List of Iowa Hawkeyes football seasons This is a list of seasons completed by the Iowa Hawkeyes football program since the team ' s conception in 1889 . The list documents season - by - season records , and conference records from 1892 – 1896 and 1900 to the present . The Hawkeyes began playing football as a club sport in 1872 , and began playing intramural games against other colleges in 1882 , but it was not until 1889 when Iowa challenged Iowa College to an interscholastic varsity football game . Since then , the Hawkeyes have played over 1 , 100 games , including 26 bowl game s . Historically , Iowa has seen moderate success . The Hawkeyes won the Western Interstate University Football Association championship in 1896 and the Big Ten Conference football championship in 1900 – the school ' s first year as a member of the Big Ten Conference – but did not win another in the Big Ten until 1921 . Iowa ' s coach at that time was Howard Jones . Under his direction , the Hawkeyes won conference championships in 1921 and 1922 , and recorded a school - record 20 - game winning streak from 1920 – 1923 . However , the Hawkeyes ' success on the field dipped once again . Debt on Iowa ' s new football stadium – Iowa Stadium – grew yearly , and the Hawkeyes finished in the bottom three of the Big Ten every year except 1933 from 1930 – 1938 . Then , in 1939 , Iowa surprisingly finished the season 6 – 1 – 1 , tripling the win total from the last two seasons combined . The team was nicknamed the " Ironmen , " and is generally thought to be one of the greatest teams in school history . They were led by Heisman winner Nile Kinnick , who died in 1943 during a World War II training flight . 29 years later , in 1972 , Iowa Stadium was renamed as " Kinnick Stadium " in his honor . Following the 1939 season , the Hawkeyes slipped into another " down period . " From 1940 – 1955 , Iowa recorded 11 losing seasons , and their best finish in the Big Ten was fourth . But in 1952 , the Hawkeyes upset Ohio State in Forest Evashevski ' s first season as coach . Three years later , in 1956 , the Hawkeyes won the Big Ten championship with a 9 – 1 record . Under Evashevski , Iowa won two more conference championships in 1958 and 1960 , posting 8 – 1 – 1 and 8 – 1 records respectively . In 1958 , the Hawkeyes were awarded the Grantland Rice Trophy as national champions of the Football Writers Association of America . Soon thereafter , however , Evashevski became athletic director , and the football program suffered . The team posted a winning record in 1961 under new head coach Jerry Burns , but it was Iowa ' s last winning season until 1981 . From 1961 – 1978 , the Hawkeyes had four head coaches . Not one of them had a team that finished better than fourth in the Big Ten . In 1979 , Hayden Fry was hired as Iowa ' s 24th head coach . In 1981 , he took the Hawkeyes to their first Rose Bowl since 1958 . Iowa won the Big Ten championship three times under Fry , and played in the Rose Bowl in each of those seasons . Following his tenure at Iowa , which ended after the 1998 season , Kirk Ferentz was hired as his successor . Ferentz has won Big Ten championships twice at Iowa , in 2002 and 2004 .