Close calls especially intense for 1 Iowa fan

By KEITH CHARTRAND, Daily Sun

Saturday, November 7, 2009 12:16 AM EST

THE VILLAGES — Every Saturday Ken O’Keefe calls his mom, Helen.

The last couple of weeks the first thing out of Helen’s mouth when she picks up the phone in her Orange Blossom Gardens home is, “I don’t think my stomach can handle much more of this.”

Ken’s reply: “How do you think mine feels?”

When it’s your son’s responsibility to orchestrate the Iowa Hawkeyes’ offense, Saturdays can be intense.

This year’s thrill-a-minute-Hawkeyes’ successes at remaining undefeated the last couple of Saturdays have been absolutely nerve-racking for the team’s offensive coordinator and his mom.

“I’m surprised my neighbors haven’t called the cops yet because it’s been so loud,” said the 79-year-old Villager, who surrounds herself with relatives and friends for every televised Iowa game.

Maybe it would be better if the neighbors called the paramedics, considering how these cardiac Hawkeyes have pulled out games this year. Iowa (9-0) has been tied or trailed entering the fourth quarter in five games.

Their biggest fourth-quarter deficit was 10 points — 24-14, last week at home against unranked Indiana. Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi overcame four third-quarter interceptions by throwing two touchdowns in the fourth to rally Iowa to a 42-24 win.

The week prior it looked as if the Hawkeyes’ undefeated run had flatlined in East Lansing. Iowa trailed Michigan State going into the fourth quarter, 6-3. Spartan quarterback Kirk Cousins hit Blair White on a 30-yard touchdown pass with 1:37 left in the game.

Facing a four-point deficit, 13-9, Iowa needed a touchdown. Stanzi was precise on the ensuing drive, completing three of five passes for first downs, stopping the clock with each completion. With first and goal at the Spartan 7, Stanzi threw three straight incompletions. With two seconds on the clock and their undefeated season on the line, Stanzi hit receiver Marvin McNutt on an in route.

“It was a great call by Ken,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said, of Helen’s son. “We cleared out the left side for Marvin (McNutt). He made the nice break inside and made a great grab. So it was a great execution but certainly a lot of credit to Ken O’Keefe. What a fantastic call.”

Hawkeye nation here in The Villages celebrated, and not just in Helen’s house.

“We were going crazy,” said Dean Tilton, president of The Villages Iowa Hawkeye State Club, who watched the game with his wife Karen. “That game taught us to never give up.”

O’Keefe played football at Notre Dame High School in West Haven, Conn., not a football hotbed by any means. Coaching wasn’t initially what he wanted to do with his life.

“He wanted to be a teacher,” Helen said.

At John Carroll University in Cleveland, he pursued his teaching degree. He put the pads on, too.

“He was in the end zone (during one game), got hit, ended up on his can and then caught the ball,” recalled Helen, who made the 10-hour trip with husband, Big Ken, to watch their oldest son play.

O’Keefe returned to the Nutmeg State after graduation in 1975 for a teaching job at a West Haven Grammar School where, in addition to teaching the core curriculum, he was the school’s physical education teacher. His desire to get involved in football seemed to grow.

“My husband got all the boys (four others besides Ken) into football one way or another,” Helen recalled. “They always seemed to be at a football game.”

In 1976, while juggling this duties at the grammar school, O’Keefe was an assistant at the University of New Haven.

Life as a coach can mean one thing — constant job changes. Coaching football was becoming more and more intriguing to O’Keefe. In 1978, he accepted the head coaching position at Worcester (Mass.) Academy, a prep school. Coaching circles are very small and in order to succeed O’Keefe tried to surround himself with the best people.

“He knew who had football smarts and that’s how he went about hiring football people,” Helen said of her son’s hiring practices.

For his Worcester staff, O’Keefe hired Ferentz — who played football with his brother Jim at UConn — along with former Green Bay head coach Mike Sherman.

O’Keefe’s six-year stint at the prep school, where he finished 37-11 with three New England Class A prep championships, helped land him his first college job at Allegheny (Pa.) College in 1986.

It was at the Division III school that O’Keefe made a name for himself. In his 10 years working the Gator sidelines, he served as the offensive line coach his first year, the offensive coordinator his second and was promoted to head coach his third. As their skipper for seven years, he and the Gators won five North Coast Athletic Conference titles, compiled a 79-10-1 mark and won the 1990 NCAA Division III national title.

The Fordham (N.Y.) Rams were impressed with O’Keefe’s run at Allegheny and in 1998 he filled their head coaching vacancy for one year.

After O’Keefe’s first year with the Rams an old friend had an offer for him — Ferentz asked O’Keefe to join him on his staff at Iowa.

Every coaching stint O’Keefe had had to this point had been within driving distance of Big Ken’s and Helen’s home in Connecticut. Big Ken just loved seeing his son work the sidelines. O’Keefe thought Big Ken would be mad that he couldn’t drive to Iowa City.

Ferentz’s offer was actually the second he had made to O’Keefe. In 1990 he’d offered O’Keefe a job when he took over at Maine but at that time, O’Keefe was comfortable at Allegheny.

Big Ken and Helen made it to the first three Iowa games under the direction of the Ferentz/O’Keefe regime. A year later Big Ken died after losing a battle to bone cancer.

“You’re gonna kick (butt) good” were the last words Big Ken said to his son.

Big Ken was right.

With O’Keefe as coordinator, the Hawkeyes won 59 games in seven years and shared the Big 10 title in 2004. He coached running back Shonn Greene to the Doak Walker Award last year and quarterback Brad Banks to a second place finish in the 20O2 Heisman Trophy voting.

Now the Hawkeyes stand undefeated, atop the Big Ten and No. 4 in the BCS rankings. Defeating Northwestern today would bring the Hawkeyes (and Helen) one step closer.

“I’m not going to my grave until you guys go to the Rose Bowl,” Helen said to her son.

The way this year is going for the Hawkeyes, their trip to the Rose Bowl might be for all the marbles on Jan. 7 rather than for the Jan. 1 bowl game.

Keith Chartrand is an associate managing editor for the Daily Sun. He may be reached at sports@thevillagesmedia.com.