By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – I was all set to write the typical Iowa football media day column on Friday.

You know sort of a team overview, which in this case, would focus on the transition under new offensive coordinator Tim Lester, and on Iowa’s veteran and vaunted defense.

But that was before I interviewed backup quarterback Marco Lainez near the end of media day.

Because once I heard what Lainez had to say, I felt compelled to write what the redshirt freshman from New Jersey shared about Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz.

It wasn’t breaking news or anything earth-shattering, but rather a testimony to Kirk Ferentz’s leadership and his love and concern for his players.

Lainez was asked why he didn’t enter the transfer portal, even after Northwestern quarterback Brendan Sullivan transferred to Iowa after having started eight games for the Wildcats.

It is widely believed that Sullivan will ultimately be the No. 2 quarterback behind senior Cade McNamara, leaving Lainez as the third option.

Some quarterbacks might have bolted under this circumstance since it’s so easy to transfer these days.

But not Lainez.

He was raised by his parents to be loyal and to earn everything he gets.

Lainez also has too much respect and admiration for Kirk Ferentz to leave what he now considers his second family.

“He is probably one of the most influential men that I’ll ever be around in my lifetime,” Lainez said. “He’s got a lot of knowledge, but then also he cares about us.”

Lainez was reminded just how much Kirk Ferentz cares about all his players when Lainez sat down by himself to eat dinner last October in the Iowa Football Facility.

Kirk Ferentz obviously had a lot on his plate with the 2023 season in full swing.

But when the head Hawk saw that Lainez was eating by himself due to a busy schedule that caused Lainez to be late for the team dinner, Kirk Ferentz pulled up a chair and ate dinner with Lainez just so he wouldn’t be alone.

Sometimes, it’s these little acts of kindness that make a huge impression.

“I had just finished a meeting, and I just had time to eat dinner, and I was the only one in the All-American room and that dude sat down and ate with me,” Lainez said of Kirk Ferentz. “I don’t know what it’s like at other programs. But that was something I really cherished.

“I was like this guy is just sitting down and just talking ball with me. It’s pretty nice. We were just talking football. It wasn’t really anything related to me or anything like that. He came in. He sat down and we just talked. It just went on and on and on. He really has taken the time to get to know us personally.”

Lainez was eager to share the story with his parents because he wanted to assure them that he was in good hands at Iowa. He wanted them to know that Kirk Ferentz had taken time from his busy schedule to eat with him.

What Kirk Ferentz did on that October night in 2023 is part of what makes the Iowa culture special, and why so few Iowa players have entered the transfer portal.

Iowa All-America linebacker Jay Higgins didn’t know about the meal that Lainez and Kirk Ferentz ate together until being told on Friday.

The act of kindness came as no surprise to Higgins.

“It definitely starts top down,” Higgins said of the Iowa culture. “You can only move as fast as your leader. And coach Ferentz has done nothing but lead at an exceptional rate.

“I can only imagine what it’s like being a head coach. I think playing linebacker and leading ten other guys on Saturday is hard. He cares and he coaches with his heart and we all appreciate that.”

Kirk Ferentz turned 69 years old on Aug. 1 and is entering his 26th season as the Iowa head coach. He is the longest tenured head coach in program history and the longest tenured current head coach in the country.

He is also the Big Ten’s third all-time winningest head football coach, and that’s what most will probably remember about Kirk Ferentz, all those wins on Saturday.

His players, on the other hand, get to see the human side of Kirk Ferentz on a daily basis, and the way they describe him is pretty special.

“He’s probably been in every situation possible when it comes to football,” Higgins said. “And so when you have a leader who is so cool-headed, calm and collected, and he’s like that all the time. He cares about his players truly. It’s really cool to play for a guy like that.”

I didn’t have the opportunity to share with Kirk Ferentz what Lainez and Higgins both said about him on Friday.

But I know Kirk Ferentz would have been proud, although, he probably would have tried to downplay his part in the story because he is as humble as he is devoted to his players.

Kirk Ferentz has lots of reasons to keep coaching, including, of course, his hefty salary, and all the other perks that come with being the Iowa head coach.

He often says, however, that being around quality people and being able to help young men succeed on and off the field is what he enjoys the most about coaching.

The money is nice, as are the wins, but the chance to interact with his players, his assistant coaches and his support staff is why Kirk Ferentz continues to coach at a time when many his age are retired.

As for the football side of things, Kirk Ferentz spoke on Friday with guarded optimism as usual.

He is excited about what Lester has brought to the offense and he feels fortunate to have arguably the best defensive coordinator in college football in Phil Parker working for him.

His team is also pretty healthy for the most part.

In fact, the most serious injury that has occurred so far in practice is Phil Parker’s shoulder injury that required surgery and that kept Parker from attending media day on Friday.

“He got run into a couple weeks ago or a couple — it feels like a couple weeks ago, maybe a week ago, less than a week, and long story short, I think he might have had some preexisting damage in there, but they had to address that,” Kirk Ferentz said of Parker. “He had surgery yesterday. Did show up today for practice. I’m not sure if he was on the planet or not, but he was there and watching.

“He’s going to be a little bit more ornery than normal probably for the next couple weeks. Biggest thing right now is we’ve just got to keep him out of harm’s way, try to keep him out of the way so he’s not doing too much.”