25 Bowl games since 81... Fry vs. Ferentz look..

[Saginawbay]

Iowa has played in 25 bowl games since 1981. Coach Fry had a total of 14 in 20 years, and coach Ferentz has 11 in 15 years, and hopefully adding a 12th in 16 years.

Iowa's overall record in those 25 years is 211-96 win pct of .688 for an avg of 8.4 wins per year during bowl years.

Fry bowl record

Rose,Peach,Gator,Freedom,Rose,Holiday,Holiday,Peach,Rose,Holiday,Alamo,Sun,Alamo, and Sun.

Coach Fry record in these 14 years 116-50-4 .725 avg 8.2 wins in these 14 years.


Ferentz bowl record

Alamo,Orange,Outback,Capital,Outback,Alamo,Outback,Orange,Insight,Insight, and Outback

Coach Ferentz record in these 11 years 95-46 .673 avg 8.6 wins in these 11 years.

Both have almost the same numbers., been a solid 36 years for Iowa football.

Now the question what bowl, and total number of wins will Iowa have at end of 14?

 

[hockalot]

Iowa has played in 25 bowl games since 1981. Coach Fry had a total of 14 in 20 years, and coach Ferentz has 11 in 15 years, and hopefully adding a 12th in 16 years.

Iowa's overall record in those 25 years is 211-96 win pct of .688 for an avg of 8.4 wins per year during bowl years.

Fry bowl record

Rose,Peach,Gator,Freedom,Rose,Holiday,Holiday,Peach,Rose,Holiday,Alamo,Sun,Alamo, and Sun.

Coach Fry record in these 14 years 116-50-4 .725 avg 8.2 wins in these 14 years.


Ferentz bowl record

Alamo,Orange,Outback,Capital,Outback,Alamo,Outback,Orange,Insight,Insight, and Outback

Coach Ferentz record in these 11 years 95-46 .673 avg 8.6 wins in these 11 years.

Both have almost the same numbers., been a solid 36 years for Iowa football.

Now the question what bowl, and total number of wins will Iowa have at end of 14?

 

[hockalot]

Bowls were a little harder to go to in the Fry years.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Bowls were a little harder to go to in the Fry years.

True, there were fewer, but the conference was also much easier outside of Michigan and OSU. Wisconsin didn't surge until late in Fry's tenure. There was no PSU until late in his tenure. Illinois and Iowa were pretty much the only two respectable teams in the conference outside of Michigan and OSU. Sparty had a few decent years and the Rose Bowl run behind Percy Snow and Tony Mandarich, but Minnesota, Purdue, Indiana, Wisconsin and Northwestern were all awful for more than half of Fry's tenure. So getting third or fourth in the conference and landing in the Holiday, Peach, Gator, etc. Bowl was not really all that difficult.

 

[MiniMoeHawk]

True, there were fewer, but the conference was also much easier outside of Michigan and OSU. Wisconsin didn't surge until late in Fry's tenure. There was no PSU until late in his tenure. Illinois and Iowa were pretty much the only two respectable teams in the conference outside of Michigan and OSU. Sparty had a few decent years and the Rose Bowl run behind Percy Snow and Tony Mandarich, but Minnesota, Purdue, Indiana, Wisconsin and Northwestern were all awful for more than half of Fry's tenure. So getting third or fourth in the conference and landing in the Holiday, Peach, Gator, etc. Bowl was not really all that difficult.

Fry beat said awful teams. Kirk Struggles with the average/bottom teams.

 

[LG210]

True, there were fewer, but the conference was also much easier outside of Michigan and OSU. Wisconsin didn't surge until late in Fry's tenure. There was no PSU until late in his tenure. Illinois and Iowa were pretty much the only two respectable teams in the conference outside of Michigan and OSU. Sparty had a few decent years and the Rose Bowl run behind Percy Snow and Tony Mandarich, but Minnesota, Purdue, Indiana, Wisconsin and Northwestern were all awful for more than half of Fry's tenure. So getting third or fourth in the conference and landing in the Holiday, Peach, Gator, etc. Bowl was not really all that difficult.

Yep. It is tough to compare for the reasons stated above.

Also, KF has had an extra game to work with each year, which helps to add to is overall number of wins and corresponding wins per season.

But let's be honest. Without Hayden Fry, there would be no Kirk Ferentz. Without Hayden Fry, we would be Iowa State or Indiana.

 

[kicker22]

I just don't get the constant comparison between the two. Not saying I'm unappreciative of what Fry did to turn around the program, but I have moved on as the game has. It's a different league now in which the game has dramatically changed. We constantly hear complaints about how the game has "passed KF by" but refuse to consider that it's evolved more since Fry left. I think its time to accept the fact that Fry didn't just leave yesterday and realize we can stop trying to compare the two.

That said I agree with OP that the state of the program has been a much better product as a whole since 1981 then it was prior.

 

[hwk23]

Bowls were a little harder to go to in the Fry years.

I still can't believe we went 10-1 in 1991, only losing to #7 Michigan and we went to the Holiday Bowl. Nowadays that would have been an easy BCS bowl ( at least until this year, not sure this year).

 

[NCHawker]

I still can't believe we went 10-1 in 1991, only losing to #7 Michigan and we went to the Holiday Bowl. Nowadays that would have been an easy BCS bowl ( at least until this year, not sure this year).

Because the hawks lost in early Oct to UM and I don't think they were ranked all that high, it was a quiet 10-1 but I think they finished #10 in the polls that year. Rodgers, Saunders, Mongomery, good solid team that had a pulse.

Michigan was really good that year but still got boat raced in the rose bowl by an extraordinary Washington squad.

 

[eveningnewsteam]

I still can't believe we went 10-1 in 1991, only losing to #7 Michigan and we went to the Holiday Bowl. Nowadays that would have been an easy BCS bowl ( at least until this year, not sure this year).

That was one of the years the Big 10 #2 went to the Holiday instead of the Citrus. Probably made up for an 8-4 Iowa team backing into the Rose Bowl the year before

 

[ChosenChildren]

Bowls were a little harder to go to in the Fry years.

Not really. It took 6 wins then, and it takes 6 wins now. Every Fry team that won at least 6 games in a season went bowling. And Fry played in a league without Nebraska or Penn State.

 

[cecilB]

That was one of the years the Big 10 #2 went to the Holiday instead of the Citrus. Probably made up for an 8-4 Iowa team backing into the Rose Bowl the year before

yes, it was a kick in the gonads. The Big Ten was a trailblazer then too. Prior to that year, outside of tie ins for conference champs, bowl selection was a free for all. The Big 10 struck a deal with the Holiday bowl to send it's number 3 team for a set number of years, but in year one it got the 2nd place team. Coach Fry lobbied the conference hard to no avail. Cotton Bowl wanted Iowa badly. A victim of circumstances.

The Holiday bowl was subsequently one of Coach Fry's most head-scratching games. Game plan was to run it down their throats, which Iowa did in route to a 13-0 lead. For some reason we abandoned the game plan and decided to try to match Ty Detmer in an air it out game. Our passing game was pretty dang pedestrian compared to what BYU was accustomed to in the WAC. LeRoy Smith hurting his knee early in the game helped give detmer time he didn't have in the first quarter.

I'll never forget the scene in the tunnel afterwards (locker rooms were adjacent to each other) BYU was celebrating a tie with a top 5 team....Looked like a funeral in the Iowa locker room. We didn't take them serious enough, but going through the motions looked to be more than good enough until a change of plans....Everyone was frustrated, particularly Coach Ohara.

Silver lining is SanDiego was a pretty fun winter vacation...and we were plenty familiar with thearea after our third trip there. Easily one of the best bowl locations.

Some teams

 

[hawkfan2679]

Not really. It took 6 wins then, and it takes 6 wins now. Every Fry team that won at least 6 games in a season went bowling. And Fry played in a league without Nebraska or Penn State.

But in that same vein, you get 12 games now (most years don't we have 2 bad opponents, 1 MAC opponent, & ISU?) whereas you only got 11 back then. I think there has always been 8 conference games, so all you need to do now is beat the 2 lowly opponents and split the MAC/ISU games, then finish 3-5 in conference. It's only a 1 additional game difference but when that difference is generally a FCS school, it sure seems like that 6th win would come easier in today's era than in the 80's.

 

[okeefe4prez]

But in that same vein, you get 12 games now (most years don't we have 2 bad opponents, 1 MAC opponent, & ISU?) whereas you only got 11 back then. I think there has always been 8 conference games, so all you need to do now is beat the 2 lowly opponents and split the MAC/ISU games, then finish 3-5 in conference. It's only a 1 additional game difference but when that difference is generally a FCS school, it sure seems like that 6th win would come easier in today's era than in the 80's.

I disagree. You are correct about loading up the cupcakes in non-con, but there is a lot more parity between the MAC/Sun Belt/whatever and the Big Ten than there was back then. Iowa was out front in training and stuff and now everyone does it. And the middle to bottom of the B1G was WAY worse back then than it is today.

Iowa was also good because Fry was very good at adapting to the new scholarship limits that came into being in 1978 or 1979 and really did a great job bringing Iowa back from the dead with some absolutely stellar out of state recruits. Now, everyone is adept at going to distant places for recruits and that edge we had is gone. Fry was really a trailblazer in terms of upping our talent level and helping break the Big Two Little Eight stranglehold and IMHO he will always be the best Iowa football coach ever. But we have to realize that the era in which he did that there was far less parity than there is today and he was able to come up with methods to get us advantages that simply don't exist for us today, which is why Kurt is also a darn good ball coach.

Heck, no need to argue. Iowa has had two football coaches in my memory span and they have both been excellent considering the inherent limitations of Iowa football. There is not another program in America that has had that degree of consistency and loyalty from solid head men. Sure, we haven't won any serious hardware, but we've been treated to some pretty decent football without too many ugly prolonged dips bince Hayden took over.

 

[cecilB]

I disagree. You are correct about loading up the cupcakes in non-con, but there is a lot more parity between the MAC/Sun Belt/whatever and the Big Ten than there was back then. Iowa was out front in training and stuff and now everyone does it. And the middle to bottom of the B1G was WAY worse back then than it is today.

Iowa was also good because Fry was very good at adapting to the new scholarship limits that came into being in 1978 or 1979 and really did a great job bringing Iowa back from the dead with some absolutely stellar out of state recruits. Now, everyone is adept at going to distant places for recruits and that edge we had is gone. Fry was really a trailblazer in terms of upping our talent level and helping break the Big Two Little Eight stranglehold and IMHO he will always be the best Iowa football coach ever. But we have to realize that the era in which he did that there was far less parity than there is today and he was able to come up with methods to get us advantages that simply don't exist for us today, which is why Kurt is also a darn good ball coach.

Heck, no need to argue. Iowa has had two football coaches in my memory span and they have both been excellent considering the inherent limitations of Iowa football. There is not another program in America that has had that degree of consistency and loyalty from solid head men. Sure, we haven't won any serious hardware, but we've been treated to some pretty decent football without too many ugly prolonged dips bince Hayden took over.

Scholarship reductions is more significant than training techniques

 

[okeefe4prez]

Scholarship reductions is more significant than training techniques

Relative to the top of the Big Ten, absolutely, but relative to the lesser conferences, probably not as much. The smaller programs simply didn't put much weight into training and didn't have facilities budgets to do what Iowa was doing in the '80's. But now, the development program at a place like Miami of Ohio or Northern Illinois, heck, probably even Northern Iowa, isn't far behind what Iowa is doing because teams figured out it is a relatively inexpensive way to improve the performance of the players. Northern Iowa has played Iowa tight a few times in the past 5 seasons, as has NIU, even sneaking out a win behind a great college QB. I don't think it is Ferentz's fault the gap has closed between those places and Iowa. Heck, NIU beat up on Purdue last year and Northwestern this year. Even the Indiana team that won at Missouri got beaten by a MAC team this year.

It just seems like there is a lot more parity now than there was back in most of the Fry era (but I think even Hayden managed to lose to Tulsa one year). Schools have really thrown a lot of money at football because they see it as a marketing and alumni relations tool and the cupcakes of today are nowhere near as soft as the cupcakes of yesteryear. So even with the added game, 6 wins is probably nearly as tough today as it was in Fry's era. Granted, it is easier for a team like Minnesota that plays an absolute fluff schedule most years to get 4 guaranteed wins, but for us with our ISU rivalry game and our typical one non-con BCS game, 6 wins is not a cakewalk.

 

[cecilB]

Relative to the top of the Big Ten, absolutely, but relative to the lesser conferences, probably not as much. The smaller programs simply didn't put much weight into training and didn't have facilities budgets to do what Iowa was doing in the '80's. But now, the development program at a place like Miami of Ohio or Northern Illinois, heck, probably even Northern Iowa, isn't far behind what Iowa is doing because teams figured out it is a relatively inexpensive way to improve the performance of the players. Northern Iowa has played Iowa tight a few times in the past 5 seasons, as has NIU, even sneaking out a win behind a great college QB. I don't think it is Ferentz's fault the gap has closed between those places and Iowa. Heck, NIU beat up on Purdue last year and Northwestern this year. Even the Indiana team that won at Missouri got beaten by a MAC team this year.

It just seems like there is a lot more parity now than there was back in most of the Fry era (but I think even Hayden managed to lose to Tulsa one year). Schools have really thrown a lot of money at football because they see it as a marketing and alumni relations tool and the cupcakes of today are nowhere near as soft as the cupcakes of yesteryear. So even with the added game, 6 wins is probably nearly as tough today as it was in Fry's era. Granted, it is easier for a team like Minnesota that plays an absolute fluff schedule most years to get 4 guaranteed wins, but for us with our ISU rivalry game and our typical one non-con BCS game, 6 wins is not a cakewalk.

Respectfully disagree. Nebraska use to have 20 players that are now on rosters of the Wiskys and Iowa's of the world. to take it further, there are 200 kids that use to get scholarships from the original big that now find there way to Iowa state, UNI, MAC schools.

Going from 105 to 85 is the most signifant variable in creating the relative parity we see today.

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

Not really. It took 6 wins then, and it takes 6 wins now. Every Fry team that won at least 6 games in a season went bowling. And Fry played in a league without Nebraska or Penn State.

True, but I would recommend you take a look at the non-conference schedules during the Fry Era.. Not like it is today..