Seth Wallace Successful in Debut

Iowa Assistant Steps In for Suspended Head Coach

Aug 31, 2024; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes interim head coach Seth Wallace looks on before the game against the Illinois State Redbirds at Kinnick Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports / Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Seth Wallace isn’t usually a coach Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara interacts with on game days.

Wallace is Iowa’s assistant head coach, but he’s also the linebackers coach.

McNamara got a full dose of Wallace in Saturday’s 40-0 season-opening win over Illinois State at Kinnick Stadium.

Wallace was acting head coach in place of Kirk Ferentz, who was serving a one-game suspension and was at home watching the game on television.

“Something that stuck out to me was when we were on the field, and once the offense started gaining some momentum, I could tell how much more fired up he was,” McNamara said. “Because we're huddling up on the sideline, and then I'm trying to call the play. Then I got Coach Wallace saying, ‘Let’s go, keep it going,’ and whatever kind of motivation he was giving me and the entire offense, while I'm trying to call the play off the sideline. So I thought that part was fun, just to see his passion.”

Wallace, though, said he didn’t want to be a distraction, so while the Hawkeyes put together the game plan with Ferentz — he was suspended from 12:01 a.m. Saturday to 12:01 a.m. Sunday — Wallace worked with his position group and with defensive coordinator Phil Parker.

“The process didn’t change a whole lot until Thursday afternoon,” Wallace said.

Wallace tried to not reflect on what being a head coach in a game situation meant. His father, Greg, was a head coach at Grinnell College, so Wallace knew what to expect.

“I don't know if that's really set in yet,” he said. “There was enough, when you turn the page from what your primary responsibility is to what you certainly weren't expecting. You don't give a whole lot of thought to that. I did grow up a coach's kid, so I watched my father do it for a long time.

“There were thoughts, but as soon as the thought comes along, you're sitting there at 8:00, the team leaves at 8:15. You still don't have your tie tied, little stuff like that, it'll completely distract you from probably the cool stuff that you should be thinking about when it comes to parents and your father.”

Wallace said he had spoken with his father.

“I think the rest of the evening, the rest of the afternoon will be spent with him and the rest of my family, and I'll get a chance to reflect on it then,” he said. “But I knew that there was somewhat of a void that had never been experienced here that needed to be filled in some way, and that was my primary focus is just making sure that our players were not distracted from anything that they were planning on focusing on themselves, and I think our staff handled that in a remarkable way. I really do. Not surprised. But just something that none of us were expecting.”

Wallace hadn’t had a chance to speak with Ferentz, because he wasn’t sure if that was allowed with the rules of Ferentz’s suspension.

“I think he'll be more than satisfied,” Wallace said. “Yes, I do. I think we're all thankful the way the game played out. I think it provides us with a lot of teaching moments between the first half and the second half that as much as everybody in the room and everybody in the stands would have loved for us to come out and just start mowing people down and the scoreboard starts lighting up, that would be a good story, but when it comes to your team, your players, the next 11 games, the course of the season, like this gives us a great opportunity to coach some very, very important details when it comes to football and some lessons, some teaching opportunities.

“So my answer to that is I think he's more than satisfied. Certainly knows we have a lot of work to do. Like I think he'd stand up here just like I did and tell you the same thing. Like we got a lot of work to do. We have good kids. We have a great staff. We have a great head coach, and there's a lot of work to be done going into this next week.”