RIP, Godspeed, and bless you,
you magnificent wonderful SOB
you magnificent wonderful SOB
It's hard to overstate what a mess Iowa FB was when he was hired. 17 straight non-winning seasons, a historic span of failure few P5 programs can match. 3 years later Iowa was co-Big 10 champs and in the Rose Bowl.
His assistants went on to become the winningest coaches at:
Oklahoma (Bob Stoops)
Wisconsin (Barry Alvarez)
Iowa (Kirk Ferentz)
K-State (Bill Snyder)
Iowa State (Dan McCarney)
Oklahoma (Bob Stoops)
Wisconsin (Barry Alvarez)
Iowa (Kirk Ferentz)
K-State (Bill Snyder)
Iowa State (Dan McCarney)
Hardscrabble West TX Depression kid. Korean War-era Marine. Broke the SW Conference color barrier. Fired at SMU for refusing to cheat. Brawled alongside John Wayne in a Mexican cantina. Inspired a top rated sitcom.
No FB coach will ever be cooler than J Hayden Fry.
No FB coach will ever be cooler than J Hayden Fry.
*"Coach" was created by Iowa alum/ Hawkeye fan Barry Kemp, who loosely based the Hayden Fox character on Hayden Fry 
I think my favorite Fry thing was his incomprehensible Texas folksyisms, like "We're gonna let that ol' hound on the high porch so he can suck them eggs and scratch his rump in the sunshine," and such. I had no idea what they meant, but they somehow made sense.
Even though he was as Texan as it gets (descendant of a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto, and played in the Friday Night Lights of Odessa), he became maybe the most revered Iowan of the last 50 years. On behalf of Hawkeyes everywhere, thank you Texas.
**here's the story of Hayden Fry, John Wayne, and Richard Widmark getting into a brawl in Mexico
Hey man, I'M WORKING ON IT
