Iowa’s Mark Gronowski will go where no college quarterback has gone before

In college football history at all levels, the player who will become the all-time winningest starting quarterback is Iowa’s Mark Gronowski.

Forty-nine of fifth-year senior Gronowski’s 51 wins were with South Dakota State. It had been an un-Hawkeyes thing, this business of rent-a-quarterback.

Once the program took the portal plunge, it didn’t pull out a quarterback savior in Cade McNamara (Michigan transfer), Deacon Hill (Wisconsin transfer) or Brendan Sullivan (Northwestern transfer).

So, it stopped fishing in the Big Ten and grabbed Gronowski from FCS. He hasn’t been overwhelming in three games as a Hawkeye, but he’s an upgrade with upside.

Saturday, Gronowski tied the NCAA record for wins by a starting quarterback with his 51st. It was a footnote in the postgame, with Kirk Ferentz breaking the Iowa record for wins as a coach in the Big Ten with 206.

His own record, Gronowski said, was “not something that I was striving for. It wasn't a goal of mine, but I couldn't have done it without the great coaches, the great players that were surrounding me, to my family that came and has come and supported me every single game in my college career.

“It’s even cooler to do it on the same day that Coach Ferentz won 206, so to kind of do that on the same day, it's special, but I can't do it without all the guys that have played with me in the past couple years.”

That wasn’t false humility. In his short time here, Gronowski has impressed with how grounded he seems. He got a pretty penny in NIL to come to Iowa, but doesn’t act like any sort of bonus baby.

His 51st win came in Gronowski’s 58th start. It moved gave him the FBS/FCS outright record. Boise State’s Kellen Moore had won 50 times. Win No. 52 will come in Big Ten play. The question is if it’s Friday at Rutgers in his Big Ten debut, or later.

The player Gronowski tied for all NCAA divisions is Cullen Finnerty, who was 51-4 as a starter at Grand Valley State, a Division II team in Michigan. Finnerty’s playing career has close parallels to Gronowski’s.

Finnerty starred for three national-championship teams at Grand Valley from 2003-2006. Gronowski led two of them at South Dakota State.

Finnerty passed for 10,905 yards and 110 touchdowns. Gronowski has thrown for 10,636 yards and 96 TDs.

Gronowski has rushed for 40 TDs and 1,855 yards. Finnerty rushed for 31 scores and 2,383 yards.

Finnerty’s story, however, is a tragic one. At age 30 in 2013, he was found dead in some woods in Baldwin, Mich. He had been on a fishing trip by himself. An autopsy report said he died of pneumonia caused by inhaling his vomit after he became disoriented, possibly because of painkillers combined with having a degenerative brain disease.

Finnerty's brain was studied at the Boston University CTE Center, which ruled he had a moderate level of CTE.

"CTE possibly affected his judgment, insight and behavior, but there are other factors, including the use of medications prescribed by his doctor, that most likely contributed to the circumstances surrounding his death," the center reported.

An Associated Press story reported that Kent County Chief Medical Examiner Stephen Cohle said pain medication was prescribed to Finnerty for back injuries likely sustained during his football career.

In 2018, Finnerty was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.

Saturday was a celebratory night at Kinnick, but not entirely. On the play in which Iowa’s Kaden Wetjen set a stadium record with a 95-yard punt return for a touchdown, Massachusetts’ TJ Magee took a hard hit to his head/neck area and was prone on the field for several minutes. He was strapped to a backboard and taken off the field by medical cart.

Magee was able to move his extremities after the injury. Magee’s father, Tiras Magee, wrote “He’s making a speedy recovery!” Sunday on social media. Tuesday, Ferentz said Magee had returned home Sunday and is “doing fine.”

“I think everybody is kind of holding their hearts in their hands on that one,” Ferentz had correctly said after the game.

"Football is a tough sport. It's a physical sport. It would be a great game if nobody ever got hurt.“

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