That's a lot of corn for winning 57.6% of your games. ==================================== IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Iowa raised the coach Kirk Ferentz's salary on Friday in a deal that makes him one of the nation's highest-paid college football coaches. Ferentz, who has led the Hawkeyes to two Big Ten Conference titles and four straight January bowl games, was given a restructured contract that boosts his annual salary to $2.84 million from $1.44 million, with a one-time payment of $1.4 million. The deal does not extend his contract, which expires after 2012. "Coach Ferentz is among the very best coaches in the nation and this compensation package is reflective of that," said Iowa athletic director Bob Bowlsby, who is leaving next month to become athletic director at Stanford. The agreement "recognizes our confidence that Coach Ferentz will continue to lead the University of Iowa football program to high achievement on and off the field in the years ahead." Most of the nation's top college coaches have eclipsed the $2 million mark in recent years. Ferentz's deal makes him one of the best-paid coaches in the Big Ten and vaults him past Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, who last month signed a seven-year extension reportedly worth $2.4 million in the first year. Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer, Florida's Urban Meyer, South Carolina's Steve Spurrier, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and Texas' Mack Brown are all among the growing group of college football coaches making at least $2 million per year. Ferentz, a former offensive line coach for the Cleveland Browns under Bill Belichick then briefly at Baltimore, has been courted by NFL owners in recent years. He is entering his eighth year at Iowa and has compiled a 49-36 record. After a difficult start, Iowa has blossomed under his leadership. In the past four years, the Hawkeyes won Big Ten titles in 2002 and 2004, tied a school record with 38 victories and finished in the Top 10 three times. Ferentz was voted The Associated Press Coach of the Year in 2002 and has twice been named Big Ten Coach of the Year
Iowa's all time winning % is 52.5. Since Ferentz took over Iowa is the 49th ranked team percentagewise slightly below ND and Bama for the same period.
At some point the money isn't directly related to performance but is related to the lack of desireablity in the location.
hmmm I'm surprised that Iowa's winning % under him isn't better. I think it's obvious that he's a very good coach and if Iowa is serious about maintaining a presence in the upper B10 every year then this deal makes sense. He has twice flirted with the NFL in the last 4 years and I would imagine that he and the Iowa people sat down and worked out a deal that has enough money to keep him in college football and probably has a huge buyout clause that will make it improbable that any NFL team would pay the price to get him out of Iowa. Also if he's been experiencing any negative (gasp) recruiting with regards to his supposed NFL asperations then this will help put those to rest. At the time I would have preferred him to Charlie when we were looking. Not now though! Terry
He inherited a declining team from Hayden Fry and took 2 years to turn things around. Ferentz Record: '99 1-10 '00 3-9 '01 7-5 '02 11-2 '03 10-3 '04 10-2 '05 7-5