T1B

Iowa's Ferentz is right on the money

October 5, 2009 3:37 PM


Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

Any discussion about Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz always traces back to his salary.

Let's be clear: college football coaches' salaries are out of control, swelling from the excessive to the absurd, but the fact that Iowa shells out more than $3 million a year for Ferentz really seems to strike a chord.
Stephen Mally/Icon SMI
Kirk Ferentz owns a 75-53 record during his time as Iowa's head coach.


Critics argue that Ferentz doesn't regularly challenge for national titles. They note that he has won only two Big Ten championships in 10 seasons as Hawkeyes head coach (2002 and 2004). They bring up the program's struggles both on and off the field between 2005-07, culminating with a wave of player arrests in 2007 and the early part of 2008. They say Ferentz's name looks out of place among the list of the 10 highest-paid college coaches.

And in some ways, they're right.

But they're also missing the bigger point.

By paying big bucks for Ferentz, Iowa distinguishes itself from comparable programs that lose good coaches to powerhouses and prevent long-term continuity and stability. Ferentz is the second-longest tenured coach in the Big Ten behind Penn State's Joe Paterno, and he's one of two men to lead Iowa's program in the last 30 years. He knows Iowa inside and out after serving as an assistant from 1981-89, and he has helped to shape the culture of an overachieving program.

Iowa faces several inherent obstacles outside of its control, namely a small in-state recruiting base. Well-compensated coaches like Pete Carroll, Mack Brown, Urban Meyer and even Jim Tressel make comparable salaries to Ferentz, but they recruit locally in California, Texas, Florida and Ohio, four of the more fertile states for top-level talent. The challenge for Ferentz in Iowa is much, much more daunting.

Under Ferentz, the Hawkeyes have been bowl eligible in each of the past eight seasons. They have appeared in five January bowl games since 2001 and have finished in the top half of the Big Ten in seven of the past eight seasons. They've had their hiccups, like in 2007, but it hasn't been the all-out disasters recently witnessed at Notre Dame, Michigan and the like.

At 5-0, Iowa is off to its best start under Ferentz, earning a No. 12 national ranking heading into Saturday night's showdown against Michigan (ABC, 8 p.m. ET).

For the most part, Ferentz doesn't just get the most out of his players, he gets more.

Look around the country as talent-stocked teams like Cal and Florida State implode at the first sign of trouble. Then look at the way Iowa rallied from 10-0 deficit on the road against Penn State at night to win the game based on defense, special teams and a ton of mental toughness.

To many, Ferentz's credentials don't translate into a $3 million salary, but consider the alternative. If Iowa doesn't pay, it could turn into Louisville or North Carolina or Michigan State or Washington State, programs that went downhill after losing successful coaches (Bobby Petrino, Brown, Nick Saban, Mike Price). Coaching change really stings, and some programs never recover.

Iowa has avoided the same fate.

Ferentz is in a great situation at Iowa. His name always comes up in talks for NFL coaching vacancies, and while he always leaves the door slightly ajar, he maintains his loyalty to the Hawkeyes. He uses his leverage, and he consistently gets rewarded.

What's so wrong with that?

Iowa might never be able to consistently compete for national titles, but by being a big-time payer, the school at least acts like a big-time player. So far, the approach has paid off.

Not some pretty boy that freeloads off Top 100 recruits.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:For a guy who rips on the ranking system an awful lot, you sure do cherish those top 10 rankings.

King Crimson wrote:one Arkie State TD away from Fire Ferentz articles.

King Crimson wrote:one Northern Iowa FG away from Fire Ferentz articles.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:

King Crimson wrote:one Northern Iowa FG away from Fire Ferentz articles.

TheJON wrote:It's unreadable crap when we lose games.

Iowa has never won the Big 10 under Kirk Ferentz.

Uhh, Iowa wasn't the only team to go 8-0 in conference play that year in the Big 10. One other team did so as well, and that other team also went undefeated on the year, going on to win the national title.

Van wrote:Uhh, Iowa wasn't the only team to go 8-0 in conference play that year in the Big 10. One other team did so as well, and that other team also went undefeated on the year, going on to win the national title.

That team would be your Big 10 champs for 2002. They also have a trophy in their case, along with the acknowledgement by the rest of the country that they won the Big 10 - and everything else - that year.

Kirk Ferentz = Good coach who's never won the Big 10.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:I like Ferentz and the way he carries himself, I just don't buy he's the best coach in the country. There is literally no way to measure that, anway, so I generally laugh at such things. I think he plays down to his competition an awful lot which to me is not a mark of "the best" coach in the country, and I don't believe his talent well is quite as dry as you make it out to be. Just because Scout isn't jacking their dicks to Iowa recruits doesn't mean Ferentz isn't able to load up on quality cornfed linemen -- which is where the foundation for success starts, up front in the trenches.

Iowa goes 7-0 and I fully expect Jon to be talking about Ferentz' enormous black cock and how it's the largest in the Big 10.

TheJON wrote:So? OOC has NOTHING to do with your conference standings. Iowa went 8-0. What else exactly were we supposed to do? We won every conference game we played. So did Ohio State. We're both conference champs. Period. End of story. Blame Jim Delaney for not having a conference championship game, not Iowa.

TheJON wrote: You bring just an average coach to Iowa, even one that recruits better talent than Ferentz, and they fall flat on their face. Why do you think we pay him so much? Because there's few guys out there that could do as well as he's doing. Our AD knows what it takes to win at Iowa and he knows he'd have a heck of a time finding a guy that is as capable as Kirk is. We know we have to pay the man to keep him.

TheJON wrote:I'm gonna go a bit homer here

interesting premise to hold considering the sample size. iowa's had two coaches in your lifetime. for all the resources you brag about at iowa's disposal, you'd think they could ratchet things up a bit from the status quo where ferentz is holding fort.

if ferentz had access to 4- and 5-stars, he'd be lloyd carr.

Sudden Sam wrote:Granted, I did jump JON when he suggested that Iowa's program was on a par with Alabama's. He had obviously ingested a few too many glasses of potent Iowa bovine-generated mushroom tea when he suggested that. I can excuse that.

I respect the Hawkeye program. Generally, Ferentz produces decent teams.

But I could never be happy with a guy who goes 7-5 on average.

TheJON wrote:I wore my 2004 Big-10 title shirt to the gym this morning in honor of Van! I ran sprints like a co-champion today!

Van wrote:Head to head breaks the tie, always.

Rose Bowls vs Capital One Bowls confirm it.

TheJON wrote:

interesting premise to hold considering the sample size. iowa's had two coaches in your lifetime. for all the resources you brag about at iowa's disposal, you'd think they could ratchet things up a bit from the status quo where ferentz is holding fort.

if ferentz had access to 4- and 5-stars, he'd be lloyd carr.

We do have the resources, but we don't have the long-time traditions or a good in-state recruiting base.

You have to have 1 of the following to consistently recruit 4 and 5 stars in CFB......

1.Be a traditional power that established themselves 40+ years ago
and/or
2.Have great talent in your home state

Iowa doesn't have either. And to do what we've done under Hayden Fry and Kirk Ferentz is nothing short of amazing. No one else that doesn't meet that criteria has done better than Iowa has since Hayden arrived in Iowa City.

Killian wrote:

Van wrote:Head to head breaks the tie, always.

Rose Bowls vs Capital One Bowls confirm it.

Well then I guess USC didn't win the National Championship in 2003. BCS Championship game confirms it.

Van wrote:

Killian wrote:

Van wrote:Head to head breaks the tie, always.

Rose Bowls vs Capital One Bowls confirm it.

Well then I guess USC didn't win the National Championship in 2003. BCS Championship game confirms it.

How does that even begin to follow, since there was no head to head meeting between USC and LSU?

Dude, try harder. That was awful.

Mace wrote:So, Van, what about '02 when Iowa and OSU were both 8-0 in the conference. Do you now consider Iowa to be the legitimate co-champion since they didn't go head to head?