[NU Sports] FORTY DAYS OF FOOTBALL: Day Seven ...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Onward with the countdown!

FORTY DAYS OF FOOTBALL
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> DAYS 1-10: The top coaches of the decade

10) Glen Mason, Minnesota
09) Bret Bielema, Wisconsin
08) Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
07) Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin
06) Randy Walker, Northwestern
05) Lloyd Carr, Michigan

> DAYS 11-20: The top games of the decade
> DAYS 21-30: The top players of the decade
> DAYS 31-40: The top teams of the decade

TOP COACHES
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4) Kirk Ferentz, Iowa

(80-45 overall, 49-31 in league play, 2 Big Ten titles)

Only three Big Ten schools had the same coach each of the last 10 seasons - and not coincidentally, they are the league's three premier programs as we head into the next decade. Two of those three names are no surprise to fans, but not many would have predicted Kirk Ferentz to still be in Iowa City back in 2000.

Throughout the past decade, Ferentz has been the one Big Ten coach who has consistently popped up on NFL and Division I short lists for openings. Much to the rest of the league’s dismay (and Iowa’s delight), he has consistently declined and the phone is not ringing as often these days. I knew when he wrecked our Rose Bowl dreams in 2000 that he was going to be a heck of a coach and pain our butts, but I thought for sure he’d be gone before 2004.

If college football had a playoff system, Ferentz might be an even better coach than he already is – his teams are always better in November than they are in September and his players show more growth on a consistent basis than anyone else in the league. He has resurrected the Hayden Fry glory years in Kinnick Stadium and firmly placed the Iowa program among the league’s elites, poised to become an annual top 10 program nationally.

Iowa’s decade saw 8 bowl appearances, 8 upper division finishes, four top 10 final rankings, 2 league titles and a 5-3 bowl record, capped off by a big B(C)S bowl victory in 2009. A few weeks earlier, Ferentz may have made his most convincing statement as to how good of a coach he was when the Hawkeyes faced Ohio State for the league title. With their starting QB out and undefeated season ruined against Northwestern the prior week, Ferentz managed to get his team ready for a trip into the Horseshoe and barely fell to OSU in an overtime classic. 

With Ferentz now firmly entrenched in Iowa City, the Hawkeye program appears ready to make the leap into the status of the national elite … provided, of course, they can solve that pesky Wildcat problem. But I think I speak for most NU fans when I say we'd trade the past three wins in Kinnick for that 2000 game back and a trip to Pasadena. 

And perhaps that's why Ferentz isn't higher on this list. The numbers show he's an elite coach, but walking the sidelines in the Orange Bowl just doesn't quite have that magic of seeing Ferentz in the Rose Bowl. Pasadena has eluded Iowa during the Ferentz renaissance, and until the bumblebees can fire up those RVs for Pasadena again, I don't think he's surpassed Hayden Fry. Yet.

Coming Monday: The coach who changed Big Ten football more than any other during the past decade.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
Super Bowl XLIV Champions!
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