Iowa Hawkeyes 2025 Football Season Overall Performance
Record: 9-4, 6-3
Victory vs. Vanderbilt (34-27) in the ReliaQuest Bowl.
Season Highlights: Kirk Ferentz coached his 27th season.
The Hawkeyes finished the season ranked 23rd in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Yawn.
Oh, I’m sorry, are we talking about the 2025 Iowa Hawkeyes football season?
Didn’t watch.
Just like I declared in my article, “Isn’t it great to be a Hawkeye?” which appeared in the March 2025 edition of Mature Focus.
Didn’t read it? Don’t remember it? That’s okay. Here’s a quick recap:
1. I continued to mourn the loss of Caitlin Clark but looked forward to her 2025 WNBA season.
2. I highlighted the 2025/26 Iowa women’s basketball roster and their prospects.
3. I made a personal plea to Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz to fire Fran McCaffery, head coach of the men’s basketball team, with an extra request to expand the student section at Carver Hawkeye Arena.
4. Fed up with an underachieving offense, meaningless bowl games, and nothing to look forward to but a gum-chomping Kirk Ferentz coasting out his contract, I vowed to boycott Iowa football until Kirk is replaced.
It’s nearly a year later, and I have updates.
1. Caitlin’s sophomore WNBA season was cut short by injury. Without my favorite player, I lost interest. But before her injury, I was at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to watch the Fever beat the New York Liberty. Caitlin scored 32 points, hit seven threes, and put up nine points in just 32 seconds. It was so awesome, I spent $80 on a Caitlin hoodie.
2. The Iowa women are performing well with a record of 18-2. I’m optimistic about freshmen Addie Deal and Journey Houston, but my favorite player is Georgia Tech transfer point guard Chit Chat Wright, who is averaging 13.1 points a game and has one of the best names in college basketball. A bright future lay ahead, and I nominate Jan Jensen as the NCAA’s best-dressed women’s head coach. Sorry, not sorry, Kim Mulkey.
3. Apparently, AD Goetz is a regular reader of Mature Focus because shortly after my article was published, she canned Fran and extended the student section at CHA…a little. While I was hoping for an Illini Orange Krush-esque upgrade, I’ll take it considering season ticket holders reign at the University of Iowa.
University of Iowa men’s basketball head coach Ben McCollum, in his signature white shirt and gold tie, has set his sights on a national championship.
An exciting update is the new head coach and Iowa native, Ben McCollum. The former Drake University head coach has an impressive resume, including four Division II national championships with Northwest Missouri State University. His overall win record before coming to Iowa is a formidable 81.8%. Fran’s Iowa record was a smidge under 60%.
Ben brings a coaching philosophy focused on process, conditioning, and selflessness. Six Drake players and seven coaches followed him to Iowa, while only two players from Fran’s roster remain. With an all-new coaching staff, I’d call that a fresh start, or as my husband, Brian (a decades-long Iowa fan and football aficionado) calls it, “nuking the program.”
The best part about Ben? He believes Iowa can win a national championship. Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!
4. Good news: Kirk broke the Big Ten winningest coach record. Bad news: Kirk is back for 2026. According to ESPN.com, he said, “I don’t envision stopping in the near future.” Add to that, the Des Moines Register reported Kirk expects to sign another contract at some point. His current contract expires in 2029.
One theory – floated by Brian – is that Kirk refuses to step down before his contract expires, out of spite; a proverbial thumbing of his nose at Beth Goetz for firing his son from the offensive coordinator position in 2023. Is it true? Maybe. After all, to buy Kirk out of his contract now would cost the university $25 million.
Brian’s long-held position (we talk about this stuff a lot) is that Iowa football will never win a national championship. Ever. And now, with the team-decimating transfer portal and NIL money flying, it’s even more impossible. Therefore, I should stop hoping that the Hawks will raise their standards beyond a winning season, a Florida bowl game, and shared titles. Accept it, I must.
I can’t.
Acceptance is unacceptable. I refuse to support a team that won’t strive for a national championship beyond coughing up seven-figures on a quarterback. It’s going to take a lot more than that.
Consider Indiana Hoosiers football. In just two years, they soared from an embarrassing 3-9 overall and 1-8 record in the Big Ten to national champions. Let that turnaround sink in. The last time Indiana won a national championship was never (1958 for Iowa).
How did Indiana do it? They hired a new head coach (Curt Cignetti), bagged a willing billionaire (Mark Cuban), and built a winning roster.
That’s the new reality of NIL. But it’s not only about dollars. A coach still has the Herculean task of building a team with the right players, a winning mindset, and the audacity to believe.
As Cignetti said in his interview after winning the national championship no one saw coming, “It can be done.”
If Indiana can do it, why not Iowa?
Because Kirk Ferentz is satisfied with the status quo, and worst of all, he expects you, Hawk fans, to accept it. Year after year. And next year too, at least until 2029 – and if Kirk has his way, into perpetuity.
Dear Beth,
I’m back. Please don’t extend Kirk’s contract, I beg you. Hire a new head coach with audacious national championship ambitions. Nuke the program – remember the Hoosiers! It can be done!
FYI:Iowan Harry Stine, owner of Stine Seed, is worth $9.9 billion. Just sayin’.
The Iowa Hawkeyes: NCAA Division I Football National Champions. That has a nice ring to it!
Sincerely,
Tonya Ranum
P.S. My football boycott stands.
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