Iowa Must Replace Key Coach Ahead of 2026 Season

In mid March 2025, the Iowa Hawkeyes hired Omar Young as their next running backs coach.

Less than a year later, Young is on his way out. The veteran coach is set to return to the NFL as Matt Zenitz and David Eickholt reported he's heading to the Las Vegas Raiders.

Having prior stints with the New England Patriots and Chicago Bears certainly helped make his transition back to the league easier. Now, Iowa is stuck without an RB coach.

While there's still quite a bit of time to sort things out ahead of the 2026 season, this isn't a comfortable position for the team to be in. There are certainly options out there, but having turnover at this point in the offseason is far from ideal.

Omar Young's Impact on Iowa

The #Raiders are set to hire University of Iowa running backs coach Omar Young, sources tell me and @DavidEickholt.

Before Iowa, Young worked at the NFL level with the Patriots and Bears. pic.twitter.com/TQBUOKAkDT
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) February 18, 2026

The identity of Iowa's offense may be changing in the near future, but when Young was here the run-game was extremely important. Iowa had the best offensive line in the league, so it was no surpise to see them run the ball as much as they did.

With Young at the helm, Kamari Moulton led the way with 170 carries for 878 yards. Moulton led all running backs with five rushing touchdowns. Of the team's 28 rushing touchdowns, quarterback Mark Gronowski had 16 of those.

It's not like Young and Gronowski were working hand in hand, but it sure felt like the fifth-year senior was a running back at times. Gronowski was the team's second leading rusher with 130 carries for 545 yards. Below the QB was a quartet of RBs who all had at least 98 yards. Some have gone on to transfer, but Iowa landed L.J. Phillips in the portal, a man who rushed for 1,920 yards last season.

Possible Replacements

Iowa’s last three running back coaches have landed NFL jobs. https://t.co/3JQHjDHOmG
— David Eickholt (@DavidEickholt) February 18, 2026

Young is the third straight RB coach at Iowa who left the team for a job in the NFL. While there's nothing wrong with that, it shows a pattern of success that other teams have had a tough time replicating.

There haven't been many names thrown out there yet, but one of the main ones is Albert Young. The former Hawkeye led the B1G in rushing in 2005 and that same year was named Second-team All-Big Ten.

After a few years in the NFL, Young began coaching at the high school and collegiate level. Back in 2021 he was a running backs coach for Wilkes, so one could only imagine what he could do for this Iowa squad if they're able to convince him to return to coaching.

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