Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz won his 143rd game as Iowa’s head coach on Wednesday night in New York City. The Pinstripe Bowl, in Yankee Stadium, was the site of his historic win.

That victory moved him into a tie with Hayden Fry atop Iowa’s all-time win list. Ferentz will surpass Fry’s total next September, most likely in Iowa’s season opening game against Northern Illinois, which is the same opponent Iowa beat in Ferentz’s 1st win as Iowa’s head coach, back in the one-win season of 1999.

Ferentz and the Iowa program have come a long way since then and he rebuilt things back to where Hayden had them, and in some ways, beyond.

Ferentz-led Iowa teams have finished inside the AP Top 10 five times during his 19 years, something no other Iowa coach has ever accomplished. Ferentz has led Iowa to 15 bowl games, one more than Fry. Yes, we are in an era where there are too many bowl games, but that is what it is. Ferentz has also led Iowa to three of the historically biggest bowl games; two Orange Bowls and a Rose. That’s the same number as Fry, who led Iowa to three Rose Bowls during his 20 years in Iowa City.

As it relates to AP Poll appearances, Fry has the lead in that regard, with his teams appearing in the AP Poll 133 weeks to 96 for Ferentz, but both coaches have an average poll ranking, of the time their teams spent in the polls, of 15.8.

This isn’t an article about which coach is better than the other. For me, that would be akin to asking me which of my two daughters I love more. I grew up during the Fry era, as I was ten years old in 1981, Iowa’s first winning season in 19 years. This was the beginning of one of the best seven year spans in Iowa football history and I was in Kinnick for several of those amazing moments, watching them through the eyes of a child.

Hayden Fry is more of a mythical figure for me, and I have only spoken with the man one time and have only been near him a handful of times. So for me, I am more familiar with the myth than the man. That can be a good thing, but also an unfair thing when it comes to even attempting to compare Fry to Ferentz.

With Ferentz, I have read every one of his press conferences over the past 19 years, and have attended 50 or more of them through the years. I have had a dozens of one on one interviews with him and as many personal conversations through the years, either at I-Club events I have emceed with Ferentz as the keynote guest or in other settings.

As it relates to Ferentz, I am more familiar with the man than the myth, and there will be a generation of Iowa fans for whom Ferentz is a mythical figure, as Fry was for me.

Fry is a College Football Hall of Famer, and Ferentz will join him the minute he is eligible. Fry has a statue in Iowa City and one day, I believe Ferentz will as well. Heck, Ferentz deserves two of them…one related to football and the other related to the incredible philanthropic endeavors he and his wife Mary have so generously been a part of.

Just saw this in our Facebook comments. When the day comes in Iowa City for some type of Ferentz plaque or statue, I can't think of anything better than this suggestion: pic.twitter.com/5qBBw31JQj — Jon Miller (@hawkeyenation) December 29, 2017

I didn’t get to know Fry in that way; the media was not as ever present and saturated back then as it is today, the internet did not exist and I was just a kid. But we know a great deal of the Ferentz family’s generosity, and likely more than Kirk & Mary would prefer us to know.

Ferentz is a Hall of Fame human being, and for however long Iowa plays football and hires football coaches, they will NEVER hire another person as genuine, honest and selfless as Kirk Ferentz. They may hire others that are just as amazing in those areas, but never anyone that exceeds Ferentz in those regards because Kirk has run this race in a way that few men in ‘power’ have ever run it or are even capable of running it after rising to the ‘godhead’ like status fans bestow upon coaches. At least, that’s my opinion and you’ll not move me from it.

Other than former Hawkeye trainer John Streif and perhaps some office personnel, I can’t think of any person, living or deceased, who has spent as many years with their hands on the Iowa football program as Kirk Ferentz has. The legacy is pretty amazing. All the more so when you stack up his numbers against the greats in Big Ten history.

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Ferentz and Fry are presently tied for the 5th most wins in Big Ten coaching history. If Ferentz coaches at Iowa another three years, he will most likely pass Joe Paterno and move into 4th. If things go really well these next two years, he could eclipse Paterno by the end of the 2019 season. Ferentz will likely finish as the 5th most tenured coach in Big Ten history. You don’t get a chance to do that without being successful on, and off, the field.

Ferentz has a chance to surpass Bo Schembechler for the most bowl appearances by a Big Ten coach. Again, bowls are easier to come by in this era than in Bo’s era, but it would still be tops in league history and it may be a tough record to break before he is done. Ferentz has won more bowl games as a Big Ten head coach than all but two coaches in league history.

Just sit back and look at the company Ferentz is keeping on this list. Amos Alonzo Stagg, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler…look at some the names he is ahead of on this list.

When watching Ferentz’s reaction to win #143 after the game, and seeing his emotion, I could not help but wonder about his thoughts. Iowa’s 6-4 win over Penn State in 2004 remains my all-time favorite Iowa football game, given what Kirk and his family were going through that week with the loss of his father, John.

Kirk Ferentz reaction on tying Hayden Fry's all time Iowa win mark. Watch it. pic.twitter.com/ZdvZAEtNWm — Jon Miller (@hawkeyenation) December 28, 2017

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When Ferentz has a few quiet moments during this off-season, I hope that he takes some time to smell the roses, and look back on his journey to date. When he throws out the first pitch at a Yankees game next year, which he will do as being the winning coach in the Pinstripe Bowl, I hope that he thinks back to his youth and his father and the times they spent playing catch; I am sure that he will.

None of this is meant to sound like Ferentz’s coaching epitaph, but rather, to stand as an appreciation for what the man has accomplished at Iowa. As Kirk said on Wednesday night, not ALL of it was enjoyable, but most of it has been a joy and a pleasure.

The term ‘living legend’ was easier for me to swallow when I was younger and had experienced less of the world. As I have aged, I have become less impressed by things that generated awe and wonder in me during my younger years.

That said, when looking at the totality of the Ferentz era and the macro-level accomplishments, bracketed by the philanthropic generosity of the family, I can squint through the eyes of a child’s mind and get there.

As much as anything, legends inspire people, and legends leave legacies.

Kirk Ferentz has inspired thousands of people, several thousands of people, prior to this year.

But as the ‘Iowa Wave’ movement began to take off, and media from all corners of the country came in to do stories on this phenomenon, they also learned about the Ferentz family’s connection to the Children’s Hospital, and the tragedy the family went through in 2014 as Brian Ferentz and his wife Nikki lost their daughter, Savvy, prematurely, at the hospital.

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Hawkeye Heart: Looking Back at The Wave 2017 (video compilation includes Buckeyes, Gophers, Yankee Stadium) https://t.co/C2QcvAZMXp pic.twitter.com/fBJuwv60iL — Rob Howe (@RobHoweHN) December 29, 2017

Kirk and Mary Ferentz donated $1 million dollars to the hospital this past year, which is an amazing thing on its face. But once Hawkeye Nation, and the entire nation, learned the rest of the story, the Iowa Wave and it’s inspirational message took on more gravity.

Kirk, Brian, Mary and Nikki would be the first to turn the spotlight back on the children fighting for their lives and the families who are experience unspeakable anguish, and rightfully so. That said, the Ferentz family has been involved with and immensely supportive of the Iowa Children’s Hospital since before they even broke ground on the building. The Iowa Ladies Football Academy has generated and donated over $1.8M dollars to the Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital in seven years, which predates the loss of Savvy.

The Ferentz’s have been ‘all in’ for Iowa football and the community, and with their support of the Children’s Hospital, the multi-state region, for as long as they have been there. I have a high school friend from Central Illinois who was recently at the hospital with her child, so these things impact more people than just Iowa City and Iowa. As we witnessed around the country this season, with several stadiums performing a wave of their own, the inspiration knew no bounds.

The Ferentz’s are not the only people to give and support the hospital and its endeavors, but they have played an invaluable role in its promotion and growth. Through one way or another, they have inspired countless children, given strength to untold families and shone the light of love and time through immeasurable cloudy days.

Stadiums get built and remodeled and expanded. State of the art practice facilities are put in place. Trophies get hoisted and banners get hung.

One day, each of those things will break down, tarnish, and decay.

But legacies never die; they ripple down through generations of families from the people who were first inspired by them.

The Ferentz’s have built a legacy…a living legacy.

A living legend.