Coaches / Head coach / Kirk Ferentz
Form · last two seasons
83
performing to its level
Rating80recent
Peak83best 5 yrs
Career85whole career
confidence
Kirk Ferentz
Head Coach · Iowa
Headline rating: as head coach. Every role he has been rated in is below.
Chemistry
70
continuity at Iowa · early
Seasons here28
Programs1
Stints1
Career path
Head-coaching stints since 1936; assistant roles since 2016
Chemistry
vs every head coach since 2016 · 62 = typical
Tenure here
Seasons as head coach at his current school
Staff continuity
Seasons he and his offensive coordinator have worked together
Player retention
Players kept vs. the league norm for similar rosters (fewer transfers out)
Followers
Players and staff who followed him from his previous job
QB & coordinator
How long his quarterbacks have played for the same coordinator
Roster continuity
Share of starters returning from one season to the next under him
Dashed gold ring on the radar = average (62). Chemistry scale: 62 is typical, 20-50 is a warning sign, under 10 is a collapse.
As head coach
Rating80Form83▲ 3 over-performingPeak83Career85
1990–2026 · 31 seasonsRecord 225-149National titles 0Great seasons 0 (top ~7% of all teams that year)
- Rating 80: his whole career, recent seasons weighted most, measured as how far his teams stood above their era, crediting him with half of what each program already was when he arrived (about the share that, historically, follows a coach to his next job), fading as the program becomes his own.
- Peak 83: best five-season stretch, 2016–2020 at Iowa (41-19, 1 top-10 season by team strength), taking over a good program.
- Career 85 (#34 since 1936): total accomplishment over 31 seasons (225-149), 0 national titles, 0 elite seasons; full credit for the program he inherited.
- Won big at one of his 2 programs (Iowa).
Over expectation · 2016 on89Results against what his rosters' talent predicted (program lift, evaluation, recruiting, staff building, game management).
Rating = who he is: his whole head-coaching career (since 1936), weighted toward recent years — how far his teams stood above their contemporaries, how much he lifted programs, his great seasons and titles. Form = the last two seasons. Career = the all-time ranking number.
Program lift89
Evaluation78
Results80
Recruiting59
Staff building78
Game management71
| Season | Team | Record | Season rank | vs contemporaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Iowa | 0-0 | #29 | +0.86 SD |
| 2025 | Iowa | 9-4 | #16 | +1.19 SD |
| 2024 | Iowa | 8-5 | #20 | +1.11 SD |
| 2023 | Iowa | 10-4 | #43 | +0.52 SD |
| 2022 | Iowa | 8-5 | #27 | +0.90 SD |
| 2021 | Iowa | 10-4 | #28 | +0.81 SD |
| 2020 | Iowa | 6-2 | #7 | +1.36 SD |
| 2019 | Iowa | 10-3 | #16 | +1.19 SD |
| 2018 | Iowa | 9-4 | #14 | +1.22 SD |
| 2017 | Iowa | 8-5 | #14 | +1.24 SD |
| 2016 | Iowa | 8-5 | #23 | +0.89 SD |
| 2015 | Iowa | 12-2 | #25 | +0.86 SD |
| 2014 | Iowa | 7-6 | #47 | +0.25 SD |
| 2013 | Iowa | 8-5 | #28 | +0.69 SD |
| 2012 | Iowa | 4-8 | #70 | -0.26 SD |
| 2011 | Iowa | 7-6 | #44 | +0.38 SD |
| 2010 | Iowa | 8-5 | #24 | +0.92 SD |
| 2009 | Iowa | 11-2 | #22 | +0.91 SD |
| 2008 | Iowa | 9-4 | #16 | +1.15 SD |
| 2007 | Iowa | 6-6 | #67 | -0.19 SD |
| 2006 | Iowa | 6-7 | #51 | +0.28 SD |
| 2005 | Iowa | 7-5 | #15 | +1.19 SD |
| 2004 | Iowa | 10-2 | #22 | +0.99 SD |
| 2003 | Iowa | 10-3 | #12 | +1.31 SD |
| 2002 | Iowa | 11-2 | #8 | +1.42 SD |
| 2001 | Iowa | 7-5 | #17 | +1.01 SD |
| 2000 | Iowa | 3-9 | #73 | -0.18 SD |
| 1999 | Iowa | 1-10 | #80 | -0.52 SD |
Season rank = his team among all major-college teams that year; vs contemporaries = how far above the average team (in standard deviations).