Iowa football has had the same head coach since 1998. That man is Kirk Ferentz. It’s hard to find another coach that cares about his team as much as he does.

Ferentz was asked about the connection he has with his football team in a recent press conference and was on the verge of tears from just talking about it. Two separate instances stood out in the press conference.

One was when he was asked about the emotional connection has with the team after everything that has happened this season per David Eickholt of 247Sports. Here’s what he had to say about that:

“We’ve got a close team,” said Ferentz. “We’ve got a good staff, a really good staff. I think we’ve all been in this together, so it’s been great.”

He was also asked about how the Nebraska Chick-Fil-A staff complimented the way his players interacted with them per Scott Dochterman of The Athletic. He was honored to hear about it:

“A couple times in-a-row now, since we’ve been over just how our players act,” said Ferentz. “That stuff’s important is all, it’s just important.”

You can really see how Ferentz feels about his team. Ferentz will go down as a great Iowa coach not only because of the success he’s had on field, but off the field as well.