Northern Iowa HC Mark Farley Calls it Quits: ‘The Purity of College Football is Gone’
One of the longest tenured football coaches in the state of Iowa is calling it quits after 24 consecutive seasons and over 40 years collectively.
Northern Iowa football coach Mark Farley announced last week that he would be retiring following the 2024 college football season. Farley's final game will be a home game against Indiana State on November 23rd. After starting the season 2-0, Northern Iowa has lost eight consecutive games.
Farley has been as indispensable to Northern Iowa as the school has been to his own story and personal life. Farley started at linebacker at Northern Iowa from 1983 to 1985, leading the team in tackles in 1984. From there, he became an assistant coach and then a linebackers coach until 1997 when he bolted for a job as a linebackers coach at Kansas. That only lasted a few years. Farley returned to Northern Iowa in 2001 where he's been ever since:
It has been a great honor to be part of the Panther family for over 40 years. For me, UNI football has always been about setting a standard that goes beyond the game. It has been about a legacy of resilience, pride, hard work and excellence. Watching our players grow into leaders and champions on and off the field and carry that standard with them beyond the football field has been the greatest reward of my career. - Mark Farley, per a news release from the University of Northern Iowa
What was intriguing about Farley's press conference, where he announced his retirement, were his comments on the state of college football. Anyone who has paid even a bit of attention knows that the introduction of name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals to the sport has created grave difficultly for schools not typically seen as powerhouses.
Farley had some telling comments about the state of the sport he's spent his entire life coaching:
The purity is gone. And that's the sad part of it, because we've got to have a purpose to college athletics. Maybe we've lost the sight of what the purpose of college athletics is. For me, that's giving Iowa farm kids the chance to go play college football and get a college degree. - Mark Farley, per his press conference
This is an unprecedented time in college football. We're seeing head coaches leave for coordinator positions both in the sport and in the NFL, which is practically unheard of. Chip Kelly resigned as head coach of UCLA in order to be the offensive coordinator of Ohio State. Jeff Hafley left Boston College to become the defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers. The recruiting demands and the competitive nature of college football has never been more fierce.
Mark Farley will retire at age 61 and stand as the winningest football coach in UNI and Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) history with 182 victories. Farley won seven MVFC championships, two MVFC Coach of the Year awards, and was recognized as the FCS National Coach of the Year in 2007. His overall record stands as 182-111.
Read more about University of Northern Iowa football coach Mark Farley hanging it up on The Des Moines Register's website.