Ferentz years best in Iowa History? You be the judge

[hawkeyebob62]

Everyone remembers what they want to remember. The B1G wasn't the Big 2 and little 8 when HF came in. Other teams had good runs. Indiana was quite respectable under Lee Corso. Purdue certain had their runs. IL and Iowa both had good teams and in the 80's seemed to take turns destroying each other. Purdue and IL had some outstanding quarterbacks. NW was the only patsy and yes Wisky generally wasn't good. Minny had ups and downs. MSU had some good teams and bad ones. In many of the HF years the Hawks had to play everyone. To get good exposure, non conference schedules were generally pretty good.

Iowa State had a nice run of winning seasons for awhile.

What is exasperating about KF is that in genuinely seems he doesn't care about non conference and getting in a position to play other players against weaker teams. He doesn't seem to change. Remember when he could not take out Jake because Stanzi wasn't even taking snaps at practice. What team doesn't do that?

Uh, it WAS the Big 2/Little 8 when Hayden arrived. The only two Big 10 teams that went to the Rose Bowl for seasons 1968-1980 were OSU and UM.

Yes, other schools had good teams, but NONE went to the Rose Bowl*

(MSU would have in 1978 or 1979, but they were on probation).

 

[wundergrape]

In Cummings final year in 1978 his 5th by the way they were 2-9?? Overall Cummings was 18-37 while at Iowa..

Yep I bet fans were pumped up for the future..

1978: 2-9-0
Coach:	Bob Commings

W/L​ Date​ PF​ Opponent​ PA​ Location​ Notes​ W​ 09-16-1978​ 20​ Northwestern (IL)​ 3​ Iowa City, IA​ L​ 09-23-1978​ 0​ Iowa St.​ 31​ Iowa City, IA​ L​ 09-30-1978​ 3​ Arizona​ 23​ Tucson, AZ​ L​ 10-07-1978​ 9​ Utah​ 13​ Iowa City, IA​ L​ 10-14-1978​ 20​ Minnesota​ 22​ Minneapolis, MN​ L​ 10-21-1978​ 7​ Ohio St.​ 31​ Columbus, OH​ L​ 10-28-1978​ 7​ Purdue (IN)​ 34​ Iowa City, IA​ L​ 11-04-1978​ 0​ Michigan​ 34​ Iowa City, IA​ L​ 11-11-1978​ 14​ Indiana​ 34​ Bloomington, IN​ W​ 11-18-1978​ 38​ Wisconsin​ 24​ Iowa City, IA​ L​ 11-25-1978​ 7​ Michigan St.​ 42​ East Lansing, MI​

...and yet Commings' (that's right...with an "o") teams knocked off #11 Penn State on the road, and #12 UCLA. Sure, Bobby had to go...his tenure had run its course, but you can't argue that he had big wins and some decent talent. You might not believe it, but Commings was a golden child for a lot of people (a hero from the '58 team), and he lit a fire in a ton of folks' bellies after the Lauterbur years.

 

[ILHawk]

Uh, it WAS the Big 2/Little 8 when Hayden arrived. The only two Big 10 teams that went to the Rose Bowl for seasons 1968-1980 were OSU and UM.

Yes, other schools had good teams, but NONE went to the Rose Bowl*

(MSU would have in 1978 or 1979, but they were on probation).

You just made my point. MSU made a run. ISU had a nice run. IU was doing well along with Purdue. The 80's changed things and it wasn't just HF. When did Fry arrive? Wasn't 1970...

Actually Fry's 6-3-3 team was pretty fun to watch. The losses were against upstart Hawaii and Colorado. IU was still pretty decent. They only had on Big 10 loss. The did not lose to OSU or Michigan even though they played them.

 

[tm3308]

Both coaches brought the football program to new heights. Hayden took a horrible football program and transformed it into a winning one. KF took it to the point where we had thoughts of winning the National Championship. Both had great stretches and both had seasons of high expectations that came crashing down (1988 and 2010). Both had stretches of mediocre seasons where the fan bases were calling for their heads (KF 05, 06, 10, 11, and 12; HF 88, 89, 92, 93, 94, and 97). We can argue the difference in coaching styles all day but the fact is their careers mirror each other.

BTW, those of you making the argument for Evy keep in mind Iowa might have been the football power like Nebraska/Notre Dame if not for Evy. For all the success he had in the 50s, he completely destroyed the football program in the 60s and into the 70s.

As the athletic director, not the football coach. The Hawks went 8-1 and finished #2 in the nation in 1960, Evy's final year.

 

[BILLBUCKNER]

have not read the entire thread,but Fry also is unparrelled in the number of assistants he had that went on and had great careers of their own.

 

[okeefe4prez]

have not read the entire thread,but Fry also is unparrelled in the number of assistants he had that went on and had great careers of their own.

Yep, but O'Keefe moved up to the NFL so that stat is kind of a wash.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

You just made my point. MSU made a run. ISU had a nice run. IU was doing well along with Purdue. The 80's changed things and it wasn't just HF. When did Fry arrive? Wasn't 1970...

Actually Fry's 6-3-3 team was pretty fun to watch. The losses were against upstart Hawaii and Colorado. IU was still pretty decent. They only had on Big 10 loss. The did not lose to OSU or Michigan even though they played them.

YOUR point was that it was NOT the Big 2/Little 8, but it most certainly WAS. MSU didn't have a "run", they had ONE year as champ or co-champ while on probation. It was hardly a "run". AFTER Hayden arrived?

From 1979 to 1998, the Big 10 Rose Bowl reps:
1979: OSU
1980: Michigan
1981: IOWA
1982: Michigan
1983: Illinois
1984: OSU
1985: IOWA
1986: Michigan
1987: Michigan State
1988: Michigan
1989: Michigan
1990: IOWA
1991: Michigan
1992: Michigan
1993: Wisconsin
1994: Penn State
1995: Northwestern
1996: OSU
1997: Michigan
1998: Wisconsin

In other words, while Hayden was AT Iowa, 8 of the 10/11 conference teams went to the Rose Bowl (Minnesota, Purdue and Indiana did not). BEFORE that? Exactly TWO for roughly the same span of time. So he not only broke the stranglehold, he paved/showed the way for the other conference schools, as well.

 

[ssckelley]

As the athletic director, not the football coach. The Hawks went 8-1 and finished #2 in the nation in 1960, Evy's final year.

I know that, had Evy just kept coaching who knows where the football program would be right now.