Barta: No specific talks on Ferentz contract

IOWA CITY — University of Iowa athletics director Gary Barta has met with head football coach Kirk Ferentz three or four times since January. The topics have always held closely to what Iowa needs to do as a program to compete for championships.

A contract rollover for Ferentz hasn't been a topic, Barta said Tuesday.

Ferentz has four years remaining on his contract, which runs through the 2019 football season. It's college football industry standard for a 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.

'What we're focusing on is what do we need to do as a program to continue to be at the top, near the top and be able to compete for championships?,' Barta said. 'It's been focused on a lot of things (those talks). It hasn't been focused on his contract specifically. We're focusing on facilities, we're focusing on staff, we're focusing on assistant coaches, we're focusing on what the student athletes need. That's really been all we've talked about.'

With a head coach going into his 18th season (27th overall at the UI), this is not a recruiting strike against the Hawkeyes that Barta is sweating.

'What I would say to anybody is Kirk's been here 17 years as the head coach,' Barta said. 'I think any recruit who wonders about continuity and longevity, Kirk might be the definition in the dictionary if you looked it up under football coaches. I've said many, many times, I hope he ends up retiring here.'

In September 2010, Ferentz and Barta agreed to a 10-year contract extension that included $39.8 million of guaranteed money. Last season, Ferentz made nearly $4.1 million and was No. 14 nationally in coaches salaries, according to the USA Today coaches salary database.

After Iowa's 12-2 run in 2015, which included appearances in the Big Ten title game and the Rose Bowl, Ferentz will be in the $5 million range based on bonuses.

Ferentz picked up $1 million in bonuses for his team reaching both on-field and academic goals this season. He earned $250,000 for finishing in the top 10, $250,000 for reaching a New Year's Six bowl game and $250,000 for an unbeaten regular season. By claiming national coach of the year honors (two different awards), Ferentz earned $100,000. He also obtained $50,000 for winning the Big Ten's coach of the year award and $100,000 for his team producing a graduation rate exceeding 70 percent.

When Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer retired after last season, Ferentz and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops are now the longest-tenured college football coaches in the country. They were hired in December of 1998.

— Barta said Iowa is continuing to work on plans for the renovation of the north end zone in Kinnick Stadium. The $35-45 million renovation includes the potential for luxury suites, patios, club seating and other changes. The state Board of Regents gave the UI permission to proceed last August. The process allows Iowa to move forward with fundraising, hiring architects and designing a refurbished north end zone.

Barta said there are no artist renderings of the project as of yet.

— There are no updates as far as Iowa's future football schedules. Iowa's next open date is a non-conference game in 2019. Barta is comfortable with that for now.

'I feel we're about right,' he said. 'I want to make sure we don't get caught where we're two years out. This is a good amount of time. What if the team we signed with doesn't end up being the type of team we thought they would be? Whoever we put in for 2019, we want to make sure they're the same program they were in 2016.'

Barta said he'd like in the next year or so to get the 2019-20 schedules filled out. The 2020 schedule also needs one non-conference game with home games already scheduled against Iowa State and Northern Illinois.

A neutral-site game might be a possibility. Iowa's last neutral site game in the regular season was against Northern Illinois at Soldier Field in 2012.

'We have conversations about it,' Barta said. 'The ninth Big Ten game is a good thing in that our fans see another Big Ten opponent. It does make it harder to schedule a neutral game, but I haven't totally ruled it out.'

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