At 70, Kirk Ferentz is college football’s longest-tenured head coach. He is a steadfast figure in a time of change. With the sport reshaped by revenue sharing, open transfers, and playoff expansion, many expected the Iowa Hawkeyes’ coach to head towards the exit door.
Instead, Ferentz is doubling down and putting his feet down, not caring about his age, yet. In an exclusive interview with The Athletic, Frentz stated that retirement is nowhere on his radar.
Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz Shares His Opinions On Retirement
The college football landscape is unrecognizable from when Ferentz took Iowa’s helm in 1999. Today’s game, with its “unlimited free agency” and soaring revenues, has driven out championship coaches like Nick Saban and Tony Bennett.
Yet Ferentz still holds his ground with an unflinching grip, seeing it all as nothing but a challenge. “In some crazy way, I enjoy all the crazy stuff that’s going on,” he said in his interview. “It’s almost like a challenge.”
Ferentz has always been vocal about fair athlete compensation, doing his best to make sure all his staff and players are paid right. “The revenue has grown at a pace nobody foresaw,” Ferentz noted. “It ought to be redistributed.”
His support for players’ rights, coupled with his love for coaching, makes his peers cling on to him. “The single best part is the people you work with,” he said. “That hasn’t changed.”
Ferentz will turn 70 on August 1, 2025, one win shy of tying Ohio State legend Woody Hayes for the Big Ten Conference’s career victories record. “I’m not sure how that happened,” he quipped. “It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago when I was in my 40s or 50s.”
Retirement rumors have swirled, but Ferentz has no plans to step away. The COVID-19 pandemic, when he worked from home, only made his resolve stronger.
“Mary, my wife, said, ‘I’m not sure we’re ready for you sitting home looking at me all day,’” he laughed. Without hobbies like golf, coaching remains his only calling. “I feel pretty good,” he said. “I enjoy the people I’m with every day.”
Ferentz Learns to Adapt in the Transfer Portal Era
Ferentz’s adaptability shines through his approach to the transfer portal. In 2022, eight players left Iowa in two days, a blow he compared to “getting rejected for the homecoming dance.” The experience shifted his perspective.
“If they don’t think this is the right place, it’s better for all of us if they transfer,” he said. Ferentz now views the transfer portal as a tool to recruit enthusiastic players, like 2023 FCS Player of the Year Mark Gronowski, who came to Iowa from South Dakota State.
However, Ferentz’s aggressive portal strategy does not always pay back. When landing quarterback Cade McNamara, Ferentz was handed out a one-game suspension for an NCAA violation. Yet Ferentz remains undeterred, blending transfers with traditional recruiting to keep Iowa competitive.
Kirk Ferentz talks about his one game suspension. pic.twitter.com/R7tI0FuPzs
— Keith Murphy (@MurphyKeith) August 22, 2024
While Ferentz is somewhat intrigued by his peers’ retirements, he still believes it is not his time yet. “Age teaches you how much you don’t know,” he said. “There’s always a puzzle to solve.”
Under contract through 2030, Ferentz remains driven and set from taking his program to new heights.
