CHICAGO -- Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, the longest-tenured head coach in the FBS, has continued to adapt and succeed in the constantly evolving world of NIL and player compensation across college athletics. But as he prepares for his 28th season leading the Hawkeyes, he offered a warning Tuesday at Big Ten media days about the growing gap between the sport's highest-funded programs and everybody else.
"When we went to the Rose Bowl in 1981, the 13 years prior to that there were two teams that went to the Rose Bowl from the Big Ten," Ferentz told ESPN. "So basically, everybody was lining up in August for third place. If we're not careful, we're going to get that kind of imbalance in college football. That's just how I see it."
The bar for competing at the highest level in the Big Ten increased significantly this offseason. Multiple Big Ten general managers told ESPN this spring that they're expecting every football program in the conference to spend $25 million or more this year. Some believe the league's top contenders have invested well over $40 million.
"If we're not careful, we're going to get back to the '70s where there's going to be eight, 10, 15 teams that are really well funded," Ferentz said. "My guess is there's going to be a little bit of a tilt in that direction to who's going to be in the playoffs. If that's what we want, great. But I'm not sure that's what everybody wants."
Ferentz can't speak with any certainty about how much his Big Ten peers have spent, and that's one of the chief frustrations that lingers as he and his program continue to navigate this new world. He said that he fully supports revenue sharing with players and believed that reform was overdue but that the lack of transparency around compensation remains a challenge.
"I enjoyed my time in the NFL. I'm glad I'm in college, and I never had an itch to go back," Ferentz said. "But one thing I miss from the NFL is the salary cap, the contracts and the structure. All 32 teams operated by the same rules, and they were enforced the same way, so there was a consistency in the league. That's one good thing about the NFL that I do miss, an equal chance for everybody."
The 2025 House settlement established a revenue-sharing cap for athletic departments, but the continued efforts of the sport's most competitive programs to circumvent the cap and College Sports Commission enforcement is already sparking conversation about raising the cap. Talks are ongoing about setting a new federal standard through the Protect College Sports Act that could enable schools to spend an additional $20 million on roster retention.
For Ferentz and other Big Ten coaches whose programs are trying to keep up with their competition amid the steadily rising cost of talent acquisition, it hasn't been easy.
"What we're living with now is a byproduct of a system that got out of control a little bit," Ferentz said. "I'm 100% for revenue sharing. Set the number, and if you can't raise it then you can't raise it, but at least set a consistent number. We've brought a whole new element to college football that wasn't there five years or 10 years ago."
Ohio State or Michigan represented the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl in every season from 1968 to 1980 until the Hawkeyes broke through in 1981 under coach Hayden Fry. For most of his tenure that began in 1999, Ferentz believed every program in the league had an opportunity to reach those heights.
As the Big Ten's all-time winningest coach watches the gap between haves and have nots grow wider every year in the NIL era, both within his conference and everywhere else, he said he's concerned about how much worse it's about to get.
"Just look at last year and who was in the playoffs," Ferentz said.
"If you can just go out and buy a team, if that's what we want, then that's great. But I'm not sure that's what the majority of people want."
