College football’s top 25 highest-paid coaches for 2020 season

21. Kirk Ferentz – Iowa

• 2020 Salary: $4.8 million

Kirk Ferentz has been with the University of Iowa since the 90s, one of the longest-tenured in all of college football. Spending more than 20 years at one program, making that program a constant top-20 team year in and year eventually gets enough raises to be one of the highest-paid coaches in the land, even at the University of Iowa.

Ferentz has brought the Hawkeyes to bowl eligibility every single year except for since 2001. This past season, he won 10 games and ended the year ranked No. 15. Ferentz has a really good team in front of him, and they are a hard team to beat for every Big Ten team. Last season, they gave Minnesota their first loss of the season after their insane start.

Every year they seem to have a marquee win that gives Iowa fans bragging rights, and is there anything better for fans than that? Whether it’s putting 55 points on Ohio State in 2017, taking down a third-ranked Michigan team in 2016, or starting the season 12-0 in 2015, the Hawkeyes have had a lot to celebrate as of late.

Ferentz feels like one of those “lifer” coaches that’s going to keep it at Iowa for the foreseeable future. It’s a good thing for the Hawkeyes because so many coaches at these close-to-the-top schools usually try to go for bigger and wealthier opportunities. Ferentz seems happy enough to stay in Kinnick Stadium until he eventually hangs it up.