Coaching Perspective – Iowa

Oh the lovable Iowa Hawkeyes.  Always too polite to make a stink but silently go about their business.  They have several unclaimed national titles and a ton of a Heisman runner ups.  Perhaps a more boisterous nature would have changed some of their history, who knows.  They may often be bridesmaids but they still have had some fun seasons – however, who has produced the most fun while stomping the sidelines?  Let’s take a look!

Not In Consideration (Chronological Order):

• E.A. Dalton: 1892, 3-2-1 (0-2-1)
• Ben “Sport” Donnelly: 1893, 3-4 (1-2)
• Roger Sherman: 1894, 4-4-1 (1-2)

Sherman’s time in football came to an end in 1895.  Already a lawyer, he was accused by journalist Caspar White of trying to pay a player $600 to play for Sherman’s alma mater Michigan.  The allegation is dubious at best but isn’t it funny that there was a recruiting scandal in the 1890s very similar to the ones in the 1990s and the ones I’m sure we will have in the 2090s?

• Alfred E. Bull: 1896, 7-1-1 (2-0-1)
• Otto Wagonhurst: 1897, 4-4 (0-2)
• Alden Knipe: 1898-1902, 29-11-4 (2-6-1)

Knipe is my favorite coach to read about in the not for consideration group.  He was a doctor but also Iowa’s first director of music and an acclaimed singer.  He resigned after getting remarried because the board told him it would look bad for him to have a second marriage.  So he got hitched and resigned.  The rest of his life he did neither medicine mor music.  He and his second wife – the trouble maker in Iowa’s eyes – wrote and illustrated children’s books.  Another aspect of Knipe that is fun to read about is the 1900 team.  They went 7-0-1 (2-0-1) but the tie is hilarious.  Northwestern and Iowa finished the game 5-5.  All of Iowa’s players but one ate creamed potatoes at the Chicago hotel.  All of Iowa’s players but the one who didn’t eat the dish got very ill.  Rumor at the time was the hotel chef had a wager on the game.  Ah the good old days.

• John Chalmers: 1903-1905, 24-8 (1-6)
• Mark Catlin: 1906-1908, 7-10 (1-3 / 1-4) – Iowa was in two conferences one of his year’s coaching.
• John G. Griffith: 1909, 2-4-1 (1-4-1 / 1-3-1) – Iowa was in two conferences in 1909
• Jesse Hawley: 1910-1915, 24-18 (8-11 / 3-1) – Iowa was in two conferences in 1910
• Burt Ingwersen: 1924-1931, 33-27-4 (11-20-4)

Ingwersen played for Illinois great Robert Zupke and later returned as an assistant.  He spend 22 years on the Illinois staff for various coaches, as well as the great ’63 squad that won the Rose Bowl.

• Ossie Solem: 1932-1936, 15-21-4 (5-16-4)

Solem had the unenviable task of trying to keep Iowa competitive after a recruiting scandal had Iowa on probation by the Big Ten as well as coaching during the Depression.  Times were so hard that the school couldn’t even pay his full salary.  Solem was a class act and built a foundation though, his final recruiting class would be the bedrock for one of the most cherished teams in program history.

• Ira Tubbs: 1937-1938, 2-13-1 (1-8-1)
• Eddie Anderson: 1939-1942, 1946-1949, 35-33-2 (21-24-2)

Anderson coached the famous 1939 Ironman team.  85 players showed up for spring practices but in the fall only 50 were still around.  Anderson decided the only way to have success were for the best players to go both ways.  The best of this bunch was Nile Kinnick, Iowa’s lone Hesiman winner.  He accounted for 107 of 130 points and played 402 of 420 minutes of the season (amazingly that minute total didn’t even lead the team) and won every major award possible and make every all team list.  The ’39 team was special but as you can tell from the overall mark, Anderson couldn’t quite make the leap to the podium.

• Slip Madigan: 1943-1944, 2-13-1 (0-10-1)
• Clem Crowe: 1945, 2-7 (1-5)
• Leonard Raffensperger: 1950-1951, 5-10-3 (2-9-1)
• Jerry Burns: 1961-1965, 16-27-2 (8-22-1)

Burns is an interesting figure, his AD was a former coach (see below, don’t want to spoil it) who many Iowans have suspected of wanting to get his old gig back and so he placed a bunch of recruiting restrictions on the football team.  Burns was not even 40 when he was fired so he went to Green Bay as an assistant for Vince Lombardi and then was the OC for some of those great Viking teams that played in several Super Bowls.  In the mid 1980s he became the head coach of the Vikings and led them to 3 playoff appearances in six years.

• Ray Nagel: 1966-1970, 16-32-2 (11-22-2)
• Frank Lauterbur: 1971-1973, 4-28-1 (3-22-1)

Lauterbur was a long time coach at Toledo and went 23-0 (10-0) his final two years.  After the worst season in Iowa history, AD Bump Elliott told Lauterbur he had to fire his terrible defensive coordinator.  Lauterbur said he had the hiring/firing rights of his staff but Elliot reminded him that the AD has hiring/firing rights of the head coach.  Lauterbur was soon fired.  See, the whole MAC to Big Ten thing has been happening for years.

• Bob Commings: 1974-1978, 18-37 (13-27)

Commings was a former player and assistant on some of Iowa’s best years so despite being a high school coach, Iowa took a flyer on him.  He had some insane upsets – #12 UCLA in his first game and #11 Penn State on the road – but he could never get over the .500 mark, finishing 5-6 twice.

Did Not Place (4th Place):

Howard Jones: 1916-1923, 42-17-1 (21-12)

Jones had an incredible run in 1921 and 1922 going 14-0 (5-0) with a pair of unclaimed national titles (NCAA lists Iowa as co-champs) and the two Big Ten crowns.  These teams were so powerful that three players are in the college football hall of fame.  Fullback Gordon Lockey – a 2 time All American who steamrolled Notre Dame’s Hartley Anderson (another HOFer) for a touchdown in a major upset.  Quarterback Aubrey Devine was an AA in 1921 and a 3x All Big Ten player.  He still holds Iowa’s record for rushing yards by a qb.

Last and never least is one of Iowa’s all time greats – up there with Nile Kinnick and Cal Jones.  Tackle Duke Slater was a multiple all Big Ten player and had AA honors in his fantastic 1921 season.  He became the first black All American at Iowa.  One of the iconic images from that upset of Notre Dame is Duke blocking three Irish players to help snap Knut Rockney’s 20 game winning streak.

The reason Jones can’t be placed higher is his short tenure.  Reportedly his wife didn’t enjoy Iowa City so he was itching to leave at some point.  Duke and then USC quickly got his services with his tenure in Los Angeles being legendary.  Another reason he cannot crack the top three is the recruiting scandal that plagued Iowa after he left actually started under Jones’ watch.  Yes it was an alumni slush fund (and we all thought SMU was doing something new) so there is no way of knowing how involved Jones was but it falls under that vague arena of “lack of institutional control.”  Right or wrong, it is the coach’s job to take care of these things.

Bronze Medal

Kirk Ferentz: 1999-present, 124-85 (73-60)*

*This includes the 9-0 (5-0) start to the 2015 season

Coach Ferentz is a bit of an enigma.  On one hand he has a major bowl win (2009 Orange) which is something Fry never did but he has a worse winning percentage and just five seasons ranked in the final poll – oh, and fewer league championships.  Of course he also has more top-10 finishes than Fry and he has has already matched Fry’s six bowl wins.  On the other hand, he has six bowl losses and has lost three straight.  Then again, Kirk has 3 double digit win season (and should get his fourth this year) to just two for Fry.  Basically these are the same coaches but what hurts Kirk is Iowa didn’t have as many peaks and valleys under the old Texan.  Kirk has had to rebuild his program a couple times in cycles.  Once Fry got Iowa good, they pretty much stayed good until the end of his career.  Kirk is only 60 though, he could coach another 5 to 10 years if things work out.  If he does that, he will surely pass Fry on the all time wins list and notch more bowl victories and most likely overtake the legendary Texan but for now, Kirk settles for third all time.

Silver Medal

Hayden Fry: 1979-1998, 143-89-6 (96-61-5)

All time winner not number one?!  Very valid argument.  Here are some other reasons why you would consider Fry for your top spot.  Three conference titles, fourteen bowl appearances with a 6-7-1 mark in them, ten final poll appearances, two top ten finishes, three Rose Bowls, and had a swagger about him coming from Texas that captivated Iowans.  One instance of this bravado was after a blowout of Northwestern he is rumored to have told the NU coach, “Hope we didn’t hurt any of your boys too bad” while shaking hands.  He is famous for wearing white pants, a huge mustache, aviator sunglasses (even in night games) and an oak leafed hat.  Like Ditka to the Bears, just his likeness is popular for shirts.  It might not even say Iowa on it, just a picture of Fry.  Hell, his success and personality was the motivation of the sitcom Coach.

Most importantly, he restored the fun of Iowa football.  The 60s and 70s were the dark ages and Fry brought the program out of that.  He liked to run trick plays, or, “exotics” as he called them.  He painted the road locker room pink.  He did the hokey pokey after wins.  He seldom took himself too seriously and that made winning fun.  When speaking to Alabama fans they get so worked up when games are close or god forbid they lose.  With Fry Iowa never had that worry.  He was just a relaxed Texan out there having fun.

Fry’s tenure saw some of the greatest games ever played.  The #1 vs #2 Michigan game won on a last second field goal is one of the most famous games in program history but there are a few others I think younger fans may not remember.  They are:

• 1987 Holiday Bowl.  In a driving rain storm (in San Diego, odd…right?), Iowa has a fourth quarter rally to knock off a really good 10-2 Wyoming Team, 20-19.
• 1991 Holiday Bowl.  A year after winning the Heisman, Ty Detmer brought his high-flying BYU team to San Diego.  Iowa entered 10-1 but the loss was to Michigan so no championship, no Rose Bowl.  In the lowest scoring Holiday Bowl, Iowa’s defense got a late pick to hold onto a 13-13 tie.  With overtime being announced a few years later this is the last major bowl game to end in a tie.
• 1984 Freedom Bowl.  Texas entered 7-3-1 and nationally ranked.  Iowa was 7-4-1 and unranked.  After years at SMU, North Texas and playing at Baylor, Fry relished an opportunity to pour it on the Horns.  He whipped UT 55-17.  Fry was not afraid to run up the score, something Iowa fans wished Ferentz did when given the opportunity.
• 1986 Holiday Bowl.  By far Iowa’s best bowl win until the Capital One Hail Mary against LSU.  Iowa won the fourth quarter 18-10 to win the game 39-38.  With 47 seconds left SDSU hit a field goal to go up 38-36.  Iowa returned the kickoff 48 yards to help set up a game winning kick that day.

So my counter argument as to why Fry isn’t number one.  Well, zero Rose Bowl wins is the biggie.  He won plenty of big games but the big one.  He also had 7 seasons of .500 ball or worse.  Granted a two came when he first took over and one was his last year when he was battling cancer and ultimately retired but that still leaves four seasons during his impressive run that were step backs.  Lastly, the whole ‘most wins’ is not a great measure.  Fry was here for 20 years, longer than any coach (until Kirk passes him in a few seasons).  A better measure is winning percentage, which Fry does not own.

A final sidenote about Fry, this series of posts focuses on coach’s work at their particular Big Ten school but it would be wrong to ignore Fry’s legacy overall.  He integrated the old Southwest Conference while at SMU and won a league title.  He was fired for refusing to allow a booster slush fund (which would doom SMU a few years later).  As AD and coach at North Texas he saved that program as they were thinking about dropping out of D-1 or ending the program all together.  He kept them relevant and in his last two years there before going to Iowa won 19 games.  One of those seasons they went 10-1 and were nationally ranked.  If I were to do this type of post for UNT and SMU, there’s a good chance Fry lands on their podiums as well.  Rightfully, Fry was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003.

Finally, hIs coaching tree was is insane.  Frenentz, Bob Stoops, Bill Snyder, Bret Bielema, Mark Stoops, Bo Pelini, and Bob Diaco are all current head coaches.  The legendary Barry Alvarez also comes from the Fry tree.  Mike Stoops, Dan McCarney and Jim Leavitt also spent time with Fry.  Incredible.  He is enjoying retirement in Nevada but at age 86 and with several health issues since the end of his run, there is a feeling among Iowa fans that the great one might not be with us too much longer.

Gold Medal

Forest Evashevski: 1952-1960, 52-27-4 (33-21-2)

Where to start on Forest?  The consistency of six final poll appearances with FOUR of them top-10s?  The bowl success of 2-0 in the post season with both of them coming in Pasadena?  The league success with three conference titles?  Or the national success of a national title in 1958?  Choices, choices.  Of course Evy also has the highest winning percentage in program history.

His coaching tenure at Iowa started with a rocky 2-7 mark but Evy got some fight out of this bad team.  A brawl against Illinois ended the series for 15 years and they also up set top ten Ohio State that debut season.  In 1953 even more promise was shown with a tie against #1 ranked Notre Dame.  The game resulted in one of the rare occurrences of people hating the Irish nationally as they faked injuries and earned the nickname “Fainting Irish.”  From ’53 on, other than a slight step back in ’55, things were all systems go.  During the golden era of his run, two of his losses were to Ohio State and Minnesota…years both won national titles and each were Iowa’s lone loss.  The man did it all.

He coached some of Iowa’s greatest players like Cal Jones and Alex Karras but of course he had that magical 1958 season.  Coming into the year, Iowa had gone 7-1-1 but a tie to Michigan and a loss to national champ OSU prevented the Hawks from playing in the post season.  A great senior class had gone but Iowa had quarterback Randy Duncan to help keep them competitive.  Iowa started the season unranked before throttling top-10 TCU.  They were 8th in the polls the following week thanks to that win.  A tie to upstart Air Force surprised many but helped teach Iowa to be a better team.  The won the next five including wins at 4th ranked Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.  A late season loss to Ohio State nearly derailed the dream but Iowa bounced back with a solid win over Notre Dame and crushed Cal in the Rose Bowl.  Iowa entered the Rose as #2 in the AP (which doesn’t vote after the bowls) so the title is split with LSU.  However, LSU barely won their bowl game and Iowa creamed California so the more prestigious FWAA, which came out after the bowl games, awarded the Grantland Rice trophy to Iowa.

The Iowa homer in me also thinks Iowa was the best team in 1956.  Iowa went 9-1 that year and won the Big Ten for the first time in over 30 years.  Evy told his players before the league title showdown “You have 60 minutes to beat Ohio State and a lifetime to remember it,”  Iowa beat the favored Bucks 6-0 in a physical war.  OSU was 6th ranked (15th in final poll) in that iconic clash.  They also beat final AP 10th ranked Oregon State in the regular season and in the Rose Bowl.  They beat 6th ranked Minnesota (12th in final poll).  Their only loss was a 3 point game to top 10 Michigan.

The real national champ that year, Oklahoma, beat 2-7-1 North Carolina, 3-7 Kansas State, 1-9 Texas, 3-6-1 Kansas, 2-8 Notre Dame, 8-2-1 and 18th Colorado (by 8), 2-8 Iowa State, 4-5 Missouri, 4-6 Nebraska, 3-5-2 Oklahoma A&M (of the Missouri Valley!)  Here’s the overal W-L of opponents and rankings.

• Iowa: 49-38-9 with 5 opponents ranked in the final poll (4-1)
• OU: 32-63-4 with 1 ranked in the final poll (1-0)

If this were the BCS era or the CFP era, there would be no question.  That strength of Oklahoma schedule is a joke.  Tennessee finished that year #2 and Iowa #3 in the AP but the Vols lost their bowl game and Iowa won the Rose, so…bye-bye.  Oklahoma did not play in a bowl due to conference rules preventing back-to-back bowl trips so they could not drop.  Had the Sooners gone to a bowl and lost, there would have been a split title like 1958.

Okay, this is all well and good but there is one last aspect of Evy’s tenure that can not go overlooked.  He was a bully of a man.  He and AD Paul Brechler were at each other’s throats.  Evy coveted the ADship for years but the university dreaded giving the headstrong coach so much power when Brechler left so they gave him an ultimatum, one job or the other.  Evy took the AD position.  It backfired.

By all accounts he was petty towards the people who replaced him and handcuffed the program, hoping to be asked back to coach.  Who knows how much of the rumors are true – but there is evidence that he made recruiting difficult.  Was that an evil master plan to be offered the coaching gig again?  Who knows.  Curiously, the first coach Evy hired was his own protege, Jerry Burns.  Why would he crush someone he worked with?  It was confusing then and with 50 years gone by it is even foggier now.  The bottom line is regardless of a difficult personality and horrible run as athletic director, the coaching resume of Evy will keep him number one at Iowa for the foreseeable future.