Harty: Ferentz’s new deal unique, expensive, loyal and risky
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Kirk Ferentz is here to stay.
That already seemed obvious before news broke on Tuesday that the 61-year old Ferentz had signed a new six-year contract extension as the Iowa football coach that runs through the 2025 season.
But now there is no question that Ferentz will retire as a Hawkeye. The only question is when and under what circumstances will he depart.
The Iowa football program is sort of like the weather in that things can change from good to bad or from bad to good in a hurry.
Ferentz is in his 18th season as the Iowa head coach and hasn’t shown any signs of wanderlust for years. He probably could’ve bolted for a more prestigious college job at some point or for sure back to the NFL, where he is highly respected.
But Ferentz has stayed loyal to the Hawkeyes and keeps being rewarded for it, along with his agent, Neil Cornrich, who seems to have the upper hand when negotiating a deal with Iowa.
Because for the second time, Cornrich has convinced Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta to go heavy on Ferentz’s buyout.
Under the new buyout, Ferentz still would get 75 percent of his guaranteed total compensation from the years 2018-2020. The school would pay 50 percent of the contract years covering 2020-2026 should it fire him, but with one significant change from the previous contract. For every year between 2016 and 2020 that the Hawkeyes win at least seven games, one year of the post-2020 term rises to 100 percent of compensation.
That is clearly an advantage for Ferentz because winning seven games isn’t what it used to be and it’s never been anything to brag about.
I wrote a while back that Iowa should extend Ferentz’s contract for two or three seasons in order to make sure that he has at least five or six years left on it to prevent negative recruiting.
So much for that idea.
Ferentz has gone from having a 10-year contract with much of it guaranteed, which he signed after the 2009 season, to now having what is almost the equivalent to another 10-year contract with much of it guaranteed under the new buyout.
Barta acknowledged Tuesday that there is a risk with offering a long-term contract that includes an expensive buyout. But he also said there is a risk with not doing it.
I’m not exactly sure what that risk would be at this point in Ferentz’s career. But Barta certainly knows the circumstances better than just about anybody.
Barta talked on Tuesday as if the buyout would be a non-factor moving forward.
“When you decide to make a ten-year commitment to a coach, that decision is based on comfort that you’re not going to get to a buyout,” Barta said. “Contracts are in place for legal reasons. But by giving Kirk a ten-year contract, what I’m saying is I don’t intend to change coaches. I intend for Kirk, at some point, as he said, nobody can predict the future, at some point when the time is right for him to retire here.
“But the idea to give somebody a long-term contract is to say, we’re in. We’re in all the way.”
You have to admire the loyalty and trust on both sides of this business arrangement.
And let’s face it, that’s what this is; a multi-million dollar business deal, one in which Ferentz could be coaching the Hawkeyes when he is 70 years old.
The problem with the new deal, just like the previous deal, is that it’ll be held against Ferentz and Barta at the first sign of trouble.
Should Iowa lose to lowly Iowa State on Saturday, the new contract, which pays Ferentz $4.5 million annually, would almost certainly fuel the discontent and frustration among the fickle fans.
It’s important to remember that we are barley one year removed from Barta calling Iowa’s performance in 2014 unacceptable.
The fans called it worse than that.
Some even called for Ferentz to be replaced after the 2014 season. They naysayers were the minority, but they were out there and heard loud and clear.
And they still are out there waiting for trouble to surface again.
“I get negative attention no matter what I do,” Barta said. “If I do something, there’s a group that is upset about it and I get negative attention. And if I don’t do something, not just in this case, but in anything I do.
“I said a year ago prior to the season that my decision to stay the course with Kirk was based on all the values and past experiences, not based on the buyout.”
It would be easy to rip Barta and say that he caved again under the pressures that come with negotiating a huge contract because 10 years is a long time to guarantee anything.
But in fairness, Barta is dealing with a unique situation and with a man in Ferentz who excels at virtually every facet of his job.
The only thing Ferentz doesn’t do enough is win.
It’s no coincidence that his new extension comes on the glorious heels of a 12-2 season in which Ferentz unveiled a new and more aggressive side known as Newkirk.
The timing was perfect to reward Ferentz and to pay him the respect that Barta believes so strongly he deserves.
“There’s no way to describe it,” Ferentz said Tuesday. “It’s a really unique thing and I just feel really privileged and honored to be able to do it in such a great place with so many great people.”
You worry, though, because prior to last season, Iowa had averaged slightly more than seven victories per season under Ferentz in the previous decade from 2005-2014.
Winning seven games this season would be considered a disaster.
Barta can downplay the buyout and rave about Ferentz all he wants right now because the circumstances serve that narrative.
There is talk that Ferentz’s son, Iowa offensive line coach, Brian Ferentz, is being groomed to be his father’s successor.
Barta denied any truth to that on Tuesday, but the new contract will cause some to wonder.
For me personally, I hope Ferentz can leave on his own terms because the alternative wouldn’t be fun from a personal or financial standpoint.
Ferentz is a good man, a good coach and good when it comes to picking an agent.
But if Ferentz doesn’t win, his class and his track record won’t matter to fans nearly as much as the wording in his new contract.