'He Took A Chance On Me': Ferentz Speaks About Fry's Influence

Kirk Ferentz worked for Hayden Fry, then followed him as Iowa's head football coach.

Asked on Wednesday if he felt a responsibility in continuing what Fry had built with the Hawkeyes, Ferentz fought his tears.

"Every day," he said, his voice breaking.

A day after Fry's death, Ferentz battled to keep his emotions in check while speaking with the media.

"He took a chance on me," said Ferentz, hired by Fry as an assistant coach in 1981. "Once I was here, he served as a mentor and a role model. Since that time, he's also been a cherished friend."

Fry, 90, died on Tuesday night after a long battle with cancer.

Ferentz replaced Fry after the 1998 season, and proceeded to pass Fry on the school's all-time wins list and on the Big Ten's all-time wins list in conference play.

"I've said so many times, we're opposite in personalities," Ferentz said. "He's funny and charismatic. I'm neither. But he's also a visionary. And that's not one of my strengths, by any stretch."

Fry's staff in the 1980s included included future head coaches Ferentz, Barry Alvarez (Wisconsin), Bill Snyder (Kansas State), Dan McCarney (Iowa State and North Texas) and Don Patterson (Western Illinois).

"None of us had resumés, really," Ferentz said. "For some reason, he took a chance on each and every one of us. He selected us all."

Ferentz didn't know much about Fry, or Iowa, when he applied for the job.

"Square-jawed, ex-Marine, Texan," Ferentz said about the first things he learned about his soon-to-be boss.

He learned more once he got to Iowa City.

"Just the way he captured this whole state was really, really impressive," Ferentz said.

The Hawkeyes went 8-3 in the 1981 regular season, earning a spot in the Rose Bowl. That season included nonconference wins over Nebraska and UCLA and a Big Ten win over Michigan.

"Every day he set a standard of leadership, standard of excellence and character and integrity," Ferentz said. "That's what jumped out at me, before we beat Nebraska in that opening game.

"Everybody was believing. And he actually delivered, in that era and for many years that followed."

Fry took over a program that had 17 consecutive losing seasons, a statistic Ferentz talked about on Wednesday.

"Seventeen straight losing seasons. That's bad," he said. "To take a program from that level of basically, you know ineptness, to where he moved the Iowa program over the next 20 years, that's a storybook finish.

"I had no idea what I was walking into. But I walked into it at the perfect time."

Fry, who won 149 games at Iowa, retired after the 1998 season, when the Hawkeyes went 3-8.

Ferentz appreciated the support of his former boss.

"The whole thing for him was to keep it in the family," Ferentz said. "Afterwards, you couldn't ask for some better. He couldn't have been more supportive. But he wanted to give me my space, my distance."

Ferentz had to leave to get to San Diego for a press conference for the Hawkeyes' appearance in the Dec. 27 Holiday Bowl. Fry's teams went to three Holiday Bowls, with two wins and a tie.

Ferentz, who said the Hawkeyes would honor Fry in the game next week against USC, repeated how much Fry meant to him.

"It's like your dad," he said. "You know your dad's not going to live forever. But we all hope they do."