By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – I’ve written this before, but it’s always worth repeating, especially with another college football season approaching.

The Iowa football program has only had two head coaches since 1979 – Hayden Fry and Kirk Ferentz.

Fry hired Ferentz as his offensive line coach in 1981, and it would ultimately prove to be one of the most impactful, beneficial and stabilizing decisions in the history of the Iowa program.

Iowa is now widely known for its continuity, loyalty and coaching stability, even in this age of the transfer portal and NIL where change is expected.

Hayden Fry said throughout his time as the Iowa head coach from 1979 to 1998 that he wanted his assistant coaches to aspire to be head coaches because Fry believed it would help maximize their potential.

The Iowa fans and the media take this head coaching continuity phenomenon for granted, so that’s why it’s good to recognize it every now and then.

And while much has changed since Kirk Ferentz replaced Fry as the Iowa head coach shortly after the 1998 season; one part of Ferentz’s job has remained the same and it might be the biggest reason Ferentz is now preparing for his 28th season as the head Hawk.

“Still the best thing overall is working with great, great people,” Ferentz said at Big Ten Media Day this pat Tuesday. “That hasn’t changed in my time at Iowa, even going back to 1981. The people in our building, we’ve got a great coaching staff, tremendous support staff, and most of all our players going back to ’81 have been fantastic to work with. That really hasn’t changed. They love the game for the right reasons.

“The other part is the thing that makes football so unique is the valuing of the teamwork, the aspect of teamwork, the role it plays in building a successful team.”

Some might argue that there is a downside to Iowa’s coaching continuity in that too much of the same thing can cause apathy or what is called Ferentz Fatigue.

But on the other hand, it’s hard to believe that Ferentz Fatigue is a serious problem since Iowa has had 28 consecutive home sellouts and already has sold out three home games in the 2026 season.

Iowa also hasn’t had a losing since 2012 and has only had four losing seasons under Ferentz.

Neither Ferentz nor Fry would have lasted for this long without being successful.

They both had their breakthrough season in year three, which was just in time to avoid being on the hot seat.

To help put Iowa’s coaching continuity in perspective, just look at the situations at some of the other power-conference teams.

Defending national champion Indiana has certainly hit the jackpot with current head coach Curt Cignetti, but he is also Indiana’s 10th head coach since 1979.

Purdue and Illinois also have had 10 head coaches since 1979, while Minnesota has had nine; Wisconsin and Notre Dame have had eight and Nebraska has had seven.

Iowa State has also had eight head coaches since 1979.

Iowa is certainly the exception to the rule and that says a lot about both sides being loyal.

Fry, who passed away in 2019 at the age of 90, had chances to leave for other coaching jobs while at Iowa, as has Ferentz.

But they both resisted the temptation for their own reasons.

Iowa hasn’t always been a model of coaching stability as it had six different head football coaches from 1950 to 1978: Leonard Raffensperger, Forest Evashevski, Jerry Burns, Ray Nagle, Frank Lauterbur and Bob Commings.

Evashevski was the only one of the six that left of his own choosing as he retired after the 1960 season at the age of just 42.

He would go on to become the Iowa athletic director during the turbulent 1960s, which saw the football program fall from elite status.

The 1970s were also mostly a disaster as Iowa never won more than five games in a season.

Fry finally ended the misery in 1981 by leading Iowa to the Rose Bowl, and with Ferentz coaching his offensive line.

Neither Fry nor Ferentz grew up in Iowa, and yet it became their home.

Ferentz, who was born in Michigan and grew up near Pittsburgh, has been affiliated with the Iowa football program for nearly four decades, including nine seasons as Fry’s offensive line coach from 1981 to 1989.

It might be just a coincidence that Ferentz and Fry, who was from Texas, chose to make Iowa their destination job.

But there is likely more to it than just being a coincidence and that’s worth celebrating because this kind of thing just doesn’t happen any more.

Except for at Iowa.