For most Iowans, Marvin McNutt is a household name for what he did during his playing career with the Iowa Hawkeyes. Now, the St. Louis native has a new gig: coaching the Indoor Football League’s (IFL) Cedar Rapids Titans.
Although it does not look the best on paper, McNutt has lead the Titans to a 1-5 record on the season so far.
Iowa Hawkeye Marvin McNutt Finds Home With Cedar Rapids Titans
In October of last year, rumors were gaining some momentum of the team ceasing operations.
Although the Titans got a complete team on the field, they were slightly behind other teams in terms of how much time they had to sign a full roster of players.
One of his first signees was former Hawkeye B.J. Lowrey.
“It’s awesome,” McNutt said. “Obviously, you want to bring back a cool football tradition here. You kind of want to embody a lot of what the Hawkeyes have done with your own program.”
Along with Lowrey, McNutt was able to provide his offense with a trifecta of in-state talents in Northern Iowa’s Brion Carnes and former Hawkeye teammate Damond Powell.
“It’s probably one of the coolest things ever to kind of be able to coach your own,” McNutt said. “You all know where you come from, you know how you learned and what you’ve learned from Coach Ferentz and his staff, so it’s easy to have them on your team.”
McNutt was recruited by Ferentz as a quarterback before turning into a receiver for his final three years in Iowa City. Those three years were special for Hawkeye fans.
McNutt earned 2nd team all-Big Ten honors his junior year and 1st team all-Big Ten during his senior campaign. He also is the career touchdown reception leader at Iowa, which really cemented his legacy with Hawkeye fans.
Below are some of his highlights.
McNutt helped Iowa win two bowl games including the 2010 Orange Bowl, which stands as the most heralded bowl win in the Kirk Ferentz era.
The Mark That Ferentz Left
“Coach Ferentz is definitely an all-time great in many people’s books,” McNutt said. So he is definitely a person that I mimic a lot of my coaching to.”
McNutt also credited other coaches he has had including Iowa wide receiver coach Erik Campbell. Of course, McNutt isn’t seeing the same success he saw when he played at Iowa.
“Right now for us [the biggest challenge is] just winning,” McNutt said. “We’ve got to finish games, we’ve got start them off the right way. We’ve just got to find a way to win.”
McNutt and the Titans ended up finding that way to win as they earned their first victory of the season last week against Green Bay.
This week they will take the field against the Sioux Falls Storm on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
Main Photo Credit: Connor Ferguson, Last Word on Sports, Inc.
