Soon-to-be-70 Kirk Ferentz isn’t going anywhere except to Iowa’s next football season(s)

IOWA CITY — Kirk Ferentz is talking this summer. In his words, he’s being proactive.

Entering his 27th season as Iowa’s head coach, Ferentz faces two milestone numbers he expects to hear often in questions coming his way at the Big Ten’s football media days next month.

One of the numbers is 206. Ferentz needs one win to tie Woody Hayes’ record of 205 wins as a Big Ten coach and two to pass him. That will give the Hawkeyes positive attention.

The other number is 70. That will be Ferentz’s age on Aug. 1. He is the second-oldest FBS coach, behind North Carolina’s Bill Belichick, who is less in the news for being a 73-year-old, first-year college coach than for his relationship with his 24-year-old girlfriend.

“I guess that would be one way to divert the attention. I’m not going down that road,” Ferentz joked during an interview with The Gazette in his office last week. “That would be newsworthy if that happens.”

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But the age thing is why he’s having a mini-media tour of sorts lately. Yes, Ferentz says his age is being used by opposing schools’ coaches against him in recruiting. No, he says, he has no plans to stop doing what he’s doing, and wants those recruits and their families to read and hear about it.

“I had my hips replaced in 2021,” Ferentz said. “That was like ‘This is kind of different.’ I don’t think about it now, and I’m guessing turning 70 might be the same thing. But it’s going to be a topic just because it is a topic.”

Ferentz discussed why he has stayed committed to his job after two particularly controversial, different situations in the last five years.

In June 2020, many former Black Iowa players used Twitter to relay stories and opinions about alleged mistreatment in Ferentz’s program. Thirteen former Iowa players filed a lawsuit five months later. A settlement was reached in March 2023, with the Iowa Department of Management’s State Appeal Board voting 2-1 to approve it. The 12 plaintiffs included in the settlement shared in a $4.2 million settlement.

Ferentz publicly expressed remorse in the aftermath and made changes in the program that included the ousting of longtime team strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle. No such complaints from players have surfaced in the five years since. But Ferentz disagreed with the 2023 settlement at the time, and still does.

“The regret was we didn’t get to tell the entire story, in my opinion. The one takeaway there is that it's easy to say anything publicly, and it's easy to, you know, write things, say things, write things on social media and say things. It's another thing to be deposed or under oath, and say something. That's two different stories there.

“So I'm regretful that we didn't get to that side of the story that never saw the light. But that is what it is. The decision got made, we all moved on. And, you know, that's behind me. That's ancient history.

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The second situation was the 2023 in-season announcement of the end-of-season dismissal of offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, Kirk’s eldest son, following seasons of poor offensive results. The decision was announced by then-interim Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz.

“The same thing with Brian,” Ferentz said. “There was a difference in opinions, but I didn’t have any choice in the matter. We all move on, and we all have moved on. I hate to see any coach let go. It’s a hard thing. It was a hard thing.”

In both 2020 and 2023, those situations had many wondering if Ferentz would retire because of them.

“Both were really hard,” Ferentz said, “maybe especially hard in my seat, because I probably see a bigger picture than everybody else does and maybe have more information that I thought was valid and pertinent.

“You consider all your options when things are going on. There are a couple of directions you can typically go. After giving it deep thought on both, I chose the path I chose. You move on and just keep moving.

“It’s kind of like what football teaches. You lose a game. It’s not fun, and it’s not fun the day or two afterward. But at some point you’ve got to turn the page and move forward, or you just need to get out. You don’t quit during the season, but maybe after a season you say ‘OK, maybe I’m done here.’

“That’s a choice I made in both those cases, just try to make things better moving forward.”

It’s not like there haven’t been plenty of sustaining good times or Ferentz would never have had the option to coach the Hawkeyes at 70 and beyond. The program has a streak of 12 straight winning seasons and won 10 games in three of the last six years.

“First of all, you’ve got to be allowed to do that,” said Ferentz. “That’s not a given.

“I think in Iowa, they have a fair understanding of how competitive things are, that there are going to be peaks and valleys. I think that’s a positive.

“You’re either moving forward or you’re not. What I’ve ultimately tried to do over the years is assess what the situation is and how do we handle it, and what’s our talent, what’s our potential, those kinds of things.

“We won seven games in 2014, which in 2000 would have been something to celebrate. It was something to celebrate in 2001. In ’14, we won seven games and it just didn’t feel good. Nothing really felt good about it. We just weren’t maximizing what we had.

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The opposite feeling, he said, came from the 2008 Hawkeyes. They started the season 3-3 before going 9-4.

“That’s one of my favorite years,” Ferentz said, “because each and every week they were there. The guys just kept going and got out of that hole. We were competing every week, and that’s what I’m looking for as a coach. The wins and losses will work themselves out, and whoever wants to judge us is going to judge us regardless. But to me, it’s more about what are we getting out of what we’re investing. What’s our level of investment and consistency?”

So, how does the coach who’s about to be 70 relate to the player who’s not yet 20 in 2025? First, Ferentz tries to locate the players who thinks like he does when it comes to football and what’s involved in the investment he mentioned.

“You find good people everywhere,” he said. “That hasn’t changed. You look for hard-workers, guys with pride. You’ve got to figure out does a player really love football and love all that comes with it. We’re only guaranteed 12 competitions, yet our players basically work 12 months a year.

“You have to love the work part of it and what it actually takes to be good, knowing that you’re only going to get X amount of opportunities to go out there and actually compete against somebody else, which is what you’re working for all the time, I think it takes a special person not to get bored by it or distracted.”

Oh, there are distractions.

“The pureness of (football), the simplicity of it, that’s something I’m hoping we can keep here,” Ferentz said. “I think it’s even more amplified or important now, because two things have really grown during my time here.

“The advent of social media has not been healthy for the human race. It’s especially dangerous and potentially impactful in a negative way to the guys we work with every day.

“And then gambling, too. Just how accessible it is and how aggressive it is.”

He was referring to the public’s use of social media and online sports-betting, saying “I probably think fan-behavior has changed a little bit, or the tone of fans’ enthusiasm.

“And you can’t watch TV without that stuff in your face. … If you want to enjoy the game, don’t bet on it. That’s my first advice to anybody.”

So where are those Big Ten media days this year? Las Vegas. That’s another example of how the Big Ten keeps changing, how college athletics keep changing. People can legally bet on college games, college players are getting paid, and Ferentz tries to keep about 100 young men a year focused and feeling similar about being a Hawkeye as he feels about coaching them.

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The actual coaching is Ferentz’s red meat, and he says he’s still hungry. He referenced Chuck Noll, who coached the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl wins.

“He went home and told his wife one day, ‘They’re not hearing me anymore.’ And for him, that was it. A day or two later, a half-hour press conference and he’s gone.

“He quit way, way younger (58) than I am. You just feel it. I assume I’ll feel it when it’s time, that’s my guess. But the giveaway for me is I still get really anxious as a season comes. I’m nervous as hell. I’m scared. Am I going to be ready for camp? Am I going to have the right messaging? And there’s something about Fridays and Saturdays (of game weeks) that’s, you know, it’s there. If I start getting numb to that, than that’s probably a good indicator (it’s time to retire).

“You’ve got your name on it. You want it to look good and to feel good. It doesn’t mean you’re going to win all the time. But if it looks good and feels good and you’re doing good, then you’ve got a chance at least.”

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