32 Years of Fry and Ferentz

ChosenChildren

ChosenChildren

Well-Known Member
Hayden Fry and his pupil Kirk Ferentz have captained the Iowa ship for 32 years. That is almost half a lifetime! The accomplishments are truly amazing when you look back at the record:

1. Overall record of 238-149-6, which is a 61.3% winning percentage.
2. 5 Big Ten titles and 3 Runner-up finishes
3. 12 Bowl championships (6 by Hayden and 6 by Kirk) and 23 bowl games!
4. 16 Final Top 25 rankings
5. 25 First Division finishes!
6. 5 BCS games (3 Rose and 2 Orange)
7. Zero years on NCAA probation
8. A graduation rate this year ranked 12th out of 70 bowl teams

It is great to be a Hawkeye.
 








The record is even more amazing when you study the records of Iowa football in the years leading up to Fry and Ferentz. Here are the records:

1. In the 19 seasons before them (Burns, Nagel, Lauterbur and Commings) we finished 54-124-6, which was a sparkling 31% winning percentage.

2. In the 32 seasons before them (Anderson, Raffensberger,Evy, Burns, Nagel, FXL and Commings) we were a little better: 119-171-12, but still a dismal winning percentage of 41%.

Conclusions: During the Fry Ferentz era, on average, we are winning 50% more games each season than we were winning in the previous 32 years of Iowa football. We have gone from the laughingstock doormats of the conference (clearly the worst program during the previous 19 seasons) to one of the best programs in the conference.

You really can thank Hayden and Kirk for this success (although there were many other fine assistant coaches, they have been the two shining lights). Out of the 32 seasons, Hayden coached 20 of them. Even more amazing, Kirk was on the staff (either as an assistant or as head coach) for 21 of those seasons!

Hayden is in the College Hall of Fame and the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.

I fully expect Captain K to be in the Hall of Fame someday, as well as the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame. We'll see about the Rose Bowl!!!

Really an amazing run -- let's hope it continues.
 




That is quite an accomplishment by Hayden and Kirk. We are getting a little spoiled. That isn't to say we shouldn't want to continue to improve. But I also know what Jon means when he points out, we are one bad hire away from going back to where we were before Hayden. Even programs like Nebby, Alabama, USC, Mich, ND have major problems if they don't have the right man.
 


HawkPhreek said:
Oh boy comparing bad to worst isn't an argument 60% win percentage is not that impressive.
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Really, Mr. Sunshine? From 1979 to 2010, Iowa's winning percentage ranks them 27th out of 120 Division 1-A teams and 4th in the Big Ten behind OSU, Michigan and PSU during that time period.

I would say that is pretty impressive given that Fry had to re-build a program that had 17 consecutive losing seasons before he arrived and Ferentz had to re-build from a slip at the end of the Fry era.
 


HawkPhreek said:
Oh boy comparing bad to worst isn't an argument 60% win percentage is not that impressive.
Click to expand...

Every Party Needs a Pooper, That's Why We Invited You, Party Pooper.

What a turd in the punch bowl!

The great, historic teams aren't at 85% over the last 32 years.

Ohio State (76.3%), Florida (72.9%), Oklahoma (72.9%), Michigan (71.8%), Alabama (70.5%), Texas (70.0%), USC (69.3%), Virginia Tech (67.1%)

If you take out USC's rampant cheating they would have about the same win percentage as Iowa.
 


UIHawkGrad, what website did you use to find the 27th stat out from?

I can't believe Iowa is in the top quartile of win % over the last 32 years. That's awesome!
 


Has been a solid 32 years and I have enjoyed them all started attending Iowa games in coach Fry's 81 season and went to the Rose bowl as a 11 year old and hooked me forever.
 








Iowa is an established product and as you illustrated, has been for over 30 years. When oh when will the "were just lil ole Iowa" mindset go away? Good research btw, thank you.
 


PatrickAdamovicz said:
Iowa is an established product and as you illustrated, has been for over 30 years. When oh when will the "were just lil ole Iowa" mindset go away? Good research btw, thank you.
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There is a big difference between "we are just Iowa" and realizing what our limitations are and looking at our program objectively.
 


Let's take a closer look at that list and a few other key points as it relates to this program.......

First of all, if you look at just BCS schools, we have the 23rd best winning % from 1979 - 2010 and if you look closely at those 23 teams, you will see that there are only 3 teams out of those 23 that have not played for a National Championship during that time period.....Clemson, Texas A&M and Iowa.

In addition, if you look at the latest stats from the Department of Education, showing athletic department revenues, you will see that Iowa is 15th in the nation......and one of only 4 teams in that list to not play for a national championship in the last 32 years (Kansas, Oklahoma St and Wisconsin being the others), but higher than Oklahoma, Nebraska, Virginia Tech, Washington and West Virginia and only 2 million less than Notre Dame.....all programs that have won or played for national titles over the last 32 years.

Finally, if you look at NFL rosters, you will see that Iowa has the 13th most players on NFL rosters (30). More than Penn State, Auburn, Alabama, Notre Dame, Nebraska and many others. In fact of the Top 13, only 2 have never played for a National Championship in the last 32 years.....Cal and Iowa.

Therefore, if you look at the Top 25 programs (win % wise) over the last 32 years, and combine that list with the Top 15 revenue producing athletic departments and the Top 15 NFL producing colleges, you will find only one school on all 3 of those lists that has never played for a National Championship in the last 32 years......IOWA.

I think this data shows two things:

1. We're not "little ol' Iowa". We produce more wins, more money and more NFL players than all but a handful of programs around the country.

2. However, with all of those wins, money and players, you'd think that just once in 32 years, we could have played for a National Championship. Unfortunately, we are the only program with that kind of success that hasn't.
 


This completely backs up my argument last year (or year before) about this time that 8 wins (.61 x 13 games = 7.93) is a reasonable expectation each and every year for Iowa. In fact, over the last generation, it's been the average.

(Jon was trying to sell that Iowa is historically a little over .500 team and the fans should temper their expectations. The problem was that he wanted to include all 100+ years of history, rather than the more relevant history.)

In addition to the scoreboard, simple common sense validates this ...
-- Given such a weak non-conf schedule, Iowa should win at least 3, every year.
-- Iowa should always beat athletically inferior teams: IU, NW, MN.
-- Iowa should at least split with it's peers: Wisky, PSU, MSU, Purdue, Illannoy, Nebraska & Michigan (for now).
(Hawks were 3-1 againt this group in 2010. It's reasonable to hope that coaching & Kinnick would allow for a better than .500 record here but that just hasn't been the case. We'll go with a split. )
-- Iowa should always be expected to lose to OSU.

Let's apply this conservative, common sense expectation to next year.

September
W 3 Tennessee Tech
W 10 at Iowa State (Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series)
? 17 Pittsburgh
W 24 Louisiana-Monroe
October
1 Bye
L 8 at Penn State
W 15 Northwestern
W 22 Indiana (HC)
W 29 at Minnesota
November
W 5 Michigan
W 12 Michigan State (FW, FA, S)
L 19 at Purdue
L 26 at Nebraska

That's 8 wins just being average and winning the games you should win. That's before you even start to debate Pitt, some of the "L's", and the bowl game.

Iowa has become an established program over the last generation -- during the modern evolution of college football -- which is the only valid time frame to actually consider. If Hawks win less than 8 games, every year, the season should be considered a disappointment.
 
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STILLBUSTER said:
This completely backs up my argument last year (or year before) about this time that 8 wins (.61 x 13 games = 7.93) is a reasonable expectation each and every year for Iowa. In fact, over the last generation, it's been the average.

(Jon was trying to sell that Iowa is historically a little over .500 team and the fans should temper their expectations. The problem was that he wanted to include all 100+ years of history, rather than the more relevant history.)

In addition to the scoreboard, simple common sense validates this ...
-- Given such a weak non-conf schedule, Iowa should win at least 3, every year.
-- Iowa should always beat athletically inferior teams: IU, NW, MN.
-- Iowa should at least split with it's peers: Wisky, PSU, MSU, Purdue, Illannoy, Nebraska & Michigan (for now).
(Hawks were 3-1 againt this group in 2010. It's reasonable to hope that coaching & Kinnick would allow for a better than .500 record here but that just hasn't been the case. We'll go with a split. )
-- Iowa should always be expected to lose to OSU.

Let's apply this conservative, common sense expectation to next year.

September
W 3 Tennessee Tech
W 10 at Iowa State (Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series)
? 17 Pittsburgh
W 24 Louisiana-Monroe
October
1 Bye
L 8 at Penn State
W 15 Northwestern
W 22 Indiana (HC)
W 29 at Minnesota
November
W 5 Michigan
W 12 Michigan State (FW, FA, S)
L 19 at Purdue
L 26 at Nebraska

That's 8 wins just being average and winning the games you should win. That's before you even start to debate Pitt, some of the "L's", and the bowl game.

Iowa has become an established program over the last generation -- during the modern evolution of college football -- which is the only valid time frame to actually consider. If Hawks win less than 8 games, every year, the season should be considered a disappointment.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on almost everything except your last point. I don't think you can set expectations for a single season based on an average over 32 years. I think you can look at a 4 year period and base it on that, though. For example, if over a 4 year period we win 7, 7, 10, 11, then I think we should be extremely happy with that, even though they only met "expectations" 50% of those seasons.
 


A couple of points after reading these posts:

1. The .613 winning percentage at Iowa over the past 32 years is because of the unique abilities of Fry and Ferentz. It is no guarantee that we will win at this pace over the next 32 years. Michigan is discovering that past success is no guarantee of future performance.

1. There is no real national championship in college football. It is a mythical national championship. Iowa won a mythical national championship in 1958. Making the national championship game involves a lot of luck, favorable scheduling, and politics. Until there is a legitimate playoff that is determined on the field (like the NFL), whining about national championships is just a waste of energy. If there had been an 8 or 16 team playoff over the past 32 years, I believe Iowa might have won another national championship. The current system gives Iowa almost no chance at all (I believe that if Iowa had gone 12-0 in 2009, they still would have been denied the opportunity to play in the final title game).
 


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