Iowa has not had a new head coach since 1999. Kirk Ferentz has been coaching at Iowa for over 20 years, coaching over 300 games with 186 wins. Before that, the Hawkeyes had Hayden Fry who coached at Iowa from 1979 to 1998. The Hawkeyes have been fortunate to have good coaching in the last four decades.
However, before Fry and Ferentz, there was Ray Nagel, Frank Lauterbur, and Bob Commings. These three coaches took Iowa through some dark times during football season, none of them having and overall winning record.
So which one was the best of the worst and which one was the worst of the worst? Well, here is how I chose to rank these coaches.
Bob Commings has one of the worst win percentages in Iowa football history. Commings started at Iowa as a player in 1953, 1956, and 1957. After graduating he became an assistant coach with the Hawkeyes before leaving for the high school coaching scene. In 1974, Commings made his return to Iowa, this time as the head coach in hopes of resurrecting a beat-down program.
Here is a breakdown of Commings' career at Iowa.
- 1974: 3-8, 2-6 conference
- 1975: 3-8, 3-5 conference
- 1976: 5-6, 3-5 conference
- 1977: 5-6, 3-6 conference
- 1978: 2-9, 2-6 conference
Commings was never able to get a winning season with the Hawkeyes. He was never able to win more than three conference games and never came close to a conference championship. In 1978, commings led Iowa to their 16th consecutive losing season and that was all the school needed to fire him.
Ray Nagel won two fewer games than Commings did but Nagel was a part of the 16 consecutive losing season streak. the hiring of Nagel did confuse Hawkeye fans as Nagel had just finished a 3-7 season at Utah and did not have the best record with the Utes.
Here is a breakdown of Nagel's time with the Hawkeyes
- 1966: 2-8, 1-6 conference
- 1967: 1-8-1, 0-6-1 conference
- 1968: 5-5, 4-3 conference
- 1969: 5-5, 3-4 conference
- 1970: 3-6-1, 3-3-1 conference
Nagel had two seasons where he sat at .500, one of those seasons with a winning record in the conference. However, after having a winning record in the conference, things just went downhill again and Nagel decided to retire from coaching in 1970.
Frank Lauterbur has the worst win percentage of a permanent head coach in Iowa football history. Lauterbur was the second coach involved in that 16-consecutive losing season streak. He was only able to bring in 4 total wins for the Hawkeyes.
Here is a breakdown of Lauterbur's time at Iowa.
- 1971: 1-10, 1-8 conference
- 1972: 3-7-1, 2-6-1 conference
- 1973: 0-11, 0-8 conference
Lauterbur went winless in his final season with the Hawkeyes, which led to him being fired in 1973. He spent the rest of his coaching career as an assistant coach in the pros.