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25 worst college football coaching hires in history

By Nicholas Ian Allen

PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 1: Head coach Mike Price of the Washington State University Cougars manages the game from the sidelines during the 89th Rose Bowl game against University of Oklahoma Sooners at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2003 in Pasadena, California. Oklahoma defeated Washington St. 34-14. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 1: Head coach Mike Price of the Washington State University Cougars manages the game from the sidelines during the 89th Rose Bowl game against University of Oklahoma Sooners at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2003 in Pasadena, California. Oklahoma defeated Washington St. 34-14. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images) /
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SAN FRANCISCO – JANUARY 1: Head coach Jerry Burns of the Minnesota Vikings looks on during the 1988 NFC Divisional Playoffs against the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park on January 1, 1989 in San Francisco, California. The 49ers won 34-9. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO – JANUARY 1: Head coach Jerry Burns of the Minnesota Vikings looks on during the 1988 NFC Divisional Playoffs against the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park on January 1, 1989 in San Francisco, California. The 49ers won 34-9. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images) /

14. Jerry Burns, Iowa

  • Hired: 1961
  • Fired: November 1966
  • Record at Iowa: 16-27-2 (.356)
  • Career head coaching record: 16-27-2 (.356)

Few college football head coaches inherit a team ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP poll, but that was the situation 34-year-old Jerry Burns found himself in in 1961 when he took over the Iowa Hawkeyes program from Forest Evashevski in 1961. Burns, a former quarterback at Michigan, had spent the previous seven seasons as an assistant for Evashevski in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes had gone 8-1 the previous season, finished ranked No. 3 in the nation, and had won the Rose Bowl two years earlier.

Burns started well enough, winning each of his first four games, but a four-game losing streak killed any hopes of a championship. A win over Notre Dame in the season finale gave Iowa a 5-4 final record – the only winning season of the Burns era.

Each of Burns’ six seasons was worse than the last. Iowa finished 1-9 in 1965, losing its final eight games, and Burns was fired. Ray Nagel, Frank Lauterbur, and Bob Cummings all tried and failed to return the Hawkeyes to glory. None posted a winning season. Finally, in 1981, Hayden Fry took Iowa to the Rose Bowl after an 8-3 regular season – the first winning record for the program in two decades.

Burns landed a job with the Green Bay Packers in 1966, and was a member of Vince Lombardi’s coaching staff for both Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II. He then moved on to become offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings in 1968, and held that post until he was promoted to head coach in 1986. Burns guided the Vikings to the playoffs three times in six seasons, and posted a 52-43 record as an NFL head coach.

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