Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz emotional after 200th career win
More Teams. More Games.
Iowa stuffs Iowa State on 4th-and-1 to take back the Cy-Hawk Trophy after a one-year hiatus. (0:45)
AMES, Iowa — Iowa Hawkeyes safety Sebastian Castro had nearly reached the visitors’ locker room when he first learned that coach Kirk Ferentz had won his 200th career game.
Then, Castro saw Ferentz.
“A big smile on his face,” Castro said. “He was proud of us.”
Ferentz, the longest-tenured coach in the FBS by six seasons, won his 188th game at Iowa (he had 12 wins at Maine from 1990 to 1992) as the Hawkeyes held off a late push by Iowa State to prevail 20-13 on Saturday. Iowa won its sixth consecutive game at Jack Trice Stadium and helped Ferentz become the 27th coach to reach 200 wins at an FBS school.
The 68-year-old Ferentz, who has led Iowa since 1999, said he doesn’t track victories but was informed after last week’s season-opening victory over Utah State that he had reached No. 199.
“I never certainly got into it for that reason,” he said. “I wanted to win enough to keep my job, I figured that out, believe me. But it’s more about the experiences and the people you get to work with. A lot of good people have come through this program.”
Ferentz became emotional after the game in Iowa’s locker room, where former All-America tight end Dallas Clark and others gathered to hear him address the team. He recalled his first Iowa victory, a 24-0 triumph over Northern Illinois in 1999, but joked that he “remembers the losses better. Just a sick mind.”
“I love to see him happy, but when he cries, it kind of made me get emotional,” said running back Jaziun Patterson, who had 86 rushing yards and his first career touchdown, including a 59-yard dash in the first quarter. “He’s a good coach, so he deserves it.”
Ferentz’s 200th win came like many of his others, as Iowa used complementary football to take down a rival. Castro returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown, marking Iowa’s 16th consecutive season with a pick-six, and the defense smothered Cartevious Norton on fourth-and-1 after Iowa State had closed to within a touchdown. Defensive lineman Logan Lee blocked a field-goal attempt on ISU’s first drive, and Iowa went 2-for-2 on field-goal tries while star punter Tory Taylor averaged 46.3 yards per boot.
Iowa’s offense did just enough, using big plays from Patterson and tight end Luke Lachey to build a 10-0 lead. The Hawkeyes have 44 points (37 on offense) through two games, below the 25 points-per-game average needed to extend coordinator Brian Ferentz’s contract beyond June 2024, but better than the 14 points through the first two contests of 2022.
“Some things that came up today [from Iowa State] kind of caught us by surprise,” quarterback Cade McNamara said after passing for 123 yards with an interception. “That’s going to come along at times, we’re still early [in the season]. But we’re able to see the level that we’re playing at in pressure situations.
“We’re still progressing. That’s just our mind-set.”
After the final kneel-down, Iowa players gathered in their traditional “Swarm” formation and walked toward the corner of the field to grab the Cy-Hawk Trophy, taken first by senior defensive end Joe Evans, an Ames native playing in his final Cy-Hawk game. Defensive back Cooper DeJean said after last year’s Cy-Hawk game at Kinnick Stadium, won by Iowa State 10-7, Cyclones players “ran over, into our swarm” to collect the trophy.
“We’re going to swarm in, swarm out, and swarm to all the trophies, too,” Lee said. “We know what that means to us, we know the work we put in and it’s everybody together, it’s not just one person.”
Ferentz noted that the “Swarm” is Iowa’s tribute to former coach Hayden Fry, who hired Ferentz as offensive line coach in 1981 and who Ferentz replaced after the 1998 season.
“It’s in our DNA,” Ferentz said. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be here, but as long as I am, we’ll keep doing that. The biggest reason is it’s good that we won, it’s even better.
“No Swarmin’ last year.”
A four-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, Ferentz has led Iowa to two league titles, 11 AP Top 25 finishes and bowl games in 20 of the past 22 seasons.
“We all love that guy,” offensive lineman Connor Colby said. “He’s a great coach, but he’s an even better person off the field. There’s no one that deserves it more than him.”