Hayden Fry

Head coach, Iowa, 1979 to 1998
Before: North Texas

College career230-180-10

Program liftNo. 21tied · of 1,290 tenures since 1937

Stats

Big games

Pick a job to see its years on their own.

SMU1962–72 · 49-66-1North Texas1973–78 · 38-25-3Iowa1979–98 · 143-89-6All jobs230-180-10

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

13-9 against his rivals at SMU. Just 2-9 against Darrell Royal.

Rivalry record

13-9

59.1% · 2 rivals

One-score games

24-30-1

43.6% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

2-10

16.7%

Rivalry ledger

Rice8-373%

TCU5-645%

The toughest matchup

vs. Darrell Royal2-9

11 meetings, 1962–1972

’62 L’63 L’64 L’65 W’66 W’67 L’68 L’69 L’70 L’71 L’72 L

18% win rate across a real, 11-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Blue Blood

2-10 16.7%

Power Program

7-26 21.2%

National Program

21-25 45.7%

Regional Program

18-5 78.3%

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

Winless in 4 tries against Bob Tyler.

One-score games

14-10-3

51.9% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

0-2

0.0%

The toughest matchup

vs. Bob Tyler0-4

4 meetings, 1975–1978

’75 L’76 L’77 L’78 L

0% win rate across a real, 4-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Blue Blood

0-2 0.0%

Power Program

2-1 66.7%

National Program

10-13 43.5%

Regional Program

19-7 73.1%

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

44-17 against his rivals at Iowa. Just 1-7 against John Cooper.

Rivalry record

44-17-1

71.0% · 4 rivals

One-score games

43-30-6

54.4% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

3-13

18.8%

Rivalry ledger

Iowa State16-480%

Minnesota12-860%

Wisconsin15-2-183%

Nebraska1-325%

The toughest matchup

vs. John Cooper1-7-1

9 meetings, 1988–1998

’88 T’89 L’90 L’91 W’92 L’95 L’96 L’97 L’98 L

11% win rate across a real, 9-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Dynasty

0-1 0.0%

Blue Blood

3-12 20.0%

Power Program

16-32 33.3%

National Program

37-27 57.8%

Regional Program

85-17 83.3%

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

57-26 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against Bob Tyler.

Rivalry record

57-26-1

67.9% · 6 rivals

One-score games

81-70-10

50.3% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

5-25

16.7%

Rivalry ledger

Iowa State16-480%

Minnesota12-860%

Wisconsin15-2-183%

Rice8-373%

TCU5-645%

Nebraska1-325%

The toughest matchup

vs. Bob Tyler0-4

4 meetings, 1975–1978

’75 L’76 L’77 L’78 L

0% win rate across a real, 4-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Dynasty

0-1 0.0%

Blue Blood

5-24 17.2%

Power Program

25-59 29.8%

National Program

68-65 51.1%

Regional Program

122-29 80.8%

Building the roster

Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.

1Who followed him
2Roster ownership
3The NFL pipeline

Followed him here

SMU→

North Texas1973

No confirmed followers on this move. This move predates this database’s 2021 transfer-portal tracking floor, so real followers may be undercounted here.

North Texas→

Iowa1979

No confirmed followers on this move. This move predates this database’s 2021 transfer-portal tracking floor, so real followers may be undercounted here.

Players who transferred from his old program to his new one through the portal in the same year he made the move. Name-matching across data sources misses some, so every count is a floor, not an exact number.

Roster ownership

This coach's entire tenure (1979-1998) predates 2021, when transfer-portal tracking begins in this database. Portal usage cannot be measured for this tenure at all -- this is not the same as '0% portal'.

“His own” means the player arrived while he was head coach; “inherited” means a predecessor brought him in.

The NFL pipeline

at least42Drafted

players drafted into the NFL off his teams here (a floor — see the note below). None can be traced to who brought them in — there’s no roster record for these players here. 7 went in the first round.

At least 42 — the draft class following his 1987, 1995 seasons are missing from this table entirely; and his 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 seasons predate the modern 7-round draft, so this table’s pre-1994 pick counts are a floor, not a full count, for those seasons.

0 roster-verified · 42 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Player	Pos	NFL team	Note
1999	R3.09	Jared DeVries	Defensive End	Detroit Lions	Estimated
1999	R6.31	Eric Thigpen	Defensive Back	Atlanta Falcons	Estimated
1998	R3.17	Mike Goff	Offensive Guard	Cincinnati Bengals	Estimated
1998	R4.09	Tavian Banks	Running Back	Jacksonville Jaguars	Estimated
1998	R4.22	Tim Dwight	Wide Receiver	Atlanta Falcons	Estimated
1998	R5.21	Kerry Cooks	Defensive Back	Minnesota Vikings	Estimated
1997	R1.09	Tommy Knight	Defensive Back	Arizona Cardinals	Estimated
1997	R1.30	Ross Verba	Offensive Tackle	Green Bay Packers	Estimated

Year	Pick	Player	Pos	NFL team	Note
1997	R3.01	Sedrick Shaw	Running Back	New England Patriots	Estimated
1997	R4.23	Damien Robinson	Defensive Back	Philadelphia Eagles	Estimated
1995	R6.11	Fritz Fequiere	Offensive Guard	Denver Broncos	Estimated
1994	R4.22	Mike Wells	Defensive Tackle	Minnesota Vikings	Estimated
1993	R5.24	Mike Devlin	Center	Buffalo Bills	Estimated
1993	R6.10	Scott Davis	Offensive Guard	New York Giants	Estimated
1993	R7.18	Danan Hughes	Wide Receiver	Kansas City Chiefs	Estimated
1992	R7.02	Ron Geater	Defensive End	Denver Broncos	Estimated
1992	R7.04	Lance OLBerding	Offensive Tackle	Cincinnati Bengals	Estimated
1991	R2.16	Nick Bell	Running Back	Los Angeles Raiders	Estimated
1991	R5.11	Merton Hanks	Defensive Back	San Francisco 49ers	Estimated
1990	R7.11	Bill Anderson	Center	Chicago Bears	Estimated
1989	R3.07	Marv Cook	Tight End	New England Patriots	Estimated
1989	R3.08	Bob Kratch	Offensive Guard	New York Giants	Estimated
1989	R3.14	Joe Mott	Linebacker	New York Jets	Estimated
1987	R3.02	Chris Gambol	Offensive Tackle	Indianapolis Colts	Estimated
1987	R3.05	Dave Croston	Offensive Tackle	Green Bay Packers	Estimated
1987	R4.04	Mark Vlasic	Quarterback	San Diego Chargers	Estimated
1986	R1.12	Chuck Long	Quarterback	Detroit Lions	Estimated
1986	R1.16	Ronnie Harmon	Running Back	Buffalo Bills	Estimated
1986	R1.22	Mike Haight	Offensive Guard	New York Jets	Estimated
1986	R4.10	Devon Mitchell	Defensive Back	Detroit Lions	Estimated
1985	R2.13	Jonathan Hayes	Tight End	Kansas City Chiefs	Estimated
1985	R2.25	Owen Gill	Running Back	Seattle Seahawks	Estimated
1985	R3.09	George Little	Defensive Tackle	Miami Dolphins	Estimated
1984	R1.21	John Alt	Offensive Tackle	Kansas City Chiefs	Estimated
1984	R4.13	Joel Hilgenberg	Center	New Orleans Saints	Estimated
1984	R5.25	Norm Granger	Running Back	Dallas Cowboys	Estimated
1984	R6.26	Joe Levelis	Offensive Guard	Dallas Cowboys	Estimated
1983	R5.17	Brett Miller	Offensive Tackle	Atlanta Falcons	Estimated
1983	R6.27	Reggie Roby	Punter	Miami Dolphins	Estimated
1982	R1.22	Ron Hallstrom	Offensive Guard	Green Bay Packers	Estimated
1982	R2.14	Andre Tippett	Linebacker	New England Patriots	Estimated
1981	R2.08	John Harty	Defensive Tackle	San Francisco 49ers	Estimated

A pick counts toward his tenure when the player’s final college season was one he coached, a checkable rule rather than a claim about who developed the player. A blank note means the player is on a verified roster and arrived on his watch. “Estimated” means no roster record, so the final season is assumed to be the year before the draft.

Career

Coaching career

See Iowa’s full coaching history →

The arc of his career is on Now.

Builder meaningfully raised a program that wasn't one · Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder

1979–1998

Iowa Builder

Regional Program III → Power Program III (left at National Program I)

Closest comparable run: Barry Alvarez’s Wisconsin run (1990–2005, 2012 (1 game), 2014 (1 game))

Hayden Fry raised Iowa from Regional Program III to Power Program III.

+30.9 pts over 20 seasons · top 8% of 10+-season tenures (202 in sample)

4th-best Iowa tenure of 13 by the numbers.

Followed Bob Commings (1974–1978) · succeeded by Kirk Ferentz (1999–now).

Season	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
Record & result
Record	5-6	4-7	8-4	8-4	9-3	8-4-1	10-2	9-3	10-3	6-4-3	5-6	8-4	10-1-1	5-7	6-6	5-5-1	8-4	9-3	7-5	3-8
Postseason	—	—	L bowl	W bowl	L bowl	W bowl	L bowl	W bowl	W bowl	L bowl	—	L bowl	L bowl	—	L bowl	—	W bowl	W bowl	L bowl	—
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Defense	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script
1st-down pass%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Red-zone pass%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4th-down go%opp. territory	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Postseason detail1981: Lost to Washington 0-28 Bowl1982: Beat Tennessee 28-22 Bowl1983: Lost to Florida 6-14 Bowl1984: Beat Texas 55-17 Bowl1985: Lost to UCLA 28-45 Bowl1986: Beat San Diego State 39-38 Bowl1987: Beat Wyoming 20-19 Bowl1988: Lost to NC State 23-28 Bowl1990: Lost to Washington 34-46 Bowl1991: Tied BYU 13-13 Bowl1993: Lost to California 3-37 Bowl1995: Beat Washington 38-18 Bowl1996: Beat Texas Tech 27-0 Bowl1997: Lost to Arizona State 7-17 Bowl

143-89-6

1973–1978

North Texas Steady

Regional Program II → National Program III

Closest comparable run: Shawn Elliott’s Georgia State run (2017–2024)

Hayden Fry moved North Texas from Regional Program II to National Program III in 6 seasons.

+2.7 pts over 6 seasons · top 49% of 6-9-season tenures (368 in sample)

3rd-best North Texas tenure of 16 by the numbers.

Followed Rod Rust (1967–1972) · succeeded by Jerry Moore (1979–1980).

1 NFL Draft pick: Reginald Lewis (1979)

38-25-3

1962–1972

SMU Steady

National Program II → National Program II (left at National Program III)

Closest comparable run: Rick Stockstill’s Middle Tennessee run (2006–2023)

Hayden Fry slid SMU from National Program II to National Program III in 11 seasons.

−6.5 pts over 11 seasons · bottom 9% of 10+-season tenures (202 in sample)

10th-best SMU tenure of 18 by the numbers.

Followed Bill Meek (1957–1961) · succeeded by Dave Smith (1973–1975).

49-66-1

All-time wins

Wins at programs this site tracks, 1936–present — one consistent count for every coach, not each program’s own historically reported total.

2nd all-time at SMU

Was he good?

Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.

Raised the program

+30.9 pts at Iowa · #21 of 1290 · top quarter

Also coached: SMU (-1.6), North Texas (+2.7).

Hayden Fry

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

Building the roster

Followed him here

Roster ownership

The NFL pipeline

Career

Coaching career

All-time wins

Was he good?