​FERENTZ CONTINUES TO MODEL SUCCESS AFTER 27 YEARS

FERENTZ CONTINUES TO MODEL SUCCESS AFTER 27 YEARS

By Joey Johnston

When the Big Ten Conference's Iowa Hawkeyes (8-4) face the SEC's Vanderbilt Commodores (10-2) in the Dec. 31 ReliaQuest Bowl at Raymond James Stadium, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz will be making his seventh trip to the Tampa-based bowl game.

How can you tell the difference between now and his first trip?

Or third?

Or fifth?

You really can't. Maybe there are a few more streaks of gray hair, but Ferentz is the same guy. The Hawkeyes have the same program values. With the consistency of a metronome, Iowa has returned with an excellent offensive line, a stingy defense, resourceful special teams and enough moxie to qualify for a desirable bowl game.

"Kirk is just one of the neatest humans I've been around,'' Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz said. "He has such a steady hand. He really cares about our athletes and our community. In this modern environment of college football, it's really neat to see how he remains true to who he is, the way he coaches and the culture he builds. That means so much to the Hawkeye family and community.''

Sound familiar?

Iowa has a formula.

And it works.

"Ninety-eight percent of the time we go to a ballgame, we're the underdogs,'' Ferentz said. "A lot of times we're certainly ranked underneath or not ranked at all. That is the case here (against No. 12-ranked Vanderbilt).''

Vanderbilt seems new, different, flashy, interesting, provocative.

Iowa is Iowa.

At least that's the prevailing public perception.

"There are a lot of arguments you can make in terms of the benefits of having a stable program,'' Ferentz said. "That was one of our goals from Day One - to build this and make it as solid as possible. We're proud of the things we've been able to accomplish.

"We've won eight games every season since 2015. We're part of a pretty small group. If you really stop and think about the significance of that, it's a little deep. It's hard to do. We went undefeated in 2015 (regular season) and that's hard to do, too. But I'm proud of the fact that in a conference of 18 teams, we're fifth in terms of victories (during that span). Maybe it's not always flashy or stylistic. But the fact that we've been successful more than we've not been successful, you know, that's always the goal.''

Ferentz has heard the criticisms before, particularly during recent seasons when Iowa's offense has struggled mightily.

"It's everybody's individual right to figure out the criteria (how) they want to judge programs,'' Ferentz said. "Whether it be a fan, an administrator or people who make decisions, that's everybody's personal decision to make. It just depends on how you look at the world.

"I do know this. What we do makes us very competitive. There are a lot of teams trying to do the same thing and many of them fall short. You look at our (Big Ten) championship game. Ohio State and Indiana. We didn't play Ohio State. But we played Indiana (losing 20-15) and that game could've gone either way. I'm proud of the fact that we can consistently compete against teams like Indiana or Oregon or many others. I like the way we go about it.''

Ferentz doesn't want to become the old man yelling at others to get off his lawn. But when asked about the changing face of college football, Ferentz has a pointed answer.

"When we learned UCLA and USC were joining the Big Ten - or maybe the addition of Maryland and Rutgers was the real start of it - but good, bad or indifferent, geography really doesn't matter anymore and tradition we've turned that thing upside down,'' Ferentz said. "I think fitting in with that are all the (head coach) firings that took place during the season. I think it's the fallout of the world that we've entered into.''

Ferentz spoke evenly.

He wasn't ranting. He was merely answering a question.

In Ferentz's world, the Hawkeye do what they do. Most seasons, it's enough - or maybe even more than enough. Seven trips to Tampa - along with two Orange Bowl appearances and a Rose Bowl jaunt, among others - dot the resume that features an overall 212-128 record in 27 seasons as Iowa's head coach.

He does what he does.