Iowa Hawkeyes Football Tickets

Iowa Hawkeyes Football History

The University of Iowa Hawkeyes played football as early as 1872, but a varsity program wasn’t formed until 1889. Iowa has been a member of what is now known as the Big Ten Conference since 1900 and has claimed five national championships: 1921, 1922, 1956, 1958 and 1960. The Hawkeyes have been coached by Kirk Ferentz since 1999. He is currently the longest-tenured head coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision. 

Halfback Nile Kinnick won the 1939 Heisman Trophy with the Hawkeyes. He died while serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II and in 1972, the University of Iowa renamed Iowa Stadium in Kinnick's honor. Coach Forest Evashevski led Iowa to three national championships in nine seasons from 1952 to 1960, while Hayden Fry coached the Hawkeyes to Big Ten Conference titles in 1981, 1985 and 1990. Under Ferentz, Iowa has continued to be a force in college football, winning three Big Ten titles and finishing 11 times in the AP Top 25 since 1999.

Each season, the Hawkeyes battle in-state rivals Iowa State for the Cy-Hawk Trophy. The Hawkeyes compete against Minnesota for the Floyd of Rosedale, a bronze trophy bearing the likeness of a pig once wagered on by the governors of Iowa and Minnesota before their schools' 1935 contest. Other rivals for Iowa include Wisconsin, with whom they compete for the Heartland Trophy, and Nebraska, who they play against for the Heroes Trophy.

Iowa Hawkeyes Football Team Info

Conference: Big Ten Conference

Team Colors: Black, Gold

Team Rivals: Iowa State Cyclones, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Wisconsin Badgers

Iowa Hawkeyes Football at Kinnick Stadium

Iowa City, Iowa, is home to one of the top programs in the Big Ten West, the Iowa Hawkeyes. They play at Kinnick Stadium, which opened in 1929 as Iowa Stadium and seats 69,250. A bronze statue honoring Iowa’s sole Heisman Trophy winner, Nile Kinnick, stands near the team entrance. A new tradition, known as the Kinnick Wave, was established in 2017 and involves Iowa fans waving between the first and second quarters toward the brand-new University of Iowa Children's Hospital, whose top-floor lounge has a perfect view of the field.