Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz is the longest-tenured Big Ten football coach and Gophers coach P.J. Fleck is suddenly second

When Penn State fired coach James Franklin on Oct. 12, the news reverberated throughout the college football world.

That also moved Gophers coach P.J. Fleck to second in seniority among Big Ten coaches. In his ninth season at Minnesota, Fleck is behind only Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, who’s in his 27th season at Iowa and is the dean of all active major college football coaches.

Ferentz is 70; Fleck is 44. They will match wits Saturday when the Gophers face Iowa at Kinnick Stadium with the Floyd of Rosedale Trophy at stake.

It’s a game between teams that are both 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten and coaches who have elevated their programs.

Ferentz has a 209-126 record (.624) at Iowa, the victory (and loss) total being the most by a coach in Big Ten history. He’s won two Big Ten championships, boasts a 131-89 (.595) conference record, has eight seasons of 10 or more wins and is in line for his 23rd bowl trip.

At Minnesota, Fleck is 63-41 (.606) overall and 37-37 in the Big Ten, with one shared division championship and a 6-0 bowl record. His 2019 team finished No. 10 in the final AP poll.

Franklin, who had Penn State in the national semifinals in January, was in his 12th year.

Among the blueprints Fleck has used in that pursuit? Ferentz’s rebuilding job at Iowa, where staff turnover has been minimal and consistent winning has followed. Iowa’s defense, for example, is annually one of the Big Ten’s best. Under Ferentz, the Hawkeyes have had only two defensive coordinators: Norm Parker from 1999-2011 and Phil Parker (no relation) from 2012 to the present.

“Cultures are all about connecting people,” Fleck said. “… When you have a group of connected people who’ve been together for a long time, you know how they’re going to respond, which is critical in knowing how to lose and also knowing how to win."

Ferentz went 1-10 in his first season as Iowa’s coach in 1999 but was a Big Ten champion by 2002. He’s impressed with the rebuilding that Fleck has accomplished, both at Minnesota and in his previous stop at Western Michigan.

“He’s done a great job working around whatever challenges [Minnesota] may have,” Ferentz said. “He’s done something that really hasn’t been done there in quite some time. They’re winning consistently. The biggest thing for me as a coach is you turn the film on and it looks pretty consistent, no matter who the coordinators are.”

Fleck has navigated turnover on his coaching staff — he’s had four offensive coordinators and four defensive coordinators in his nine seasons — by staying true to his systems but adjusting where needed.

First-year defensive coordinator Danny Collins, who’s in his 13th season coaching under Fleck, said Fleck’s definition of a developmental program doesn’t apply only to the players but to the entire staff, too.

“College football is changing, right?” Collins said. “It changes every single year, and to see him not change but adapt, it’s been huge.”

For example, Fleck saw where a developmental approach at quarterback didn’t work with Athan Kaliakmanis in 2023. The coach then mined the transfer portal to land Max Brosmer, and the Gophers went 8-5 last year.

Fleck’s now back to a developmental model with Drake Lindsey, whom he and offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr. targeted to be the 2025 starter when Lindsey was a high school senior in Fayetteville, Ark., in 2023.

The plan is working well.

“How he’s handled the staff, managed the staff and developed the staff is something that I will take when I hopefully get the opportunity to be a head coach,” Harbaugh said of Fleck.

When Fleck arrived at Minnesota in 2017, the Gophers were having trouble beating their main rivals, Wisconsin and Iowa. Their losing streak to Wisconsin grew to 14 in his first year, but since then, the Gophers have defeated the Badgers four times, including three of the past four meetings.

Iowa, though, has been a tougher challenge. Fleck dropped his first six games to the Hawkeyes, including five by seven points or fewer. Twice during the skid — in 2019 and ’21 — a victory over Iowa would have advanced the Gophers to the Big Ten title game.

Minnesota broke through on its last trip to Iowa City, a 12-10 win in 2023 before Iowa won 31-14 in Minneapolis last year. The Gophers will try for a rarity Saturday: back-to-back wins in Iowa City for the first time since 1979 and ’81.

Ferentz enjoys the rivalry and was complimentary this week of the job Fleck and his staff are doing.