Ferentz vs. Stoops: A hiring dilemma that any athletic director would kill for, and the impetus for one of college football’s greatest “what if” questions of the 2000s. Iowa interviewed Bob Stoops for the recently vacated head coaching job, did not extend an offer at the conclusion of the interview (athletic director Bob Bowlsby wanted to interview Ferentz before making a decision), Stoops accepted an offer at Oklahoma, and Iowa announced Kirk Ferentz as its new head coach shortly after. Stoops won a national championship in his second season with the Sooners and collected ten Big 12 titles during his tenure in Norman, while Ferentz completed the laborious task of rebuilding Iowa from the ground up and transforming the program to a model of consistency, winning four Big Ten coach of the year awards and becoming the dean of college football coaches in the process.
The Greatest Coaching “What-Ifs” in Iowa Athletics History
