Following his collegiate career at the University of Iowa, as an offensive lineman, Ferentz was in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons in 2006 and New Orleans Saints in 2007.
Before the 2010 season, Ferentz's became an offensive assistant coach, working primarily with the Patriots' tight ends.
In response, athletic director Gary Barta claimed that he had made the decision to hire Brian for the job.
Ferentz coached several all-Big Ten offensive linemen and future NFL players during this period, including his brother James Ferentz, centers Austin Blythe and James Daniels, guards Matt Tobin, Sean Welsh and Jordan Walsh, and tackles Brandon Scherff, Andrew Donnal, Ike Boettger, and Cole Croston.
That season, two Iowa rushers (Akrum Wadley and LeShun Daniels) ran for 1,000 yards for the first time in school history.
[9] Over the next six seasons, he would coach running backs, tight ends, and quarterbacks in addition to coordinating the offense.
2018 and 2019 saw Stanley and the Iowa offense utilize several future NFL players, including tackles Tristan Wirfs and Alaric Jackson, wide receivers Brandon Smith and Ihmir Smith-Marsette, and All-American tight ends Noah Fant and TJ Hockensen.
[citation needed] On June 6, 2020, Ferentz and Iowa strength coach Chris Doyle were accused by former players of having made racially insensitive comments and contributing to a program culture that was unwelcoming to black student-athletes.
The team was ranked as high as second in the nation and won the Big Ten West, but the offense undermined what became a nationally-recognized defense.
In the 2021 Big Ten Championship game against Michigan, Iowa's offense managed only 3 points and 279 total yards.
After the season, two of Iowa's top wide receivers, Charlie Jones and Tyrone Tracy, transferred to division rival Purdue.
[citation needed] On October 30, 2023, Ferentz was informed by Iowa interim athletic director Beth Goetz that he would not be retained for the 2024 season, but would be allowed to coach the remainder of the 2023 schedule.
The Hawkeyes were averaging 19.5 points per game — 120th out of 133 FBS programs — at the time of the announcement despite a 6-2 record and 3-2 mark in the Big Ten.
[21] In Ferentz' tenure as an assistant coach at Iowa, numerous tight ends were drafted into the NFL.
Recent rule changes in cut-blocking have reduced the effectiveness of the scheme, but several successful offenses in professional and collegiate football continue to use outside or wide zone running plays.
[26] Three of main proponents of the zone scheme in the 1990s, Kirk Ferentz, Gary Kubiak, and Mike Shanahan, all have sons who have followed in their fathers' footsteps and called plays.
Unlike Kyle Shanahan and Klint Kubiak's modernized iterations, however, Kirk and Brian's Iowa offense has remained stagnant through the 2022 season.
"[32] After taking over as quarterbacks coach in spring 2022, Ferentz told media "man, I got a lot to learn.
"[33] Brian, like his father Kirk Ferentz, is an adherent to complementary football, a theory that believes a poor offense assists an excellent defense and finds advantage in field position rather than points.
"[35] During the 2020 racial unrest in the United States, triggered by the murder of George Floyd by police, Black former Iowa football players called for changes within the program.
Former Iowa defensive lineman Jaleel Johnson wrote on Twitter "Coach Doyle is the problem in that building.
"[37] An external review from the law firm Husch Blackwell corroborated the players' complaints of racial bias in the Iowa football program.
[38] In October 2020, eight Black former Iowa football players filed a federal discrimation lawsuit against the University, seeking $20 million in compensation and for athletics director Barta, head coach Kirk Ferentz, and assistant coach Brian Ferentz to be fired over what they allege was intentional racial discrimination during their time at Iowa.
As reported in 2005 by the Des Moines Register and ESPN's Outside the Lines, Ferentz and several other Iowa players paid "little to no rent" in publicly-subsidized housing set aside for poor families, elderly people, and those with disabilities.
[45] Politicians including U.S. senator Tom Harkin and John Weicher, head of the Section 8 program for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, called for investigations and an end to the loophole.
[46] "It's a huge loophole that absolutely has to be fixed," said Linda Couch, deputy director for the National Low-Income Housing Association.
"When Brian made the decision to go to Iowa, he was fully aware that he may not just be treated like Joe Smith," Kirk Ferentz said.