O’Keefe stepping down as Hawkeyes’ QB coach

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - The University of Iowa football program will be seeking a new quarterbacks coach, according to an announcement on Wednesday.

Ken O’Keefe will be stepping down from his current on-field role as quarterbacks coach, according to a statement issued by the school attributed to head coach Kirk Ferentz. O’Keefe will continue to serve the program in an off-field role, though team officials did not provide a description of what form that will take.

“My entire family and I are incredibly grateful to coach Ferentz, the players - - especially the quarterbacks I have been privileged to work with - - the staff, the University of Iowa, and the great Hawkeye football fans for all of their support these many years,” O’Keefe said, in the statement. “When you love what you do, and where you do it, when you love being around the staff and working with tremendous men like I do day-in and day-out, it is hard to walk away. But I am confident that the time is right for me to step off the field and embrace a new opportunity.”

O’Keefe served as the offensive coordinator for the Hawkeyes from 1999 through 2011, with dual roles as the team’s wide receivers coach in 1999 and quarterbacks coach between 2000 and 2011. He left the team in 2011 to join the Miami Dolphins coaching staff, returning to Iowa for the 2017 season.

“Ken has been an important part of our football program for almost two decades,” Ferentz said, in the statement. “He was one of the key components of building our program’s foundation 23 years ago and has been a friend for far longer than that. Ken hired me to be on his staff at Worcester Academy in 1978, and it has been a professional and personal honor to work alongside him all of these years.”

School officials noted that five of the best quarterback seasons in school history have taken place during his time as that position’s coach.

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