He’s the longest-tenured head coach in college football, and despite some recent struggles for the Iowa Hawkeyes, Kirk Ferentz has a salary to match. What does his contract look like, what salary will Ferentz earn in 2023, and what is the net worth of the Iowa head coach?
Kirk Ferentz’s Salary and Contract in 2023
Ferentz signed a four-year contract extension with the Hawkeyes on Dec. 31, 2021. That new deal means that the Iowa head coach is theoretically under contract until Jan. 31, 2030. Ferentz is already the longest-tenured head coach in college football, but he’ll have served 30 years as the Hawkeyes head coach if he’s still in post at the end of his current deal.
Let’s talk money. Under the deals of his contract extension, Ferentz’s salary is $7 million per year. The salary increase as part of that deal equates to roughly $2 million, with an expectation that he would earn $5.1 million before bonuses in the 2022 college football season before his new deal.
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Like all college football head coaches, Ferentz’s salary is not quite as straightforward as it might at first seem. The Iowa head coach earns a base salary of $500,000, with the majority of his yearly earnings buoyed by additional extras.
The long-time Hawkeyes head coach earns $5.5 million in “supplemental compensations” with a $1 million longevity bonus. These are the two most significant changes from the contract extension. Ferentz’s longevity bonus jumped up from $650,000, while the increase of his original supplemental compensation of $1.48 million helps mitigate a decrease in base salary.
Ferentz’s Net Worth
As a result of Ferentz’s salary changes following his 2021 extension, his net worth is essentially $56 million over the next eight years. However, Ferentz has the opportunity to boost his salary with a range of results and academic excellence-based financial incentives.
First up, Ferentz benefits financially from Iowa being ranked at the end of the college football season, whether by the AP Poll, College Football Playoff rankings, or coaches poll.
The Iowa head coach can earn between $250,000 and $475,000 depending on where the Hawkeyes finish the year, increasing in five-spot increments. Iowa has been ranked in the final AP Poll in 10 of the seasons that Ferentz has been the head coach.
College Football Playoff and bowl game success can further boost this element of Ferentz’s salary. Winning the College Football National Championship carries a $1.625 million bounty, but even winning a non-New Year’s Six game can net him $100,000. If Iowa wins the Rose Bowl, whack on another $50,000.
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Of course, winning the Rose Bowl is dependent on Big Ten success, and there’s a range of financial outcomes for Ferentz’s salary here. Winning the Big Ten West but losing the title game nets the Iowa head coach $200,000 with an additional $50,000 for toppling the east in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Ferentz has a .618 record as the Iowa head coach from the 24 years he’s been at the helm. Teams under his command have won 186 games, and following their successful deconstruction of Kentucky in the 2022 Music City Bowl, Ferentz is 10-9 in bowl games.
Outside of football success, Ferentz can boost his salary by $100,000 if the team earns a graduation rate of 80%.
Theoretically, therefore, Ferentz can add up to $2.4 million onto his salary if Iowa were to win the College Football National Championship before the end of his current contract.
Throw in two cars, 35 hours of private jet use, and a country club membership, and the Iowa head coach is one of the most highly paid college football coaches, in addition to being the longest-tenured.
