IOWA CITY, Iowa – July is the one month out of the year in which Kirk Ferentz can step away from football and relax with family and friends.

It’s the calm before the football storm that arrives each August.

So we truly appreciate that Ferentz took time from his schedule Wednesday morning to be our guest on the KCJJ/AllHawkeyes radio show.

The head Hawk, and dean of Big Ten football coaches, spent approximately 30 minutes addressing multiple topics with the 2018 season barely one month from starting.

Iowa will face Northern Illinois in the season opener on Sept. 1 at Kinnick Stadium.

The preseason hype will gain momentum next Tuesday when Ferentz and three of his players – quarterback Nate Stanley and defensvie linemen Parker Hesse and Matt Nelson – represent Iowa at Big Ten Media Day in Chicago. 

Ferentz talked on Wednesday about how important it is for a head coach to surround himself with good people and a quality support staff.

He also talked about some of the recent rule changes, including freshmen now being allowed to participate in up to four games without losing a year of eligibility.

Ferentz favors the rule and would like to take it even further by giving student-athletes five years of eligibility rather than four.

Ferentz showed his sense of humor throughout the interview, usually at his expense. He said the only way he could’ve run the 40-yard dash in less than 5 seconds as a player would have been to run it downhill.

Ferentz also talked about the one moment where he started to question whether he could succeed in rebuilding the Iowa program. It happened during the 2000 season.

Ferentz stayed the course and was obviously the right person for the job, considering he is now tied with Hayden Fry as Iowa’s all-time winningest football coach with 143 wins.

Ferentz, who turns 63 on Aug. 1, also will match Fry in coaching longevity at Iowa with this being Ferentz’s 20^th season.

Again, we appreciate Kirk Ferentz being our guest and we think fans will enjoy this informal, mid-summer interview.