Iowa Football Considered Among ’25 Greatest Programs of All-Time’

Iowa football is consistently among some of the best in the country. In fact, since Kirk Ferentz took over in 1999, the Hawkeyes have gone 187-119, winning 61% of their games. Not only that, they've gone to a bowl game in 18 of his 23 seasons. He's also got two Big Ten titles to his name and seven seasons of ten or more wins.

Under Hayden Fry, Iowa went 143–89–6, winning 60% of their games. Those teams went to a bowl game in 14 of his 20 seasons, and Fry took three Big Ten Titles as well as posting three ten-win seasons.

He also put together this coaching staff:

The Hawks may not be regular national title contenders, but they're nothing if not consistent.

The two aforementioned coaches, who are the only ones to steer the ship over the last 43 years, are significant reasons why Iowa has been one of the best for so long. In fact, according to College Football News, the Hawkeyes own the 25th best football program of all time.

Though rankings of this sort can be incredibly subjective, the site found a process by which the list could be put together and there's at least a method to the madness. A crew of folks went over the final AP Rankings since 1936, compiling them to "use our simple scoring system – the AP national champion in each season gets 25 points, the No. 2 team 24, No. 3 23, and so on down to the bottom."

The Hawkeyes finished at the 25th spot, tallying 344 points total. Just ahead of the Hawks was Ole Miss with 362. Oklahoma is considered the greatest college football program ever based on the rankings, finishing with 1136 points.

Other Big Ten teams were as follows:

22. Wisconsin 378

19. Michigan State 472

9. Penn State 702

7. Nebraska 798

5. Michigan 1016

3. Ohio State 1119