Iowa football's Kirk Ferentz confirms return for 2026 season
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After authoring another eight-win regular season, longtime and legendary Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz says his coaching end isn’t anywhere in sight.
Ferentz was asked on Wednesday during the Hawkeyes’ National Signing Day press conference what his message is to recruits when asked about his future and if he is definitively planning on coaching Iowa in the 2026 college football season. The 2026 campaign will be Ferentz’s 28th season at the helm.
College football’s longest-tenured head coach said he’s definitely planning on coaching the Hawkeyes in 2026. And Ferentz sounds like he intends to coach well beyond that.
“Yeah, well, ’26? That’s next year, right? God, I hope so. I mean, unless you know something I don’t know. I just tell them the truth. I feel really good. I had no idea what it feels like to be 70. Now, I do. However many months it’s been. It doesn’t feel any different than when I was 60. I feel good physically. I’ve got permission from my wife to keep doing this and it’s what I like doing.
“I really enjoy doing it. Unless we just screw this up beyond repair, which we’re trying to do right now in college football, I don’t envision stopping any time in the near future. It’s what I do. I don’t golf and when I did, I stunk, so I don’t see going back to that,” Ferentz said.
Iowa finished up an 8-4 (6-3 Big Ten) regular-season record with a dominant 40-16 win over rival Nebraska on Black Friday. It was the Hawkeyes’ seventh straight victory over its rival from Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb., and its 10th win in the past 11 meetings.
With its eight wins in 2025, Iowa secured its 10th straight season with eight or more wins in full seasons. That excludes the COVID-shortened 2020 season when Iowa finished 6-2 and was pacing for another eight-win campaign in a full-schedule season.
That stretch of 10 straight seasons with eight or more victories puts Iowa among an elite group of programs. Only Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State can match that feat over the past 10 full seasons.
Ferentz owns a 212-128 (134-91 Big Ten) mark leading the Hawkeyes. Ferentz’s all-time head coaching mark is 224-149, including his three seasons as Maine’s head coach from 1990-92.
Ferentz is under contract through the 2029 college football season. Not including bonuses, Ferentz is set to earn $7,175,000 this season per USA TODAY Sports.
Last summer, Ferentz told the Des Moines Register’s Chad Leistikow that he expected he would sign a contract extension.
“I would think so,” Ferentz said of a potential contract extension. “I think you almost have to in the world we’re living in…
“If you can’t do your job, I have no interest in hanging on. I don’t think it’s going to come to that. I think it’ll be how I’m feeling toward things. The other thing is, I’ll have to figure out what it is I’m going to do when I get done.”
Ferentz believes that when it’s time to retire, a coach will just internally know.
“During game week, if I’m not anxious on Friday, and especially on Saturday, then there’s probably something that’s probably (amiss),” Ferentz said. “If I start getting numb to … the wins or losses, that’s going to be a sign.”
For now and for the immediate foreseeable future, Iowa fans, players and incoming signees can rest knowing that the Hawkeyes’ head man is here to stay.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa football’s Kirk Ferentz confirms return for 2026 season
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