Bob Commings (December 24, 1932 – February 20, 1992) was a college football player and coach at the University of Iowa.
That season, Coach Forest Evashevski's Hawkeyes finished the year ranked ninth in the nation in the final AP Poll.
With the Korean War raging abroad, Commings signed up with the Marine Corps, serving for two years before returning to Iowa.
As a senior in 1957, Commings helped Iowa to a 7–1–1 record and a number six ranking in the final AP Poll.
He was good friends with fellow lineman Alex Karras, who later had success as a professional athlete and actor.
Though Karras won the 1957 Outland Trophy, it was Bob Commings at the end of the year that was voted as Iowa's 1957 MVP.
His 1970 Massillon team had an undefeated 10–0 record, outscoring their opponents 412–29 and winning a state poll championship.
"[1] Commings appealed to Iowa fans, because he had a Hawkeye background as a player and assistant coach during the Rose Bowl years.
After a road loss at Michigan, Commings coached his first home game in Iowa City against #12 UCLA.
Iowa fans sported "Chosen Children" badges, and Commings' contract was extended to three years.
The Hawks also defeated Northwestern to snap a nine game conference losing streak in 1974 and ended the year with a 3–8 record.
In 1976, the Hawkeyes, nicknamed the "Wild Bunch", stunned Penn State, the number 11 ranked team in the nation, in Happy Valley for Iowa's first non-conference road win in 11 years.
Whether it was 4–7 or 5–6, the fact remained that Iowa had posted its 16th consecutive non-winning season, which was now the longest streak in the nation.
Commings, who had one year left on his contract, said that he thought the school had a "moral and legal" obligation to allow him to coach in 1979.
Bob Commings had accepted the Iowa football head coaching job with glee.
"[5] His Iowa ties and the fact that he considered the Hawkeye coaching position as his dream job made his firing especially painful.