What’s the difference between Kirk Ferentz and Fran McCaffery?
That’s the question I was asked this weekend by the former hostest with the mostest at SpoCo Radio, DCIII. A question that really chapped my backside. A question that I’ve been stewing over for the better part of 36 hours after Iowa’s latest disappointment against USC.
Outside of buyout money (Fran was owed around 4 million at the time of his firing and Kirk would be owed more than 25 million if he was fired at the end of this season) AND
the absolutely personal vitriol the fanbase had against the McCaffery family at the very end, what really IS the difference between Kirk Ferentz and Fran McCaffery?
Fran: 297-207 overall record (58.9% win percentage) in 15 years, 143-141 in Big Ten play (50.3% win percentage) with seven NCCA Tournament appearances (and four NIT appearances), one Big Ten Tournament Championship. He reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament four of the seven times (but never advanced to the Sweet-16) and touted one of the nations BEST college basketball offenses during his entire career.
Kirk: 210-128 overall record (62.1% win percentage) in 27 years, 132-91 in Big Ten play (59.1% win percentage) with 21 Bowl appearances (10-11 record, 47.6% win percentage), two Big Ten Conference titles, three Big Ten West Division titles/Big Ten Championship Game apperances. He won the Orange Bowl in 2009 (but went 0-2 at the Rose Bowl and 0-3 in the Big Ten Championship Game) and touted one of the nations BEST college football defenses during his entire career.
So, what’s the difference, really?
On resume alone, NOT MUCH.
To take it a step further, consider how the final few years of the McCaffery Era and the past 5 years of the Ferentz Era have gone. It’s hard not to see two nearly identical programs with some major nepotism issues, seemingly lose the spark (i.e. scouting, recruitment AND development) from the decade before that made them suddenly unable to win the BIG ONE anymore. Two programs that got STALE.
That was true for Fran.
It feels pretty true for Kirk right now.
Look at what we’ve watched the last five years on the gridiron. Look at all of the squandered opportunities. So many could haves and should haves.
I want to say this right here, right now. I will never, ever, ever question Kirk’s ability to get the kids ready to play. Kirk Ferentz will mostly always have this team, HIS team ready. There is always a way to win a football game and I do not doubt for a second that his staff puts plans in place to do such things, but at the end of the day this is a results driven business and the results are in – Kirk Ferentz is ZERO for his last 13 games against ranked opponents.
IT’S STALE.
I know that Fran McCaffery and Kirk Ferentz are both vastly different people and I know that Iowans have a place in their heart for the stoic Ferentz that they just couldn’t create for McCaffery because of a plethora of reasons. But the question remains, and it’s not “who was the better person” or “who would you want to get a beer with”. I’m legit asking what the difference is between Fran McCaffery the coach, the developer, the CEO of the Iowa Basketball Program at the end of his tenure here and Kirk Ferentz right now?
NOT MUCH.
Do you remember how everything unfolded last year with McCaffery? Do you remember how he was ultimately relieved of his duties after starting hot (12-4 with a big win over Indiana) and then lost 11 of their next 14 games and sputtered to the finish line?
Now, I must ask you to recall Iowa State, Indiana, Oregon, USC this year.
Or, Iowa State, Ohio State, Michigan State, UCLA last year.
Or Penn State, Minnesota, Michigan, Tennessee in 2023.
Sputterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
I don’t want to be rude here or for it to sound like I’m not grateful or proud to be a Hawkeye. I loved/love both of these guys. Fran McCaffery lifted the basketball program out of the depths of hell and provided a fiery backbone and a brand of basketball that allowed all of us to feel excitement again. And when I tell you that I cry almost every time I see Kirk cry, I’m not lying. I love the emotional, baggy eyed, win-one-for-the-Gipper version of Kirk Ferentz.
Nothing makes me puff out my chest more than when Iowa Football beats a Blue Blood by playing Kirk Ferentz Football.
But that just isn’t happening anymore.
Again, 0-for their last-13 against ranked opponents.
STALE.
I know Kirk isn’t going anywhere after this season, at least by the hand of Beth Goetz, especially given how many universities will be looking for a new ball coach. But when you peak ahead at what’s in the cupboard going into the 2026 season and the schedule they will have to face (Iowa State, Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Washington), well…that’s not great!
There’s a lot of pain coming.
Those last two-to-three years, Fran couldn’t get over the hump anymore and the fanbase stopped caring. And then, it seemed, the sidelines stopped, too. That very fire that made the McCaffery program so special and mildly successful in the past was all but gone (outside of a few fleeting moments) and in its place was a copy of a copy. You could squint and see the potential, the players that could be Aaron White-like, but the development never materialized like it used to and the losses started to pile up.
The same can be said of the football program right now. The level of development that used to take place in the past (under the problematic – to put it lightly – Chris Doyle) isn’t there anymore. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still very solid, just look at the players Iowa continuously churns out on the line and defense. But the ceiling feels like it’s been lowered ever so slightly and it’s evident every single time we take the field against a ranked opponent.
We’re usually RIGHT there… but we just don’t have enough to grab it and run anymore.
Probably because… it’s just stale.
