Iowa is "having discussions" about extending Kirk Ferentz's contract
There was a time not too long ago when Kirk Ferentz's contract extension at Iowa was a source of schadenfreude across the college football world.
Funny how a 12-2 season ends -- or at least mutes -- that talk.
Ferentz still has four years remaining on a contract that pays him $4 million annually, and Iowa AD Gary Barta indicated to the Cedar Rapids Gazette a new deal could be in the works.
“I want Kirk to retire at Iowa,” Barta told the paper. “You’d have to ask him, but I’m pretty sure he’d like to retire at Iowa. He’s got a great contract now, but we continue to have discussions about what we can do in addition to that.”
While multi-year contracts for assistant coaches move toward becoming industry standard, Ferentz said he doesn't feel any pressure to follow suit with his staff. “I don’t know how big of a deal that is,” Ferentz said. “As long as there’s stability at the top, hopefully everyone feels like things are OK. ... Luckily, we haven’t had that issue (a school outbidding Iowa for an assistant) and we’ve had a lot of good coaches on our staff.”
And the reason Iowa can by with one-year deals for its staff, Barta says, its the continuity at the top.
“Continuity at Iowa is something we’ve always taken a lot of pride in,” he said. “Kirk is going into his 17th year and a lot of his assistants have been here a long time, but go beyond that. (Women’s basketball coach) Lisa Bluder is going into her 18th year. (Men’s basketball coach) Fran McCaffery is the new kid on the block and he’s going into his seventh year. (Wrestling coach) Tom Brands is going into his 11th year. So, continuity is important and one of the ways you do that is with good contracts. We feel like we take good care of our people.”
