kirk ferentz

Iowa's Kirk Ferentz offered Michigan job?
Brian at MGoBlue - who broke the Lloyd Carr retirement, btw ESPN -- has multiple sources confirming that Michigan has offered the head coaching position to current Iowa HC Kirk Ferentz.

I've sat on this a couple days waiting for some third-party corroboration and now I have it: Kirk Ferentz has been offered the Michigan job. The general feeling is he will turn it down out of fidelity to Iowa, in case you were thinking of making a late-night run to Ann Arbor (or Iowa City) Torch & Pitchfork. I do realize that this -- unlike the Lloyd thing -- is unlikely to ever be publicly acknowledged if Ferentz turns it down, but this comes from someone in a position to know, and how. The third-party corroboration comes from a couple Iowa insiders reporting things afoot that, unfortunately, I am not at liberty to disclose.
Suffice it to say that Wednesday's post on Ferentz not making sense and this being a weird rumor is withdrawn: there's a real chance he's the next coach.


In a word - wow. Kirk Ferentz? I guess I fall into the 'didn't see that one coming crowd', much like Brian when he first got wind of it a few days ago and Mr. Tears & OT Losses.

Suffice to say, the Michigan fans are not happy.

I could understand if this were just a silly rumor - offering the UM job to one of the nation's highest paid coaches - to give Michigan more negotiating leverage with Miles... But, Brian says there's both smoke and fire, so....

While Ferentz may not necessarily make most Michigan fans go crazy in their pants, he has built Iowa into quite a nice little Big 10 program. That said, UM's aim isn't to be "a nice little Big 10 program".

I've never been a big Ferentz fan, but... then again, Ferentz accomplished plenty at Iowa... and if you can ramp up the Hawkeyes, then maybe he is worth every penny.

Be that as it may, Brian says Ferentz will likely say "TBNT" to a Michigan offer out of loyalty to Iowa. If it all plays out as expected and Ferentz says no, then Michigan still needs to find a coach.

So who's next on the Wolverines wish list? Perhaps Cincinnati's Brian Kelly. Rumor has it that Michigan has been background checking Kelly (and Notre Dame may be looking at him, too. Perhaps as an OC for Charlie Choo-Choo?)

Would Kelly be interested? Well, he artfully dodged the question this week.

"From my standpoint, it's similar to all the questions relative to the bowl games," Kelly said Monday during the Big East's weekly coaches' conference call. "Our focus is on Syracuse. That's the most important thing. Any speculation relative to bowls and jobs, we've got plenty of time for that after the Syracuse game (Saturday).
"The focus for me and my football team is going to be on getting nine wins for the first time since the 1950s. Job speculation and all those things, we've got plenty of time to do that after this weekend." Kirk Ferentz
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Kirk J. Ferentz
Title Head Coach
College Iowa
Sport Football
Team record 61-49
Born August 1, 1955 (1955-08-01) (age 52)
Place of birth Royal Oak, MI
Career highlights
Overall 73-70
Coaching stats
College Football DataWarehouse
Playing career
late 1970s Connecticut
Position Linebacker
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1990-92
1999-present Maine
Iowa
Kirk J. Ferentz (born August 1, 1955, in Royal Oak, Michigan) is an American college football head coach of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes.

Contents
1 Background
2 Iowa head coaching career
3 Pro football opportunities
4 Coaching record
5 External links



[edit] Background
After playing football at Upper St. Clair High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ferentz played linebacker for the University of Connecticut. He was a football captain and an academic all-Yankee Conference linebacker at Connecticut. He served as a student assistant at Connecticut in 1977 and graduated in 1978. Ferentz spent his next two seasons as defensive coordinator at Worcester Academy, where he taught English literature. He then spent one season in 1980 as an assistant offensive line coach at the University of Pittsburgh. That Panther team, coached by Jackie Sherrill, finished with an 11-1 record and a number two national ranking.

Ferentz was the offensive line coach at the University of Iowa under Hall of Fame coach Hayden Fry for nine seasons, from 1981 to 1989. Eleven Hawkeyes coached by Ferentz went on to play in the NFL. Three of them were first round picks in the NFL draft, and five of his players were first team All-Big Ten selections.

Ferentz left Iowa to coach at the University of Maine in 1990. After three seasons of coaching the Black Bears to a combined 12-21 record, he was named the offensive line coach of the NFL's Cleveland Browns. Ferentz served under Bill Belichick in Cleveland and followed the franchise to Baltimore when they became the Baltimore Ravens.


[edit] Iowa head coaching career
On December 2, 1998, Ferentz was hired as Iowa's 26th head football coach to replace the retiring Hayden Fry. The team struggled during Ferentz's first two seasons with a combined 4-19 record, but the Hawkeyes earned their first bowl bid under Ferentz after a 7-5 season in 2001. They beat Texas Tech in the Alamo Bowl, 19-16.

The 2002 season would prove to be memorable for Ferentz and the Hawkeyes. The team finished the regular season with an 11-1 record, with the only loss coming to in-state rival Iowa State at Kinnick Stadium. They shared the Big Ten Conference championship with Ohio State, as both teams finished 8-0 in conference play. Quarterback Brad Banks won the Davey O'Brien Award for best quarterback and finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting to Carson Palmer of USC. Tight end Dallas Clark was that season's John Mackey Award winner, and placekicker Nate Kaeding was the Lou Groza Award winner. Ferentz was named Coach of the Year by the Associated Press for his efforts. Iowa received its first-ever BCS invitation, losing to USC in the 2003 Orange Bowl 38-17.

Despite losing several seniors to graduation, the Hawkeyes compiled a 9-3 regular season record in 2003. They defeated Florida 37-17 in the Outback Bowl on January 1, 2004, for their first January win since 1959. This earned the Hawkeyes a #8 national ranking in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll at the end of the season. Offensive tackle Robert Gallery was that season's Outland Trophy winner; after the season, the Oakland Raiders chose him with the second overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft.

Ferentz had to deal with multiple injuries to the Hawkeyes' running backs and the death of his father, John, during the 2004 season. Nevertheless, the Hawkeyes compiled a 9-2 regular season record, sharing the Big Ten Conference championship with Michigan after a 30-7 victory over Wisconsin on November 20. For the second time in three seasons, Ferentz was named the Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year. On January 1, 2005, they defeated LSU 30-25 after a thrilling 60 yard touchdown pass from Drew Tate to Warren Holloway as time expired in the Capital One Bowl. This gave Ferentz his third straight ten-win season with the Hawkeyes and another #8 national ranking.

The Hawkeyes went 7-4 during the 2005 regular season. After early-season losses to Iowa State and Ohio State and close losses to Michigan and Northwestern, they finished the season with wins over Wisconsin and Minnesota to earn a second trip to the Outback Bowl to face Florida on January 2, 2006. This time, however, the Gators got a measure of revenge for their loss two years earlier, as the Hawkeyes lost to Florida, 31-24.

Iowa started the 2006 season strong, winning their first four games before losing to top-ranked Ohio State. After a 5-1 start, however, the Hawkeyes collapsed down the stretch, losing five of their last six games. Iowa suffered shocking losses to Northwestern and Indiana and lost rivalry games with Wisconsin and Minnesota. The Hawkeyes finished the regular season with a 6-6 record and accepted an invitation to the 2006 Alamo Bowl, Iowa's sixth straight bowl game. Playing as nine-point underdogs to defending national champions Texas, Iowa lost the Alamo Bowl by a score of 26-24.

Kirk and his wife, Mary, have five children. Their oldest son, Brian, was a starting offensive lineman on the 2005 Iowa squad and signed an NFL free agent contract with the Atlanta Falcons. Ferentz is currently the highest paid state employee in Iowa, with an annual salary of 2.7 million dollars. According to the Des Moines Register state-salary database, Ferentz earned a total of $3,174,999.96 during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006.

2007 brought on a variety of challenges to Ferentz's team. The Hawkeyes lost several players due to defections and off the field problems. A lack of depth due to those factors and a large number of injuries saw the Hawkeyes get thoughroughly defeated in games against Indiana, Penn State and Purdue. The lack of offensive weapons made the offense look sluggish and made many fans question the playcalling of offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe, along with questioning the merit of Ferentz's large salary. However, spurred by a surprising 10-6 upset victory over rival Illinois, the Hawkeyes have showed an impressive run of form despite their deficiencies. The Hawkeyes beat Michigan State and Northwestern in dramatic late victories by overcoming early two score deficits. The possibility of Iowa receiving a seventh straight bowl bid with a very young squad has given Iowa fans reason to be optomistic about the future of the program under Ferentz.


[edit] Pro football opportunities
Many major college and NFL teams have considered Ferentz as a candidate for their head coaching jobs. However, Ferentz has publicly declined any interest in other coaching positions, opting to stay at Iowa. On November 23, 2004, Ferentz and Iowa athletics director Bob Bowlsby agreed to a new contract extension that keeps Ferentz at Iowa until 2012. [1]

On January 2, 2006 the head coaches of five NFL teams, Green Bay, St. Louis, Houston, New Orleans, and Minnesota, were fired. There was renewed speculation that Ferentz would be offered a head coaching job with one of those professional franchices. But such speculation was soon put to rest when Ferentz stated that he was still happy with his job at Iowa, and that he had no plans to leave. [2]

On June 2, 2006, Ferentz became the highest paid coach in the Big Ten and third highest in college football when he was given a restructured contract that boosted his annual salary to $2.7 million.[3]

Following the 2006 NFL season, rumors circulated that Ferentz may have been in consideration for the Pittsburgh Steelers' head coaching job after Bill Cowher stepped down. However, before Cowher's departure, Ferentz was asked about his possible interest in the position, and stated: "I know that staff pretty well and they've got some good guys in that building. My guess is that's where they would go. But I'm not interested, and I doubt they are, either. I've got a great job right here." [citation needed] The Steelers job eventually went to Mike Tomlin