to follow Walker to Northwestern.

Current Michigan head coach Brady Hoke was a defensive line coach in Ann Arbor.

Current Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio was a defensive backs coach in East Lansing.

Current Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill was finishing up his fifth year as Saginaw Valley State head coach.

Current Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini (a graduate assistant coach at Iowa in 1991 for Hayden Fry) was linebacker coach for Pete Carroll's New England Patriots. Pelini spent eight years in the NFL, two more than Ferentz.

Current Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald was finishing up his first and only season as Ron Vanderlinden's linebackers coach at Maryland (Vanderlinden was Gary Barnett's defensive coordinator when Fitzgerald was a player there), his first year of coaching at any level.

Current Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer was preparing for his fourth season as Notre Dame's receivers coach under head coach Bob Davie.

Current Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien was wrapping up his first season as Georgia Tech running backs coach under George O'Leary and offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen.

Current Purdue head coach Danny Hope was getting ready for his third year as Purdue's offensive line coach.

Current Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema was finishing up his third season as Iowa's linebackers coach and waiting to see if the new guy would keep him on staff. (Ferentz did.)

Thanks again to SB Nation for that.

Ah, the twists and turns some careers take. Meyer has been head coach at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida since Ferentz became Iowa's coach. Beckman was on Meyer's Bowling Green staffs.

Pelini worked for the Green Bay Packers, Nebraska, Oklahoma and LSU before becoming the Cornhuskers' head coach. Pelini and Indiana's Wilson were on the same Oklahoma staff in 2004.

After Georgia Tech, O'Brien went to Maryland and Duke before joining Bill Belichick on the Patriots' staff.  There, he worked with current Iowa offensive line coach Brian Ferentz.

Hoke and Dantonio would leave Michigan and Michigan State, only to return as head coaches. Hoke went to Ball State and then San Diego State. Dantonio went to Cincinnati.

This looks like a period of stability among Big Ten coaches. Ferentz, Bielema, Hoke, Meyer, Dantonio, Fitzgerald, Kill  -- you wouldn't guess any of them are leaving anytime soon. Beckman and O'Brien are first-year head coaches, so they'll have a few years to get settled.

But time passes quickly after all. And as the summer follows spring ...