LeVar Woods named possible Kirk Ferentz replacement after retirement

Kirk Ferentz has been incredibly successful as the head coach at Iowa, but the 68-year-old isn’t going to lead the program forever.

There has been speculation this offseason that Ferentz could retire in the not-too-distant future, possibly as early as after the 2023 season.

On3’s Andy Staples held an Ask Me Anything chat on Reddit on Friday and was asked who might replace Ferentz when he does call it a career.

“I don’t see Kirk coaching forever,” Staples wrote in the AMA. “My guess is he does this a little longer and then turns it over. I think Iowa’s ideal situation is they hand off to LeVar Woods and then pay Phil Parker whatever it takes to keep him at DC.”

Woods has been on staff at Iowa since 2008 and has held a number of roles. He is currently the Iowa special teams coordinator. Promoting Woods would make sense as he is a popular coach with players and it would keep the continuity going. Woods played at Iowa from 1998-2000, before a seven-year career in the NFL.

As for Parker, he has established himself as one of the best defensive coordinators in the country. The Hawkeyes ranked No. 2 nationally in total defense last season and have finished in the top 20 for five consecutive seasons.

Kirk Ferentz is entering his 25th season in charge of the Iowa program. The Hawkeyes are coming off of an 8-5 year. Iowa has produced 10 consecutive winning seasons under Ferentz.

Brian Ferentz opens up about how he handles pressure, criticism that comes with calling plays

While Iowa was able to go 8-5 last season, it did so in spite of its offense. Hawkeyes offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, who is the son of head coach Kirk Ferentz, had a unit that struggled mightily in 2022.

Kirk now has a clause in his contract that requires 25 points per game to hit an incentive.

Iowa’s offense went through infamous struggles a year ago, averaging just 17.7 points on offense and ranking last in the Big Ten with 251.6 yards of offense per game. The Hawkeyes made multiple big-name additions, though, in what’s shaping up to be a big year for Brian Ferentz.

Ferentz knows what comes with the territory of calling plays at a high level, and he shared how he deals with it during an interview with Big Ten Network’s Gerry DiNardo.

“It’s a great question,” Ferentz said. “Anybody in this club understands what comes with it. I would just say that if you’re a competitor, if you like competing, if you like going out there and putting yourself out there, it’s the job. It comes with the territory. And I think if you want to be good at anything, if you want to accomplish anything and if you want to do anything significant or meaningful, you have to understand that there’s going to be eyes on you.

“If you call plays, there’s only one of two things that can happen. You can be really smart, or you can be really dumb. But the longer you do it, the more I think what you really understand is none of that matters.”