Kirk Ferentz Reflects on His Journey to the Iowa Hawkeyes on The Pat McAfee Show

Kirk Ferentz didn't always want to be a head football coach. Which only furthers how lucky the Iowa Hawkeyes are to have him in charge.

Oct 11, 2025; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz looks on during warmups before the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ross Harried-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Despite being the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes for three decades and becoming synonymous with everything Iowa, the world where Kirk Ferentz never became the Hawkeyes' head coach is almost a reality.

The Pat McAfee show, which was hosted from the center of Iowa's campus today, landed some time with Kirk Ferentz today.

He joined the set and, in the process, discussed his path to becoming Iowa's head coach, along with his dream job, which would have set the Hawkeyes on a whole different trajectory.

Kirk Ferentz peeled back the onion on the Pat McAfee Show

"I've been really lucky. Everything that's happened to me has happened by chance, basically, with no master plan.

"When I got here, there were two things. I was old enough and had been around Hayden Fry, Bill Belichick, and Ted Marchibroda. I knew enough that there were certain things we were just going to do this way," Ferentz said.

"The one constant thru basically my entire lifetime is I knew that you were gonna be on the sideline on Saturday..

Thank you Coach Ferentz" ~ @tyschmit #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/3XqXY7ASei

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 2, 2026

Kirk Ferentz didn't want to be a head coach originally

Believe it or not, Kirk Ferentz had other aspirations aside from being a head coach. He wanted to coach the offensive line, a position he still loves and dreams of coaching one day.

"The second part, ironically, was that I never wanted to be a head coach, really. This is the only place I would have left the NFL for. But the chance to have stability, which Coach Fry did, Bill Snyder left here and had at Kansas State and Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin.

"At the back of all that, my dream is that I still want to be a line coach. That's my fantasy job. A retirement job, maybe.

"If it didn't work out, it didn't work out. Sometimes it doesn't in sports, and in life. I would've went back to being a line coach. As long as I was working with good people, I enjoy football, and I enjoy coaching. I don't have to be the head coach and all that," Ferentz added.

The University of Iowa is mighty lucky that things did work out, though. Kirk Ferentz has been at the helm since 1999, turning the Iowa Hawkeyes into a model of sustained success and consistency.

With a 225-149 career record, which includes a 213-128 record at Iowa, Ferentz is a future Hall of Famer who has turned Iowa into a special program.