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Coach Profile

Kirk Ferentz

1999-2025Iowa

One defining program at Iowa.

Kirk Ferentz coached 27 seasons, won 62.2%, and posted an average SRS of 9.5. Best season: 2002 Iowa. The profile was defense-first with a swing-heavy profile. One primary stint defined the run.

Career record
204-124
Career win rate
62.2%
Average SRS
9.5
Peak SRS
18.3

Career Dossier

One glance at the full arc.

The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.

Seasons coached
27
Career span
27 years
Best finish
#7
Consistency
50.3

Primary school anchor

Iowa

Defense-First profile with 1 program stop and a peak score of 81.0.

Career Arc

Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.

Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.

Kirk Ferentz
EliteStrongAverageLean
1999Actual season year • SRS range -6.5 to 18.32025

Active comparison point

Kirk Ferentz2002

Selected

2002 Iowa

Best season

11-2 • SRS 18.3 • SP Overall 20.7

Win %

84.6%

YoY SRS

+5.5

SP Off / Def

43.3 / 25.6

Finish

#8

Comparison context

Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.

Ranked opponent record

Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.

Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.

Poll source
Ranking timing

Top 25

30-59

Games
89
Win rate
33.7%

Top 10

11-28

Games
39
Win rate
28.2%

Top 5

6-15

Games
21
Win rate
28.6%
View ranked game results89
2025 Regular Week 12IowaUSC#17L21-26
2025 Regular Week 11IowaOregon#6L16-18
2025 Regular Week 5IowaIndiana#11L15-20
2025 Regular Week 2IowaIowa State#16L13-16
2025 Postseason Week 1IowaVanderbilt#15W34-27
2024 Regular Week 6IowaOhio State#3L7-35
2024 Postseason Week 1IowaMissouri#22L24-27
2023 Regular Week 14IowaMichigan#2L0-26
2023 Regular Week 4IowaPenn State#7L0-31
2023 Postseason Week 1IowaTennessee#17L0-35
2022 Regular Week 8IowaOhio State#2L10-54
2022 Regular Week 5IowaMichigan#4L14-27
2021 Regular Week 14IowaMichigan#2L3-42
2021 Regular Week 6IowaPenn State#4W23-20
2021 Regular Week 2IowaIowa State#9W27-17
2021 Regular Week 1IowaIndiana#17W34-6
2021 Postseason Week 1IowaKentucky#18L17-20
2020 Regular Week 15IowaWisconsin#25W28-7
2019 Regular Week 12IowaMinnesota#7W23-19
2019 Regular Week 11IowaWisconsin#16L22-24
2019 Regular Week 7IowaPenn State#10L12-17
2019 Regular Week 6IowaMichigan#19L3-10
2018 Regular Week 9IowaPenn State#17L24-30
2018 Regular Week 4IowaWisconsin#18L17-28
2017 Regular Week 11IowaWisconsin#6L14-38
2017 Regular Week 10IowaOhio State#3W55-24
2017 Regular Week 4IowaPenn State#4L19-21
2016 Regular Week 13IowaNebraska#17W40-10
2016 Regular Week 11IowaMichigan#2W14-13
2016 Regular Week 10IowaPenn State#20L14-41
2016 Regular Week 8IowaWisconsin#10L9-17
2016 Postseason Week 1IowaFlorida#14L3-30
2015 Regular Week 14IowaMichigan State#5L13-16
2015 Regular Week 7IowaNorthwestern#20W40-10
2015 Regular Week 5IowaWisconsin#19W10-6
2015 Postseason Week 1IowaStanford#3L16-45
2014 Regular Week 13IowaWisconsin#14L24-26
2013 Regular Week 10IowaWisconsin#22L9-28
2013 Regular Week 8IowaOhio State#4L24-34
2013 Postseason Week 1IowaLSU#14L14-21
2012 Regular Week 13IowaNebraska#17L7-13
2012 Regular Week 12IowaMichigan#23L17-42
2011 Regular Week 13IowaNebraska#22L7-20
2011 Regular Week 11IowaMichigan State#13L21-37
2011 Regular Week 10IowaMichigan#13W24-16
2011 Postseason Week 1IowaOklahoma#16L14-31
2010 Regular Week 12IowaOhio State#8L17-20
2010 Regular Week 9IowaMichigan State#5W37-6
2010 Regular Week 8IowaWisconsin#10L30-31
2010 Regular Week 5IowaPenn State#22W24-3
2010 Regular Week 3IowaArizona#24L27-34
2010 Postseason Week 1IowaMissouri#18W27-24
2009 Regular Week 11IowaOhio State#10L24-27
2009 Regular Week 4IowaPenn State#5W21-10
2009 Postseason Week 1IowaGeorgia Tech#13W24-14
2008 Regular Week 11IowaPenn State#3W24-23
2007 Regular Week 7IowaIllinois#18W10-6
2007 Regular Week 4IowaWisconsin#9L13-17
2006 Regular Week 11IowaWisconsin#16L21-24
2006 Regular Week 8IowaMichigan#2L6-20
2006 Regular Week 5IowaOhio State#1L17-38
2006 Postseason Week 1IowaTexas#13L24-26
2005 Regular Week 11IowaWisconsin#19W20-10
2005 Regular Week 4IowaOhio State#8L6-31
2005 Postseason Week 1IowaFlorida#12L24-31
2004 Regular Week 13IowaWisconsin#9W30-7
2004 Regular Week 8IowaOhio State#25W33-7
2004 Regular Week 5IowaMichigan#18L17-30
2004 Postseason Week 1IowaLSU#16W30-25
2003 Regular Week 13IowaMinnesota#19W40-22
2003 Regular Week 12IowaPurdue#16L14-27
2003 Regular Week 9IowaOhio State#8L10-19
2003 Regular Week 7IowaMichigan#9W30-27
2003 Regular Week 5IowaArizona State#16W21-2
2003 Postseason Week 1IowaFlorida#24W37-17
2002 Regular Week 10IowaMichigan#8W34-9
2002 Regular Week 6IowaPenn State#12W42-35
2002 Postseason Week 1IowaUSC#5L17-38
2001 Regular Week 10IowaMichigan#8L26-32
2001 Regular Week 7IowaPurdue#21L14-23
2000 Regular Week 12IowaNorthwestern#12W27-17
2000 Regular Week 9IowaOhio State#14L10-38
2000 Regular Week 5IowaNebraska#1L13-42
1999 Regular Week 13IowaMinnesota#17L21-25
1999 Regular Week 12IowaWisconsin#9L3-41
1999 Regular Week 10IowaOhio State#21L11-41
1999 Regular Week 7IowaPenn State#2L7-31
1999 Regular Week 6IowaMichigan State#14L3-49
1999 Regular Week 2IowaNebraska#5L7-42

Tenure map

Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.

Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint

Iowa

1999-202527 seasons

Avg SRS 9.5 • Win % 62.2%

Longest tenure
Iowa • 27 seasons
Best tenure
Iowa • 9.5 SRS
Best tenure win rate
Iowa • 62.2%

Style and Strength Profile

Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.

These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.

Overall Strength

Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.

Kirk Ferentz sets the reference point in overall strength.

Overall Strength

Decisive edge

Kirk Ferentz sets the reference point in overall strength.

Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.

Kirk Ferentz

Elite

Raw avg SP Overall
13.0
Percentile
91th pct

Elite

Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.

Impact by school

See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.

Iowa

1999-2025204-124

Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).

Avg SRS 9.5Win % 62.2%

Avg wins

Higher is better

7.6 during vs 6.4 baseline

+1.2

Avg SRS

Higher is better

9.5 during vs 8.9 baseline

+0.6

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

13.0 during vs 9.5 baseline

+3.5

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

37.0% during vs 40.0% baseline

-3.0%

Career highs and lows

High Points

Best Season

Iowa 2002

11-2SRS 18.3

Biggest Improvement

Iowa 2008

9-416.2 SRS

Best Offensive Season

Iowa 2002

11-2SP Off 43.3

Best Defensive Season

Iowa 2022

8-5SP Def 5.1

Setbacks

Worst Season

Iowa 1999

1-10SRS -6.5

Biggest Drop

Iowa 2006

6-7-12.2 SRS

Season-by-season results

Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.

Iowa2025000013.819.732.114.2+1.4
Iowa20241385061.5%#2512.415.827.013.3+6.7-9.9%
Iowa202314104071.4%#25#245.75.813.89.3-3.8+9.9%
Iowa20221385061.5%9.512.716.05.1+0.9-9.9%
Iowa202114104071.4%#18#238.611.423.614.4-7.3-3.6%
Iowa2020862075.0%#24#1615.916.329.713.5+0.2-1.9%
Iowa201913103076.9%#20#1515.716.730.015.2+0.3+7.7%
Iowa20181394069.2%15.413.330.317.7-0.9+7.7%
Iowa20171385061.5%16.39.828.419.4+5.30.0%
Iowa20161385061.5%#1711.010.329.018.9-0.1-24.2%
Iowa201514122085.7%#911.19.330.121.0+7.9+31.9%
Iowa20141376053.8%3.26.832.524.2-6.5-7.7%
Iowa20131385061.5%9.717.329.612.4+12.8+28.2%
Iowa20121248033.3%-3.10.522.522.4-7.9-20.5%
Iowa20111376053.8%4.812.832.419.7-7.4-7.7%
Iowa20101385061.5%#912.217.035.919.8+1.1-23.1%
Iowa200913112084.6%#22#711.117.325.18.9-3.1+15.4%
Iowa20081394069.2%#2014.225.535.410.9+16.2+19.2%
Iowa20071266050.0%-2.06.523.616.5-5.3+3.9%
Iowa20061367046.2%#163.313.432.018.4-12.2-12.2%
Iowa20051275058.3%#1115.520.938.517.6+2.4-25.0%
Iowa200412102083.3%#19#813.120.034.415.3-3.0+6.4%
Iowa200313103076.9%#816.121.236.717.0-2.2-7.7%
Iowa200213112084.6%#818.320.743.325.6+5.5+26.3%
Iowa20011275058.3%12.814.939.426.7+15.1+33.3%
Iowa20001239025.0%-2.31.927.826.6+4.2+15.9%
Iowa19991111009.1%-6.5-6.725.431.6

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