And you thought Kirk Ferentz had already been at Iowa a long time.
It looks like the Iowa coach could indeed retire as a Hawkeye after he was rewarded on Tuesday a six-year contract extension through the 2025 season. The new deal also includes a raise.
Ferentz, 61, has the longest tenure among Big Ten coaches and is tied for the current longest tenure at the same school among FBS coaches (with Bob Stoops at Oklahoma) after being hired in 1999. He will make $4.5 million per season with the new contract.
He was already signed through the 2019 season, but he was rewarded for last season's trip to the Rose Bowl with a Big Ten title.
Ferentz said that doesn't necessarily mean he will hang up his coach's whistle in nine more years.
"I'm not sure I want to put a cap on anything," he said Tuesday on the Big Ten coaches' teleconference. "I'm just really thrilled to get it done. I'm excited and feel very fortunate and very honored to be the head coach at Iowa."
He arrived in Iowa in 1981 as an offensive line coach until 1989, when he left for stints at Maine and then in the NFL before returning. He replaced Hayden Frye, who had been the Iowa head coach from 1979-1998.
Stability, he said, has been the key to Iowa's success.
"It's really reflective of the stability that's characteristic of Iowa," Ferentz said. "It's one of the things that makes our university so unique. I got here back in 1981 and didn't know much about this state and this program, anything about it actually. (In) 38 years (there have been) two head football coaches and only three athletic directors since 1970. There's stability here that's uncommon in this day and age."
The Hawkeyes are off to a 1-0 start after beating Miami of Ohio in the opening. They host in-state rival Iowa State on Saturday night.
"It's a big game in our state," Ferentz said. "Traditionally it's been a close, hard-fought game."
