Look, it doesn't matter if you think Kirk Ferentz is overpaid. The University of Iowa doesn't think so, because they announced today that Ferentz has signed an extension which will keep him in Iowa City (theoretically) through 2015 at a salary of $3.02 million per year.The deal was agreed to in principle back in April but wasn't signed until last week. The extension comes after a season in which the Hawkeyes returned to their early 2000s form, knocking off No. 2 (at the time) Penn State and becoming the only team in the conference to win its bowl game.
Needless to say, Ferentz is one coach who won't be flying coach any time soon.
After all, one of the perks of his new deal is 35 hours' personal use of a university plane every year.
The new deal actually does not include a raise in Kirk Ferentz's salary; that has remained the same for the past three seasons. The plane is the only new benefit of note. Ferentz's salary is paid entirely by the university's Athletic Foundation; no taxpayer money is used to pay him. (This is very common at state schools, in case you were wondering.)
The extension comes despite some well-publicized problems in the program between 2005 and 2007 involving player misconduct and paltry win-loss records. The arrests have slowed but haven't stopped. Ferentz's own son is among the players involved.
Likewise, the university has taken many shots for paying a large salary to a coach who didn't seem in danger of being poached by another program, or the NFL, any time soon. Iowa athletic director Gary Barta insists, however, that Ferentz is "a perfect fit for the University of Iowa, the community, and the state."
What matters the most in this decision, however, is something I hadn't even considered before. In the past 30 years, only three Big Ten teams have an overall winning record in the conference. You can guess the first two; the third is Iowa. A lot of that was Hayden Fry's doing, but Ferentz has maintained the program at that level.
That, and the money still keeps coming in.
