By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Until Kirk Ferentz decides to retire from coaching, there will always be speculation about when that day will come.

Ferentz will be 71 years old when the 2026 season starts, so it’s only natural to wonder how much longer he will keep coaching.

He is entering his 28th season as the Iowa head coach, but he shows no signs of slowing down, physically, mentally or emotionally.

When asked about his future, Ferentz usually just sort of shrugs it off, saying that he still loves being the Iowa head coach, and working with great people.

Of course, he loves the money, but with generational wealth and financial security already have been earned years ago, it’s hard to believe that Ferentz is driven much by money these days.

He is driven by his love for the game, and by his love for competition.

In age when college football coaches now often get fired during the season, and sometimes get fired after barely just one season on the job; Kirk Ferentz just keeps winning enough games to stay safe and secure on the job.

The fans who claim to have Ferentz Fatigue and want something different, okay, fair enough.

However, the numbers just don’t add up right now.

In fact, if you break down the last two decades of Kirk Ferentz’s coaching career, minus the 2015 season, Kirk Ferentz has gotten better with age.

His record from 2005 through 2014 was 73-54, including one double-digit season in 2009 (11-2).

His record from 2016 through 2025 was 86-41, including three double-digit wins seasons, though the NCAA recently took away four wins in 2023 for tampering, changing Iowa’s record from 10-4 to 6-4.

But even without those four wins, the numbers still show that Ferentz was better in this most recent decade than the one from 2005 to 2014. He still is also the Big Ten all-time winningest head coach with 209 wins.

As for the 2015 season, Iowa finished 12-2, so it would reflect positively on either decade.

Iowa hasn’t had a losing season since 2012 (4-8) and every home game has been sold out since the start of 2022 season.

So if Ferentz Fatigue is growing, it has a weird way of showing it.

For those who assumed that Ferentz would grow tired of navigating through this age of NIL and the transfer portal, Iowa just added a program record 27 players in January; 14 from the portal and 13 early entrees from high school.

That clearly shows that Kirk Ferentz is willing to adapt, and willing to use the transfer portal to restock his roster.

Iowa just wrapped up spring practice this past Saturday, and it seems pretty apparent that some of the new players will contribute this fall.

Ferentz seems to prefer players from the portal that have multiple seasons of eligibility because that allows for them to grow within Iowa’s developmental culture, while also creating a sense of roster stability.

Kirk Ferentz’s age is almost certainly used against him in recruiting by rival schools.

But that sort of negative recruiting doesn’t carry nearly as much much weight these days because most Power 4 recruits are only concerned about the next season, or the even the next semester, knowing that if it doesn’t work out, they could always enter the portal.

This fall, Kirk Ferentz will face a daunting task with Iowa having to replace so many starters from last season, including nine on defense and three All-Big Ten offensive linemen that were all selected in last week’s the NFL Draft. Iowa also has to replace its starting quarterback, a record-breaking kicker, the starter punter and one of the greatest return specialists in Big Ten history.

If Iowa were to struggle this fall, the naysayers would say that time and circumstances finally have caught up with Kirk Ferentz.

But they’ve been waiting for that opportunity, and yet, Iowa keeps winning enough games to give Ferentz the advantage over his critics.

Hayden Fry coached the Iowa football team for two decades from 1979 to 1998, earning legendary status for accomplishing what many thought was impossible by making Iowa a winner again.

Fry built the foundation that still remains sturdy today under Kirk Ferentz, who served as Fry’s offensive line coach from 1981 to 1989.

But Fry also combined to finish just 10-13 over his last two season, including 3-8 in his final season in 1998.

He was also battling cancer in 1998, making retirement his only real option.

Fry’s record in his first decade at Iowa was 77-40-4, but in his second decade his record fell to 66-49-2.

This isn’t meant as criticism of Fry, but rather as a way to show how well Kirk Ferentz has sustained a level of success.

Former Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer compiled an 84-24 record over eight seasons from 2004 to 2011. But in his final four seasons as head coach, his record was just 29-23, winning no more than eight games in any of those four seasons.

Even the legendary Bobby Bowden struggled near the end of his career, finishing a combined 30-22 in his last four seasons at Florida State.

Iowa has flirted with being elite a few times under Kirk Ferentz, most notably the three-year stretch from 2002-04 when the Hawkeyes won a share of two Big Ten titles and compiled a 31-7 record.

Those were the glory years under Kirk Ferentz, but it was also more than two decades ago.

And while there is no reason to be afraid of change, some might also say be careful what you wish for and could use the the Nebraska football program to support that argument.

And look at what a mess the Wisconsin football program has become under current head coach Luke Fickell.

Paul Chryst has never looked any better.

Kirk Ferentz, meanwhile, has stayed loyal to Iowa, and he’s made it easy for Iowa to stay loyal to him by getting better with age.

His passing offense has often left much to be desired, but the other parts that make up a team have usually been solid.

Ferentz also has been resilient, overcoming the racial unrest from the summer of 2020 and the firing of his son as offensive coordinator with four games left in the 2023 season.

Both of those controversies could have put his job in jeopardy, but Kirk Ferentz stayed the course, made the necessary changes and moved on.

Few move on better than Kirk Ferentz does whether it be from success, failure or controversy.

And maybe that’s part of why he isn’t ready to move on from coaching right now.