When Kirk Ferentz was hired to coach the University of Iowa football team in 1999, he did what any former offensive line coach would do. He immediately turned his attention to his new team’s talent up front.
Or, as the case were, the seeming lack thereof.
“I can’t imagine a situation that needed more repair than ours,” Ferentz said. “We just were not very good on the interior lines.”
No, Ferentz didn’t reconsider his decision. But his newly-inherited, rag-tag unit was in dire need of fixing. And Ferentz had just the man for the job: A balding 37-year old line coach from … Harvard?