In the massively changing landscape of college football, many veteran coaches opt to retire from today’s pressure-packed landscape. That’s true for a lot of coaches except for Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz.
Ferentz, college football’s longest-tenured head coach, is not only steadily holding his position but also having a good time tackling today’s challenges of modern-day college football.
70-Year-Old Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz Is Loving Crazy Chaos of Modern College Football
At 70, entering his 27th season with the Hawkeyes, Ferentz did an exclusive interview with The Athletic, talking about why he embraces the chaos that’s driven others away.
“In some crazy way, I enjoy all the crazy stuff that’s going on the last couple of years here with our game and the landscape and all that,” he said. “It’s almost like a challenge.”
Ferentz has a reputation for make the right calls even in the time of stress. The situations that are unbearable for many. For Ferentz, though, it couldn’t be more entertaining. “This is easily the most interesting time that we really have faced,” he said.
Kirk Ferentz elects to take a safety with 8 minutes to go. It proved to be the right move as Iowa beats Penn State 6-4. pic.twitter.com/fiaXo5sXyE
— The Get Back Coach (@TheGBCoach) June 4, 2025
For Ferentz, one of the biggest changes to college football was the sudden boom in revenue. “The revenue has really grown at a pace nobody really foresaw,” Ferentz said. In 2024, Iowa’s athletic department generated over $92 million and Ferentz firmly believes when making so much money, “it ought to be redistributed.”
Ferentz’s love for coaching is rooted in the relationships he built throughout the years. “The single best part is just the people you work with, and that hasn’t changed,” he said. Despite daily challenges, like players seeking to renegotiate revenue shares, he remains firm on his stance and tries to make sure everyone gets the right pay.
“One thing age teaches you is you become a little bit more aware of how much you don’t know,” Ferentz said. “There’s always a puzzle to solve.”
The transfer portal tested Ferentz in 2022 when eight players left in two days. “It was more like a blow to your ego,” he said.
The experience changed Ferentz’s approach. It made him realize that if a player believed that the team is not right for him, then leaving is the only best option for them and the team. Now, he recruits portal players who are “excited as hell to be here.”
Iowa’s football program is a model for consistency. The Hawkeyes rank 11th among Power 4 schools with 89 wins over the past decade, including four 10-win seasons.
“I’m proud of what the record says over the last 10 years,” Ferentz said. “It’s more about the doing.” He shrugs off critics, noting, “You’re never gonna please everybody anyway.”
While peers like former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban have retired, Ferentz, under contract through 2030, has no plan to exit anytime soon.
“I’ve never had a compelling time to leave,” he said. His wife, Mary, agrees he’s not ready to quit. As Ferentz nears a Big Ten Conference wins record, his passion for the game’s “crazy stuff” ensures Iowa’s steady hand isn’t going anywhere.
