Kirk Ferentz announces intentions to return to Iowa in 2026

Kirk Ferentz, college football’s longest-tenured head coach, reportedly plans to return next season for a 28th year as Iowa‘s football coach, according to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg. The 70-year-old Ferentz reportedly “feels good physically and his wife continues to support his coaching ambitions,” per Rittenberg.

Ferentz is coming off a second-straight eight-win season with the No. 23-ranked Hawkeyes (8-4, 6-3 Big Ten), which await word on its 13th consecutive bowl appearance and 23rd under his tenure. With a 212-128 career record across 26 seasons at Iowa, Ferentz is the Big Ten’s all-time winningest head coach, surpassing Ohio State coaching legend Woody Hayes for that honor with a 47-7 win over UMass on Sept. 13 this season. Hayes won 205 games across 28 years with the Buckeyes (1951-78).

Ahead of his 70th birthday on Aug. 1, Ferentz opened up about how he’s handled speculation about his coaching future, specifically when the topic is his eventual retirement. Ferentz has even become more “proactive” about getting ahead of any retirement speculation. That includes being open and transparent about his future whenever the topic gets brought up.

“This one’s an easy one because I turn 70 here in August,” Ferentz told Sports Illustrated‘s Bryan Fischer in July. “We’re almost proactive on the topic because you figure, certainly in recruiting, people are going to use that against us. And maybe in other areas too. But my answer on the recruiting front is this: if you try to stake the probability of me being in coaching five years from now in both in 2000 or now, I’d suggest your odds are a lot better now than in 2000.

“We were 2-18 our first 20 games. So that’s another ironic twist to this whole thing. And in today’s world I probably would’ve been fired midseason in Year 2. Fortunately that didn’t happen and we’re still sitting here 25 years later, 26 years later,” Ferentz continued. “It’s interesting. But it’s just part of it, and I really can’t answer the question other than I feel great and it’s what I like doing, and I don’t have a real good reason to stop right now.”

Despite the rough start to his Iowa tenure, when the Hawkeyes went just 4-19 overall and 3-13 in Big Ten play across his first two seasons in Iowa City, Ferentz opened the 2025 season just one win away from tying Hayes as the Big Ten’s winningest head coach.