When the 2024 college football season commences, it will mark Kirk Ferentz’s 26th season at the helm for the Iowa Hawkeyes .
Despite an offense that ranked last nationally in total offense and second-to-last in the country in scoring offense, Ferentz and Iowa posted a 10-4 (7-2 Big Ten) record in 2023.
The offensive futility did finally result in then-interim athletics director Beth Goetz electing not to retain former offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz. After a lengthy search, Iowa replaced Brian Ferentz with former Western Michigan head coach Tim Lester.
Even with that offensive uncertainty and the general offensive ineptitude of late, Iowa has recorded a 28-13 (19-8 Big Ten) mark over the past three seasons.
As far as pressure goes, one would think that Ferentz isn’t feeling a ton of it. On3’s Jesse Simonton mostly agrees.
Simonton assigned a pressure gauge ranking of “medium” to Ferentz in his Big Ten pressure check rankings entering 2024.
Kirk Ferentz was finally forced to move on from his son Brian Ferentz , and if Tim Lester can take a historically awful unit into one that’s simply bad, then Iowa could absolutely contend for a spot in the Big Ten title game in 2024.
If Ferentz weren’t consistently winning at least nine games (four of the last five full seasons), then he’d be under much more pressure with the team’s offensive ineptitude, the issues with nepotism and other problems within the program (lawsuits, firing his S&C coordinator in recent years, etc.). While he lost a public battle with the school’s new AD over his son’s employment, his job remains fairly secure until he decides he wants to hang it up. – Simonton, On3 .
In his pressure check rankings, Simonton had four rankings of increasing pressure: “low,” “medium,” “high” and “extreme.” From that standpoint, Ferentz isn’t under a ton of pressure according to Simonton.
Ohio State ‘s Ryan Day is the lone Big Ten coach that enters the 2024 season with an “extreme” ranking, while USC ‘s Lincoln Riley, Penn State ‘s James Franklin and Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck each enter with “high” rankings.
In his overall rankings, Ferentz was No. 7 on the pressure check ranking within the Big Ten.
As the longest tenured coach in the sport, Ferentz is synonymous with Iowa football. Under Ferentz’s direction, the Hawkeyes have been a competitive mainstay in the Big Ten.
Ferentz and Iowa won Big Ten championships in 2002 and 2004. The Hawkeyes captured the Big Ten West title in 2015, 2021 and 2023 seasons.
The winningest coach in Hawkeye history, Ferentz also ranks third all-time in Big Ten conference wins and overall wins. Ferentz owns a 196-119 (122-85 Big Ten) mark at Iowa.
The Hawkeyes have earned 21 bowl invitations over Ferentz’s tenure. After signing a four-year extension in January of 2022, Ferentz is under contract through the conclusion of the 2029 season with a deal that pays $7 million annually.
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