There’s a great little tradition in Iowa City called the Monday Morning Quarterback Club. Local Hawk fans gather in the banquet hall at the Elks Club and run down the recent week of happenings in the Iowa sports world.
Each week they invite a speaker and on Monday, Nov. 13, I came to share some stories about my days as a Hawkeye kicker and answer questions about the current state of Iowa football– a topic which has been sizzling hot for the past few months.
It just so happened that I was about three-fourths of the way through the book “Same as Ever: A Guide To What Never Changes” by one of my favorite authors and thinkers, Morgan Housel.
“This is a book of stories about what never changes in a changing world,” the summary in the book’s jacket states. “When people face an uncertain future, they try to forecast with more intelligence, data, and precision. Far more effective is to do the opposite: look backward and be broad. Rather than attempting to figure out little ways the future might change, study the big things from the past that stayed the same.”
As I read the short stories in the book, it got me thinking about Iowa football. All people talk about today is how much college football is changing. The common theme I hear from the few disgruntled Hawkeye fans I encounter out in the world is: “everything is changing and if we don’t change … we are going to get left behind.”
So, instead of boring the audience with stories about kicking, I read a few passages from the book and posed this question to the Iowa Citians in the audience:
If one were to study college football over the past 50 years, what has stayed the same?
What are the universal truths, the first principles, the common threads amongst college football programs that have consistently won? And what is it about Iowa football that, despite a few flaws, consistently delivers winning seasons?
Consistency at the top and the benefits of compound interest
Spurrier, Bowden, Saban, Sweeney, Ferentz, Carroll, Paterno, Tressel, Holtz, Carr, Fulmer… The college football programs that have achieved sustained winning almost always have been led by one head coach during their most prolonged periods of success. This consistency in culture and strategy unleashes one of the most powerful forces in business and sport. Compound interest.
Marty Schottenheimer, my first coach in the NFL, would always say, “winning, begets winning, begets winning.”
You don’t start over. You don’t sell off the stock. You stack little wins in the offseason and big wins during the season. Institutional knowledge gets passed down from one player to the next. Tweaks and marginal gains. All stacked on top of each other without the distraction, or the risk, of starting all over from scratch. With a commitment to cultural and strategic consistency through the ups and downs, it allows coaches and players to pass down institutional wisdom that serves as building blocks for the players coming up behind them. They know what is needed of them in order to win.
Development and growth
This should be measured both in respect to the individual’s improvement throughout their college career as well as a team’s trajectory throughout the course of a season.
Iowa isn’t getting the 5-star recruits, but they sure do put a lot of people in the NFL. Iowa ranked 12th in college football with 29 players on 53 man rosters to start the 2023 season. The programs that can successfully teach, coach, mentor and develop players will always have a competitive advantage.
It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
Iowa is 16-1 in November since 2019. Under Ferentz, Iowa prides itself on getting better as the season goes on. Having the humility to look in the mirror and work to improve.
Distinct brand identity and being comfortable in your own skin
Iowa football prides itself on being:
- Tough and physical
- Smart and disciplined
- Ball-control offense
- Win the field position battle
- Limit the big plays on defense
Iowa football is not sexy. It’s not flashy. But it is comfortable in its own skin.
Say what you want about style points.
Iowa Football consistently wins. That has stayed the same.
Nate Kaeding is a former Hawkeye football player, NFL athlete and entrepreneur living in Iowa City.
