#B1GCoachRank: No. 7 Kirk Ferentz
Ranking coaches in the B1G can be a pretty easy task. It’s easy to place a number beside a guy, failing to give any reasoning behind his placement on a “power rankings,” list.
At Saturday Tradition, though, we don’t want to just give you the rankings. We want to provide you with a detailed description of each head coach and why he’s ranked in his selected spot.
This was a practice that was kicked up from the ground last year and, since there’s still several months until football season gets underway, it’s worth revisiting. So, let’s continue our 2017 #B1GCoachRank:
Coach: No. 7 Kirk Ferentz
Record: 135-92 (83-64 B1G)
Record vs. top 25: 24-40
Where team was when he was hired: Hayden Fry had just suffered his worst season with the Hawkeyes, finishing 3-8 in 1998, the final year for the B1G legend. So, when Ferentz strolled into town, it was time to roll up the sleeves and do the dirty work necessary to get Iowa back to a consistent winning level.
Ferentz didn’t inherit much talent and had basically started from scratch. His first two years weren’t pretty, finishing 1-10 in 1999 and 3-8 in 2000. After that though, the Hawkeyes made appearances in six-straight bowl games and finished in the AP top 10 three-straight years (2002-2004) after racking up double-digit wins in each of those seasons.
Considering what Ferentz walked into, it’s quite remarkable that he was able to re-establish that winning culture in Iowa City so quickly.
Biggest win: Nov. 8, 2008 vs. No. 3 Penn State
There are a lot of big wins on Ferentz’s resume. This category could be up for debate with everyone making a case for about a dozen different games. Nobody would be wrong.
But two games really are head-and-shoulder above the rest, in our eyes.
In 2016, the Hawkeyes stunned No. 3 Michigan in Kinnick Stadium. Keith Duncan’s last-second field goal lifted Iowa to a 14-13 win and was the first blemish for the Wolverines on the season. The Hawkeyes were a huge underdog heading into the contest, but never doubt Ferentz when he’s playing in front of a home crowd under the lights.
The win ended a two-game skid for the Hawkeyes and helped get them to eight wins on the year.
It was eerily similar to eight years prior, when the Hawkeyes hosted No. 3 Penn State at Kinnick Stadium under the lights. That, too, was a one-point victory for Iowa, thanks to a game-winning kick from Daniel Martin.
Penn State had beaten Michigan and Ohio State in consecutive weekends and was poised for a B1G title and a national championship run. Apparently, though, Kinnick Stadium is a place where dreams go to die.
Iowa closed the 2008 season by winning its final three games after the victory over Penn State. Overall, it sparked a 13-game winning streak for the Hawkeyes, who finished the 2009 year at 11-2.
Most embarrassing loss: Sept. 17, 2016, vs. North Dakota State
Yeah, Iowa’s devastating home loss to the FCS power is at the top of the list. The Bison have victimized a slew of FBS powers, so maybe the actual loss isn’t that embarrassing, but the timing certainly made this a tough one to swallow.
The Hawkeyes were coming off a 12-2 in 2015 and were expected to be threats in the B1G West again last fall. They looked the part in their first two games, too, beating Miami (OH) 45-21 and dismantling Iowa State 42-3. And then came North Dakota State.
It was a tough game but Iowa held a seven-point advantage heading into the final quarter. The Bison outscored the Hawkeyes 9-0 in the final quarter and sealed the deal with a game-winning field goal.
To make matters worse, the loss to North Dakota State came just shortly after Iowa had extended Ferentz’s contract another 10 years worth around $30 million. Fans had a bit of indigestion after all of that early in the year.
Best recruiting class: 2005
Ferentz brought in a ton of high school talent to Iowa City in 2005, especially by his standard. Three players were listed as five-star recruits while sixth others were labeled as four-star prospects. The 22-player class ranked as seventh-best class nationally and second in the B1G, only behind Michigan.
But it was a few of the three-star recruits who were actually the hidden gems. Pat Angerer went on to have a solid career in the NFL and Shonn Greene has been Iowa’s only real Heisman-caliber player in the last decade. This was a class that had a lot of depth and talent, even beyond the numbers.
Though several of those players didn’t work out, it was still a pretty impressive class for a guy who typically wins with three-star athletes.
What could get him fired: Because Ferentz signed such a lucrative deal last season and proved he can still get Iowa into B1G title contention as he did in 2015, he’s probably not going anywhere anytime soon.
He’s had just two losing seasons since 2001, so even if the Hawkeyes are sub-.500 this year, Ferentz is in a comfortable spot.
Why he’s at No. 7: It might be disrespectful to place the “dean” of the B1G in the middle-of-the-pack. Ferentz is the longest tenured coach in the conference, has won two B1G titles and the West division once. And, he’s won nearly 60 percent of his games with the program.
But Iowa has been just an average B1G team more years than not. Under Ferentz, the Hawkeyes have hit double-digit win totals just five times in 18 seasons. The latest (2009 and 2015) came at critical points when the fan base was questioning whether he should keep his job or not.
While Ferentz has notched several important wins during his career, he’s also had his struggles in big games. He wins just 40 percent of the time when playing a ranked opponent. And, sure, the Hawkeyes have landed in 14 bowl games, but Iowa has just a 6-8 record in the postseason. The program hasn’t won a bowl game since 2010, losing its last five. The last two have been really ugly.
After the 2015 season, there was some hope that maybe Ferentz could take Iowa to the next level. Maybe the program would be regularly competing for B1G West titles now that it had settled into its new division. But it looks like that’s hardly the case.
Iowa has been good under Ferentz. But it’s had too many mediocre seasons for Ferentz to get any higher on this list.
#B1GCoachRank
No. 7 Kirk Ferentz (Iowa)
No. 6 TBA
