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Kirk Ferentz, head coach at Iowa
Photo: The Ray Center, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Kirk Ferentz

Kirk Ferentz went 230–⁠150 on the field as a head coach, 1990–⁠2026, at Maine and Iowa; 226–⁠150 officially, after the NCAA vacated four wins (2023).

Three seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 1990–⁠92 at Maine. They’re marked in the table.

Record
226–⁠150 official; 230–⁠150 on the field
Seasons
31
Schools
2
Final AP top 10
5 seasons
Born
Aug 1, 1955
Alma mater
UConn 1978
Best season
2009 11–⁠2, No. 7

Season by season

Wins and losses each seasonfinal AP rank above★ national titleline: the team’s Elo at season’s end, best 1728 in 2020
SeasonSchoolRecordConference finishBowlAP final
1990Maine *3–⁠8T–7th
1991Maine *3–⁠8T–7th
1992Maine *6–⁠5T–5th
1993–⁠98: not a college head coach
1999Iowa1–⁠1011th
2000Iowa3–⁠98th
2001Iowa7–⁠5T–4thAlamo Bowl W
2002Iowa11–⁠2T–1stOrange Bowl L8
2003Iowa10–⁠3T–4thOutback Bowl W8
2004Iowa10–⁠2T–1stCapital One Bowl W8
2005Iowa7–⁠5T–3rdOutback Bowl L
2006Iowa6–⁠7T–8thAlamo Bowl L
2007Iowa6–⁠6T–5th
2008Iowa9–⁠4T–4thOutback Bowl W20
2009Iowa11–⁠2T–2ndOrange Bowl W7
2010Iowa8–⁠5T–4thInsight Bowl W
2011Iowa7–⁠64th (Legends)Insight Bowl L
2012Iowa4–⁠8T–5th (Legends)
2013Iowa8–⁠5T–2nd (Legends)Outback Bowl L
2014Iowa7–⁠64th (West)TaxSlayer Bowl L
2015Iowa12–⁠21st (West)Rose Bowl L9
2016Iowa8–⁠5T–2nd (West)Outback Bowl L
2017Iowa8–⁠5T–3rd (West)Pinstripe Bowl W
2018Iowa9–⁠4T–2nd (West)Outback Bowl W
2019Iowa10–⁠33rd (West)Holiday Bowl W15
2020Iowa6–⁠22nd (West)Music City (not played)16
2021Iowa10–⁠41st (West)Citrus Bowl L23
2022Iowa8–⁠5T–2nd (West)Music City Bowl W
2023Iowa10–⁠4 (6–⁠4 official)1st (West)Citrus Bowl L24
2024Iowa8–⁠5T–5thMusic City Bowl L
2025Iowa9–⁠46thReliaQuest Bowl W17
2026Iowa5–⁠1

Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.

Players he coached

10 more

Josey Jewell (Consensus All‑American, 2017); Keith Duncan (Consensus All‑American, 2019); Daviyon Nixon (Consensus All‑American, 2020); Eric Steinbach (Consensus All‑American, 2002); Riley Reiff (No. 23 pick, 2012); Bryan Bulaga (No. 23 pick, 2010); Chad Greenway (No. 17 pick, 2006); Noah Fant (No. 20 pick, 2019); Tristan Wirfs (No. 13 pick, 2020); Lukas Van Ness (No. 13 pick, 2023).

18 of the 28 players from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.

How his teams did

Kind of gameGamesRecord
Against ranked teams9433–⁠61
Against top-10 teams4212–⁠30
Against rivals11472–⁠42
Conference games228136–⁠92
Bowls and playoffs2211–⁠11
Decided by 8 points or fewer14271–⁠71
At home184133–⁠51
On the road13471–⁠63
At neutral sites2914–⁠15
As our Elo’s favorite235180–⁠55
As our Elo’s underdog11238–⁠74

His own 347 games on file, 1999–⁠2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.

Against other head coaches

CoachRecordTheir schoolsGames
Pat Fitzgerald 2006–⁠20228–⁠9Northwestern17
Joe Paterno 1999–⁠20118–⁠3Penn State11
P.J. Fleck 2013–⁠20259–⁠1Western Michigan, Minnesota10
Matt Campbell 2016–⁠20256–⁠3Iowa State9
Dan McCarney 1999–⁠20154–⁠5Iowa State, North Texas9
Mark Dantonio 2007–⁠20174–⁠5Michigan State9
Glen Mason 1999–⁠20065–⁠3Minnesota8
Joe Tiller 2001–⁠20085–⁠3Purdue8
Bret Bielema 2006–⁠20234–⁠4Wisconsin, Illinois8
Paul Chryst 2014–⁠20213–⁠5Pittsburgh, Wisconsin8

Kirk Ferentz’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.

Most-faced opponents

OpponentGamesRecord
Minnesotaseries2720–⁠7
Iowa Stateseries2715–⁠12
Wisconsinseries2512–⁠13
Northwesternseries2413–⁠11
Purdueseries2113–⁠8
Penn Stateseries2011–⁠9
Michigan Stateseries1910–⁠9
Illinoisseries1814–⁠4

National coaching awards

The awards

How he was hired

  • Hired by Iowa for the 1999 season; he had been a offensive line coach. He had a prior connection to the school.

Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.

Career

YearsTeamJob
1977ConnecticutGraduate assistant
1978–⁠79Worcester Academy (MA) high schoolOffensive line coach and defensive coordinator
1980PittsburghGraduate assistant
1981–⁠89IowaOffensive line coach
1990–⁠92MaineHead coach
1993–⁠95Cleveland Browns NFLOffensive line coach
1996Baltimore Ravens NFLOffensive line coach
1997–⁠98Baltimore Ravens NFLAssistant head coach and offensive line coach
1999–presentIowaHead coach

Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.

Coaching tree

Worked under

Kirk Ferentz

Assistants who became head coaches

Worked under (5)
Head coachTeamYearsHis job
Ken O’KeefeWorcester Academy (MA) high school1978–⁠79Offensive line coach and defensive coordinator
Mike ShermanWorcester Academy (MA) high school1979Offensive line coach and defensive coordinator
Jackie SherrillPittsburgh1980Graduate assistant
Hayden FryIowa1981–⁠89Offensive line coach
Bill BelichickCleveland Browns NFL1993–⁠95Offensive line coach
Coached under him, later head coaches (15)
CoachWith himHead coach at
Bobby WilderMaine, 1990: running backs coach; 1991: assistant defensive line; 1992: defensive line coachOld Dominion, Tennessee Tech
Jack CosgroveMaine, 1990–⁠92: offensive coordinatorMaine, Colby
John BonamegoMaine, 1990–⁠91: assistant coachCentral Michigan
Rich NagyMaine, 1990–⁠91: outside linebackers coachAllegheny, Lehigh
Earnest WilsonMaine, 1992: wide receivers and tight ends coachSavannah State, Elizabeth City State, Defiance College, Vermilion
Bret BielemaIowa, 1999–⁠2001: linebackers coachWisconsin, Arkansas, Illinois
Chuck LongIowa, 1999: quarterbacks coachSan Diego State
Ken O’KeefeIowa, 1999–⁠2011: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2017–⁠21: quarterbacks coachAllegheny, Fordham
Greg DavisIowa, 2012–⁠16: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coachTulane
Jim ReidIowa, 2013–⁠15: linebackers coachMassachusetts, Richmond, VMI
Tim PolasekIowa, 2017–⁠20: offensive line coachNorth Dakota State
Jay NiemannIowa, 2019–⁠26: assistant defensive lineSimpson (IA)
Tim LesterIowa, 2024–⁠26: offensive coordinatorWestern Michigan, Saint Joseph’s (IN), Elmhurst
Warren RuggieroIowa, 2025: offensive assistantGlenville State
Jay NorvellIowa, 2026: running backs coachNevada, Colorado State
Other assistants under him (10)
CoachWith him
Chuck BresnahanMaine, 1992: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach
Norm ParkerIowa, 1999–⁠2011: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach
Phil ParkerIowa, 1999–⁠2011: defensive backs coach; 2012: defensive coordinator; 2013–⁠26: defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach
Robb SmithIowa, 1999–⁠2001: graduate assistant and quality control coach
William IngeIowa, 1999–⁠2000: graduate assistant and recruiting coordinator
Darrell WilsonIowa, 2002–⁠07: special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach; 2008–⁠11: special teams coordinator and linebackers coach; 2012: special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach
David RaihIowa, 2010–⁠12: graduate assistant
Brian FerentzIowa, 2012–⁠14: offensive line coach; 2015–⁠16: running game coordinator and offensive line coach; 2017: offensive coordinator and running backs coach; 2018–⁠21: offensive coordinator and tight ends coach; 2022–⁠23: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
Jon BudmayrIowa, 2022–⁠23: offensive assistant; 2024–⁠26: wide receivers coach
Tom MooreIowa, 2026: senior consultant and offensive advisor

From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.

Pay

YearSchoolJobContract pay
2017Iowahead coachbonuses up to $2,875,000; $600,000 in bonuses paid; buyout $22,537,500$4,550,000 USA Today
2016Iowahead coachbonuses up to $2,875,000; $900,000 in bonuses paid$4,500,000 USA Today
2015Iowahead coachbonuses up to $2,375,000; $25,000 in bonuses paid$4,075,000 USA Today
2014Iowahead coachbonuses up to $1,750,000$4,075,000 USA Today
2013Iowahead coachbonuses up to $1,750,000$3,985,000 USA Today via Leeds
2012Iowahead coachbonuses up to $1,750,000$3,835,000 USA Today via Leeds
2011Iowahead coachbonuses up to $1,750,000$3,785,000 USA Today via Leeds
2010Iowahead coachbonuses up to $1,750,000$3,781,000 USA Today via Leeds
2009Iowahead coachbonuses up to $1,000,000$3,024,500 USA Today via Leeds
2008Iowahead coach$3,030,000 USA Today via Leeds
2007Iowahead coachbonuses up to $1,000,000$3,030,000 USA Today via Leeds
2006Iowahead coachbonuses up to $1,000,000$2,840,000 USA Today via Leeds

USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–⁠17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.

The same USA Today database for 2006–⁠16, from Michael Leeds’ replication data on Harvard Dataverse (CC0): the season’s contract pay.

Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.

How he coached

Ferentz’s teams went for it on 15% of fourth downs and on 29% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 47% of plays and took 26.7 seconds a play, 2004–⁠2026.

SeasonWent for it on fourthWhen the model said goPass rateSeconds a playEPA a play
2004 11 g10 of 92 11%25%49%24.4−0.15
2005 12 g8 of 87 9%15%51%23.1+0.01
2006 13 g9 of 86 10%26%52%24.4−0.01
2007 12 g16 of 116 14%30%52%23.8−0.10
2008 13 g14 of 88 16%29%41%29.6−0.02
2009 13 g13 of 98 13%22%50%29.4−0.15
2010 13 g10 of 82 12%22%47%28.2+0.06
2011 13 g21 of 92 23%35%51%23.0+0.03
2012 12 g20 of 109 18%27%52%25.6−0.11
2013 13 g16 of 103 16%28%41%23.4−0.03
2014 13 g23 of 103 22%38%49%25.3+0.02
2015 14 g14 of 101 14%21%43%28.8+0.07
2016 13 g17 of 107 16%26%42%28.1−0.04
2017 13 g22 of 106 21%30%45%27.9−0.04
2018 13 g25 of 101 25%50%47%27.1+0.01
2019 13 g21 of 108 19%31%50%27.8+0.01
2020 8 g9 of 66 14%28%48%25.00.00
2021 14 g16 of 124 13%33%48%26.6−0.13
2022 13 g15 of 118 13%40%51%27.7−0.21
2023 14 g14 of 134 10%31%46%27.8−0.22
2024 12 g7 of 86 8%23%35%28.7−0.02
2025 13 g18 of 85 21%40%39%29.8+0.05
2026 6 g5 of 42 12%15%50%26.9+0.10
All 284 g343 of 2234 15%29%47%26.7−0.04

His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.

Books

Books: Open Library (CC0); most-reissued first, each linked to its page there.