Iowa football's Kirk Ferentz confirms return for 2026 season

After authoring another eight-win regular season, longtime and legendary Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz says his coaching end isn't anywhere in sight.

Ferentz was asked on Wednesday during the Hawkeyes' National Signing Day press conference what his message is to recruits when asked about his future and if he is definitively planning on coaching Iowa in the 2026 college football season.

College football's longest-tenured head coach said he's definitely planning on coaching the Hawkeyes in 2026. And Ferentz sounds like he intends to coach well beyond that.

"Yeah, well, ’26? That’s next year, right? God, I hope so. I mean, unless you know something I don’t know. I just tell them the truth. I feel really good. I had no idea what it feels like to be 70. Now, I do. However many months it’s been. It doesn’t feel any different than when I was 60. I feel good physically. I’ve got permission from my wife to keep doing this and it’s what I like doing.

"I really enjoy doing it. Unless we just screw this up beyond repair, which we’re trying to do right now in college football, I don’t envision stopping any time in the near future. It’s what I do. I don’t golf and when I did, I stunk, so I don’t see going back to that," Ferentz said.

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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa football's Kirk Ferentz confirms return for 2026 season