By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Entering his 28th season as the Iowa football coach, Kirk Ferentz, who turned 71 on August 1, has eight starters to replace on defense from last season, along with his starting quarterback, his record-breaking kicker, his starting punter and one of the greatest return specialists in Big Ten history.

Ferentz is also for the first time in nearly a decade without LeVar Woods, the former Iowa and NFL linebacker, who thrived as Iowa’s special teams coordinator since 2017, but now coaches special teams for Michigan State.

The landscape around Ferentz also continues to change dramatically in this age of the transfer portal and NIL.

From roster fluidity, to playing conference games on Friday nights in faraway places like Seattle, to the never-ending task of raising NIL money; college football is now largely influenced by television revenue, which for an old-time purist such as Ferentz is hardly cause for optimism.

Yet, despite all these obstacles, annoyances and concerns, Ferentz keeps embracing the daily grind with the same energy, focus and commitment that he showed as the head Hawk in his 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Iowa held its annual media day event on Friday, and Ferentz did what he’s been doing since 1999, which is promote his team, and the upcoming season, with guarded optimism.

And while, yes, he’s making boat-loads of money to coach the game that he loves; to do it for the same program for as long as Ferentz has, and for as consistently as he has says a lot about Kirk Ferentz, the Iowa football program and the university as a whole.

Ferentz’s life revolves around family and football and the thought of not having both apparently doesn’t interest him right now as he made clear near the end of his opening statement to the media on Friday.

“A couple of other things just real quick, it’s the start of my 28th year,” Ferentz said. “I think a few of you have probably been counting. Really feel pretty much the same as I did in ’99. First of all, just grateful for the opportunity.

“And the obligatory question about retirement, kind of like the quarterback position, don’t have much to tell you right there other than I feel good and certainly enjoy what I’m doing and enjoy the people I work with every day. That’s about the extent of that one right now.”

That is similar to the answer Ferentz gives whenever he speaks publicly about his coaching future.

What seemed maybe a little different about this time is that Ferentz actually brought it up without being asked.

The question almost certainly would have been asked at some point on Friday, but Ferentz was one step ahead of the media.

As for his comment about a “few of you have probably been counting” his years as head coach, that seemed to be Ferentz’s way of addressing his critics, though he doesn’t seem to have many critics these days.

Some fans, and some in the media, might have what is called Ferentz Fatigue, but that would seem to be a small group in both cases.

Iowa has had 28 consecutive home sellouts dating back to the 2022 season, and already has sold out three games this season.

So if there truly is such a thing as Ferentz Fatigue, it’s sure hard to tell.

His contract runs through the 2030 season and pays him slightly more than $7 million annually.

Of course, Ferentz’s health could play a factor in how long he keeps coaching. But right now he is more than holding his own in the battle against time as fifth-year linebacker Jayden Montgomery was recently reminded.

“It definitely amazes me every single day,” Montgomery said Friday of Ferentz’ energy. “He’s awesome. He’s got a bunch of energy.

“Just the other day I was walking down the hallway and looked down in the weight room and he’s down there getting a lift in. So he leads by example and just is a great guy to be around. I’ve really enjoyed having him as a head coach.”

Iowa has only had two head football coaches since 1979, and Montgomery has a connection to both of them.

His father, former Iowa defensive lineman Jerry Montgomery, was recruited by and played for Hayden Fry at Iowa in 1998 before playing his final three seasons under Ferentz.

Fry retired shortly after the 1998 season, which was his 20th season at Iowa. He was then replaced by Ferentz, who had been Fry’s offensive line coach at Iowa for nine seasons from 1981 to 1989.

Iowa’s coaching stability in football is almost unheard of these days. It’s also easy to take for granted, though Jayden Montgomery tries to avoid doing that.

“It certainly is easy to (take for granted),” Jayden Montgomery said. “But I think from my standpoint, my dad played here, so he was able to play for both head coaches. Even just being able to play under the same head coach that my dad played for is super special to me. And that’s something that I know is super rare in college football.

“So it’s something that I try to remind myself of and remind the other linebackers and the rest of the team of; how good we really have it and how special coach Ferentz is to this team and to the state of Iowa.”

Ferentz wouldn’t have lasted this long without winning enough game to last this long.

Head coaches rarely get more than two or three seasons in a row to prove themselves, or to right the ship before their coaching seat gets hot.

Iowa hasn’t had a losing season under Ferentz since 2012 and hasn’t had back-to-back losing seasons since his first two years on the job in 1999 and 2000.

And while Iowa isn’t considered a Big Ten contender heading into this season, the general consensus is that Iowa will have another winning season and will play in yet another bowl game under Ferentz.

Members of the Big Ten media ranked Iowa eighth among the 18 conference teams as did Athlon Sports in its 2026 College Football Preview.

Iowa added a record 16 players from the transfer portal this offseason, showing that Ferentz is willing to change with the times.

However, Iowa didn’t add a quarterback from the transfer portal, showing that Ferentz believes in the quarterbacks he already has on the roster.

Junior Hank Brown and sophomore Jeremy Hecklinski are currently in a competition that is too close to call after eight preseason practices, while redshirt freshman Jimmy Sullivan appears to be third on the list at quarterback.

Brown and Hecklinski both have spent one year in the program since transferring to Iowa from Auburn and Wake Forest, respectively.

“Basically, as I said back in Chicago, we’re going to let this thing play out,” Ferentz said of the quarterback competition. “All the guys are competing well right now. The three oldest guys obviously have the biggest edge, and pretty much we’ve been splitting the reps pretty evenly between the two top guys and then Sullivan’s been getting some work as well.

“Just trying to give everybody equal exposure, give them a chance to get some quality work. We’re going to just keep watching, see how the guys do, and how they react to different situations as they come up in camp.

“We’ve got time on our side, so it’s really our plan to let it play out. If something becomes really apparent at some point, we’ll make a decision. Otherwise, we’re just going to let it play out and let the guys compete.”

Iowa will face Northern Illinois in the season opener on Sept. 5 at Kinnick Stadium.