Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz feels a kinship with Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith.

Smith earned respect from coaches nationally working his way from a walk-on quarterback to an assistant coach to head coach at his alma mater, Oregon State, before taking over at Michigan State.

Smith is closing in on the end of his second season with the program and has an 8-15 overall record — vacated wins withstanding — and sits one loss away from the program’s first winless season in Big Ten play since 1958.

Ferentz, the longest-tenured coach in college football, knows something about extreme failure in the early days of a Big Ten job. When he arrived at Iowa in 1999, he took over a three-win team and they were even worse his first season.

The Hawkeyes went 1-10 in Year 1 — winless in Big Ten play —

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