Despite an offense that was anemic at times, Iowa went 10-4 this past season and made it to the Big Ten championship game.
Now, longtime coach Kirk Ferentz is being rewarded with a contract extension.
The four-year extension would take Kirk Ferentz to age 74 as Iowa's head football coach. Big Friday news story here from @SkinnyKenny_. https://t.co/yhPLnkgIAk
— Chad Leistikow (@ChadLeistikow) January 14, 2022
Iowa announced Friday that it has extended Ferentz through 2029 and will be paying him $7 million a year. Ferentz, who has been Iowa’s head coach since 1999, will be 74 years old if he coaches through his extension. His last contact extension came in 2016 and ran through 2025.
When Ferentz got to Iowa City, the Hawkeyes were doormats in the Big Ten. By his fourth season, they shared a conference title, earned a trip to the Orange Bowl as well as the first of three straight top ten finishes. His overall record at Iowa is 178-110, and he passed Hayden Fry— who he worked under from 1981-89– as the winningest coach in school history in 2019.
Ferentz has ties to Pittsburgh, playing high school football at Upper Saint Clair and spending the 1980 season as a graduate assistant under Jackie Sherrill at Pitt. He’s long been a foe to Penn State fans, and has a 10-8 record against the Nittany Lions. He upset many in State College this year when he implied that Penn State’s players intentionally faked injuries in Iowa 23-20 win Oct. 9.
