The announcement that Kirk Ferentz signed a new seven-year contract (through 2015) wasn’t necessarily big news. The agreement previously had been announced in April.

But there was a new little wrinkle in Monday’s announcement out of Iowa City: Ferentz will have the use of a private plane for up to 35 hours per year. As I understand it, this isn’t for Iowa football business. It’s not for recruiting trips. The news release from the university states that this is for “personal use.’’

So, does that mean Kirk can pile the wife and kids onto the plane whenever he wants and jet off somewhere on a family vacation? I guess that’s what it means. It appears to be an $85,000-a-year perk.

Gary Barta was quoted in the release as saying “This is one way to reduce some of the stress the position places on his personal and family life.’’

Seems to me, a $3 million salary might be enough to relieve some stress.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 5:38 pm and is filed under Hawkeyes Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.