This column reveals my one word that best describes Iowa football since Hayden Fry arrived 40 years ago
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – If you could pick one word to describe the Iowa football program since Hayden Fry arrived 40 years ago, what it would be?
Consistent would certainly fit, considering Iowa will make its 33rd bowl appearance when it faces the University of Southern California in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27 in San Diego, including its 31st since Fry took over as head coach in 1979.
Stable also would fit, considering Fry, who passed away this past Tuesday at the age of 90, and current head coach Kirk Ferentz, are the only head coaches to lead a Division I program for at least 20 seasons consecutively.
Ferentz is in his 21st season at Iowa, making him the longest-tenured head coach in school history, and the longest-tenured active head coach in the country.
But for me, the best word to describe Iowa football over the past four decades is loyalty.
And it works both ways.
Fry stayed loyal to Iowa for 20 years, and was 69 years old and battling cancer when he retired shortly after the 1998 season.
Fry could’ve left Iowa for more prestigious jobs, including USC, which reportedly wanted to hire him in the mid-1980s.
But Fry stayed loyal to Iowa, and Iowa stayed loyal to Fry by agreeing to upgrade the football facilities, with the key upgrade being the inflatable bubble, which was built in 1985.
Ferentz also could’ve left Iowa multiple times, and probably still could, even at the age of 64. Ferentz is a young 64 in that he has stayed in good shape, and seems to have the same passion and energy for coaching and for recruiting as when he arrived.
Ferentz considered leaving for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars after the 2002 season when Iowa had finished 11-2 and undefeated in the Big Ten for the first time in 80 years.
But just like his legendary predecessor, Ferentz stayed at Iowa, and now appears destined to retire as a Hawkeye.
Ferentz also stayed at Iowa when rumors had both Penn State and Michigan interested in hiring him.
Iowa has certainly made it worth staying by giving Ferentz a 10-year contract with a lucrative buyout.
But Ferentz could’ve easily left Iowa for head coaching jobs with equal or better pay, and yet, here he is at retirement age and showing no signs of or desire to slow down.
And who knows how long Fry would’ve stayed as the Iowa head coach if he had remained healthy?
So is there something about the Iowa head coaching job that makes you want to stay?
Or is it more a case that Iowa two times in a row has hit the jackpot when it comes to hiring loyal head coaches?
Obviously, it’s some of both.
Fry apparently felt that Iowa was a good enough destination job for him, while Ferentz, obviously, has treated it as much more than just a stepping-stone job.
Ferentz also spent nine seasons as the Iowa offensive line coach under Fry from 1981-89, so that makes 30 years as part of the Iowa program for Ferentz.
That's just something you don't see much these days with coaches coming and going, either due to getting what they consider a better job, or because they were fired from their job.
To put Iowa’s stability in perspective, USC has had eight different head football coaches since 1979, and three since 2013.
The loyalty also goes beyond the head coach, considering Iowa only has had four defensive coordinators and five offensive coordinators since 1979.
Don Patterson was a member of Fry’s staff at Iowa from start to finish, including the offensive coordinator from 1992-98. Patterson has since come back to live in the Iowa City area with his wife after having retired from coaching in 2015.
“It’s a great place to raise a family and that was always important to Hayden,” said the 69-year old Patterson, who like Fry, grew up in Texas. “He wanted us to have lives away from football.”
Patterson came to Iowa after having served on Fry’s staff at North Texas State, as did Bill Brashier, who was the Iowa defensive coordinator from 1979 to 1995.
Brashier grew up with Fry in Eastland, Texas, but unlike Fry, Brashier has stayed in Iowa City since retiring, and has lived in the same house for over 30 years.
“I still pick him up once a week for lunch,” Patterson said.
Fry left Iowa shortly after he retired and spent most of his later years living in Mesquite, Nev. before moving back to Texas.
It was no secret that Fry wanted to spend his retirement in warmer weather, but that didn’t make him any less loyal to Iowa.
I’ll never forget watching Fry address the media during his emotionally charged retirement press conference. His voice cracked throughout as he searched for the words to describe how he felt.
Nobody outside of Fry’s very inner circle knew he had cancer at the time, so there was more racing through his mind than we knew.
Fry ended his press conference by saying, “I’ll always be a Hawk.”
It’s a moment that is frozen in time, and that reinforces the strong sense of loyalty within the Iowa football program.
To have just two head coaches over 41 seasons probably is something we'll never see again at Iowa, or anywhere for that matter, because that kind of loyalty truly is unique and special.