No. 200 is milestone win for a coach who has been a rock for 26 years at Iowa, Kirk Ferentz

IOWA CITY — Familiarity truly does breed contempt, but often it’s the contempt itself that deserves contempt.

You can’t coach a major-college, high-profile athletics program in the same place for 26 years without getting hit with enough acerbic arrows to spring leaks every time you have a drink of water.

But 200 football wins in one place is a rare and remarkable thing. Kirk Ferentz’s 200th at Iowa came Saturday, and perhaps was as representative of his career as any.

How many times have we seen it over Ferentz’s time here? His Hawkeyes got shelled at Ohio State last Saturday, and instead of curling in the fetal position they got right back after it. Iowa’s 40-16 win Saturday at Kinnick Stadium over a prominent Washington program was the latest example.

“The biggest thing this week was getting back on our feet and going back to work,” Ferentz said.

Sounds boring, isn’t it? You know what else it is? It’s the simple, yet extremely difficult thing you have to do to avoid becoming Big Ten roadkill, and rare has been the season under Ferentz when the Hawkeyere were that.

“I’m really, really pleased with the way the guys prepared,” Ferentz said, “the way they kept focused on things that were important. Certainly today, (we) showed up and competed the full 60. It wasn't perfect, but it was really good effort by everybody.”

In the football racket, no matter who and where you are, you don’t go through 26 years in a place without rocky and even rough times that test your self-worth and make you question the way you’re doing things. And, of course, there is the noise from the outside telling you how misguided you are in any given moment.

Blotting that out while keeping your resolve and locking in on pursuing progress is what often separates long-term successful coaches from those who fall by the wayside. Imagine how many times fans (and coaches) of most other Big Ten programs have looked at Ferentz and Iowa with envy for their sustained success.

Just as important as winning is nipping losing in the bud.

“Losing, it seems like the older you get the more distasteful it is,” Ferentz said. “(His wife) Mary said that, like, 40 years ago. She said it seems pretty simple. If you win everything’s good and if you lose everything sucks. It really hasn’t changed.”

Had the Hawkeyes fallen again Saturday, they’re a 3-3 team that’s reeling. Ferentz’s men didn’t fold. Instead, they outplayed a Washington team that had defeated Michigan the previous Saturday.

“The first thing I want to say is congratulations to Coach Ferentz,” Washington Coach Jedd Fisch said. “I saw that he has 200 wins. He’s everything that's right about college football. He is a fantastic person, a great football coach.”

The best way to judge coaches is by how their players truly feel about them. Year after year, from 1999 to the present, Hawkeye players have sworn by Ferentz. The way they gave him a warm, raucous reception in their Kinnick locker room after Saturday’s game was a scene similar to so many that have played out in that room over the years.

“That’s a huge honor to be able to be a part of the team that had his 200th,” said Iowa defensive tackle Aaron Graves. “He’s going to say ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter, we’re just happy we got our fourth win this season.’ But it’s a big deal.”

Kaleb Johnson, the Hawkeye who had 166 rushing yards Saturday and has 937 in a half-season, hugged Ferentz during the two-minute timeout in the fourth quarter.

“He just focuses on us,” Johnson said. “I just really appreciate him for, you know, just continuing to give me chances, and continuing to show my abilities and stuff like that. So that's why I gave him a hug, because he believed in me.”

This isn’t touchy or feely, this level of football. This is high-stakes poker, every week, every year.

“Let's be clear,” Ferentz said. “If we didn't win, I wouldn't be here right now. So, that’s just how it works and it always has.”

How it works here is, well, work. The next quick fix will be the first.

“I’m just proud of our guys,” said their coach. “They go to work and just keep pushing things.”

Two hundred wins at Iowa. Graves said it well. It’s a big deal.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com