Head coach Kirk Ferentz has been a staple for Iowa football since 1998 when he was hired, and he has done a lot for the Hawkeyes in that time. Ferentz has brought Iowa to heights they had never been to, such as winning Big Ten titles and also sending some great players to the NFL. Ferentz has helped make Iowa known as Tight End U and has also helped build one of the best defenses int he country over the past few years.
However, for all the good Ferentz has done, he has also begun to show his age in the past few years and with college football continuing to move into a new era, it is becoming more and more obvious Ferentz probably won't be able to keep up.
The Iowa Hawkeyes faced the Missouri Tigers in the Music City Bowl today and suffered a 27-24 loss that could have been avoided if Ferentz had made a different decision at the end of the game.
With three minutes left in the game and down by just three points on their own 33-yard line, Ferentz decided to punt the ball back to the Tigers on a fourth-and-two play. A lot would have probably gone for it with that little time left and trying to keep the Tiger offense on the sideline, but instead, Ferentz chose to give the ball back to Mizzou.
Ferentz was putting a lot of trust in his defense, which was able to get the job done, but by the time Iowa's offense got the ball back, they only had 1:44 left on the clock, which for a Kirk Ferentz offense, if very little time to even get into field goal range.
Under Ferentz, Iowa has always been known as more of a defensive powerhouse; it was the reason they made it to the Big Ten Championship game last season. However, in this new age of college football, if a team isn't winning consistently like Ferentz's team doesn't, then they will just transfer.
Ferentz has been coaching for a long time, and college football has changed over his tenure with the Hawkeyes, but the latest changes are the biggest college football has seen, and it just doesn't seem like the long-time head coach will be able to keep up.
It seems as though Iowa needs a younger voice leading the team to be able to compete in what is becoming a very dominant Big Ten conference that has three teams in the College Football Playoff Semifinal. It Iowa wants to keep up in the conference and not become a team like Northwestern or Purdue, then moving on Ferentz might be the answer, even with all that he has done for the program.
The only issue with moving on from Ferentz is that the Hawkeyes gave him a contract extension through 2029 and if Iowa were to fire him after this season, it would cost them $42 million.