1978

Bob Commings’ last year as head coach at Iowa was to be his worst. Asked prior to the first game if he was confident about the season, he said, “No. Iowa has a way of getting to your confidence. I’m not confident about anything.”

Iowa State skunked the Hawkeyes for the first of two shutouts for the season and before long Des Moines Register writer Bob Dyer noted that the “boobirds” were back in Kinnick Stadium.

November 27
Bob Commings was fired, becoming the fourth coach in a row to leave Iowa because he couldn’t get the team to win enough games. As Des Moines Register writer Bert McGrane once put it,

Luckless coach who
Failed to win
Lost his head just
South of chin.

When howling alumni
Confer with the President
Coach who’s a loser is
Soon a non-resident.

Learn more about Coach Hayden Fry

December 9
John Hayden Fry entered the Iowa spotlight as the Hawkeyes’ new head coach. The square-jawed Texan, who had a habit of taking losing teams and making them winners, told the press that “I have no time schedule on getting Iowa a winning football team. But I will tell you we will be competitive, tough, and colorful.”

The 1979 press guide offered this prediction: “Hayden will spread his attack from one side of the campus to the other, using more sets than you see in a novice bridge game. The Hawkeyes will only pass when they have the ball. Defensively Fry uses blitzes, stunts, and slants. He likes reckless football.” Listen to Bob Brooks talk about his memories of Coach Fry.

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