From 2-18 to No. 206: Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz breaks Woody Hayes’ Big Ten wins record

Fireworks filled the sky north of Kinnick Stadium the moment Iowa players Xavier Nwankpa and Jaden Harrell doused Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz with Powerade. Ferentz rushed to midfield for a postgame handshake with UMass counterpart Joe Harasymiak following a 47-7 victory. Then, Ferentz joined “The Swarm.”

It was the first time an Iowa coach participated in the 47-year-old player-led tradition of locking arms and jogging off the field, but history dictated the alteration. Ferentz won his 206th game at Iowa, surpassing Ohio State legend Woody Hayes as the winningest coach in Big Ten history. Ferentz’s players demanded it, and the coach complied with a smile. Later, he said, “It’s pretty cool. It’s pretty cool.”

As Ferentz reached the tunnel, he met first with former women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder, then embraced his wife, Mary. With a mix of timidity and emotion, Ferentz held the game ball in the locker room.

It was subdued as celebrations go. It was only the second time Ferentz, 70, conducted a full-stadium interview; the first was after he collected the Big Ten championship trophy in 2004. This time, there was no Big Ten representative in person to celebrate his accomplishment. Ferentz’s predecessor, Hayden Fry, received a cake from then-Gov. Terry Branstad minutes after winning his 100th game at Iowa in 1991. Saturday night, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds was not in attendance at Kinnick Stadium.

Perhaps that’s the way Ferentz prefers it.

“He’s the most selfless person I’ve ever met in my life,” Iowa center Logan Jones said. “He’d rather see everybody else have success than him. He doesn’t enjoy the whole spotlight, but he deserves it. He really does.”

It’s important to recall how Ferentz arrived at this feat. Ferentz, a Pittsburgh native, joined Fry’s coaching staff in 1981 at age 25 as offensive line coach and stayed nine years before leaving for Maine in 1990. After a six-year NFL stint with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens, Ferentz returned to Iowa after Fry’s retirement following the 1998 season.

In 1999, Iowa finished 1-10 overall and 0-8 in the Big Ten. Midway through an injury-filled second season, offensive lineman Sam Aiello hit the ground in agony in practice while preparing for Ohio State. For the first — and perhaps only — time in his Iowa coaching career, Ferentz briefly wallowed in self-pity. He had yet to sign his contract, and his family was building a new home north of Iowa City. He nearly panicked.

“That was the only time where I thought maybe this isn’t meant to be,” Ferentz said. “I thought that might be a sign from the heavens that this just isn’t going to get off the ground. I felt bad that night for about three or four hours. Then I woke up the next day and said, ‘Let’s go back to work.’”

Ferentz won only two of his first 20 games at Iowa, but there were signs of progress. In Game 21, the Hawkeyes upset Penn State on the road in double overtime. The next week, they beat Northwestern to prevent the Wildcats from winning the Big Ten title outright.

“I don’t think you ever know with any certainty that you got the right coach,” said former Iowa athletic director Bob Bowlsby, who later became Big 12 commissioner. “There’s always just a little bit of wishful thinking that you’ve gotten the hire right. In Kirk’s case, we had some long afternoons during those first couple of years.

“But our teams were typically better in the second half of the season than they were in the first, and they were typically better in the second half of games than they were in the first. And both of those are signs of good coaching.”

By his third year, Ferentz’s Hawkeyes reached the Alamo Bowl, where they edged Mike Leach’s Texas Tech squad on a last-second field goal. In Year 4, Iowa tied for the Big Ten title with an 8-0 league record. It was the first of three straight top-10 finishes and a pair of Big Ten shared titles. His Iowa teams have since qualified for three Big Ten championship games, won 10 games eight times and have five top-10 finishes. His 2009 squad ranked No. 7 after winning the Orange Bowl, and in 2012, he led the team to a 12-0 regular-season record.

Among the Big Ten programs Ferentz has faced consistently, he has losing records against only three: Wisconsin (11-13), Michigan (7-9) and Ohio State (2-11). Since 2008, Iowa is 5-2 against top-five squads at Kinnick Stadium with wins against Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State twice. During that span, Iowa is tied with LSU and behind only Ohio State (six) for the most home victories against top-five opponents. Only once since 2000 has Iowa not qualified for a bowl game, and the Hawkeyes have won at least eight games in every full season since 2015, joining Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Michigan and Georgia in that category.

Ferentz has his detractors, and some view his record as a product of playing in a down Big Ten West Division. The Hawkeyes won the West three times but never won the Big Ten championship game. Hayes and Michigan’s Bo Schembechler each won 13 Big Ten titles; Ferentz has two shared crowns. Fry, who ranks sixth in Big Ten annals with 143 wins in 20 seasons, claimed three Big Ten titles.

“When I personally think of Iowa, I think of Hayden first,” longtime CBS broadcaster Gary Danielson said. “I do think (Ferentz is) a Hall of Fame coach, but if anybody’s going to talk Iowa football, I think they’re going to start with Hayden.

“I think you can make the argument, though, that the number of 10-win seasons he had at Iowa for 27 years might be equal to winning a national championship at Michigan or Ohio State.”

Whether it’s Ferentz’s lack of championships or Iowa’s perpetual offensive challenges, others have become even more pointed in their criticism.

“I don’t respect Kirk Ferentz because I think he’s a total fraud as an elite coach,” SEC Network host Paul Finebaum said on his show last month. “The guy has done nothing other than being mediocre and pedestrian.”

Ferentz’s stat line speaks to only a portion of his resume. Perhaps nobody is better at rallying his program from adverse situations. There were countless times when Iowa performed poorly in a loss or had an off-field issue, only to return with resolve and a surprising victory; most notably in 2016 when No. 12 Penn State rolled up 599 yards in a 41-14 disaster. The next week against No. 2 Michigan, the Hawkeyes gave up only 201 yards in a shocking 14-13 upset.

However, for those who know him best, Ferentz’s greatest legacy is the way he treats people. Ferentz and his wife, Mary, have donated millions of dollars to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, and “The Wave” to the children and families after the first quarter has become one of the sport’s best traditions. During his opening statement of each midweek news conference, Ferentz describes the plight and toughness of a nominated “kid captain” from the children’s hospital.

His personality is a contradiction of sorts. He blends unwavering principles with a dry sense of humor. His stoicism on the sideline belies the emotion that erupts in meaningful situations. They compose a mosaic of a disciplined man who broke one of the Big Ten’s most hallowed records with consistent success.

“The things that are important to him, the things he truly believes in, are still there,” said Iowa assistant coach LeVar Woods, who played for Ferentz in 1999 and 2000. “Being fundamentally sound on how you play. How you do things is more important than what you do. How you carry yourself. How you interact with people. If you’re polite to someone or not polite to someone.

“Those things really matter to Coach Ferentz. And, typically, if you do those things, success will follow.”

(Photo: Julia Hansen / Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

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