Football is a Family Affair for Niemanns

IOWA CITY, Ia. – Jay Niemann is a football coach with a nomadic resume.
He’s in his second season on Kirk Ferentz’s coaching staff at Iowa, working as the
assistant defensive line coach and defensive recruiting coordinator.

Iowa City is the ninth home the Niemanns have had since he got into the profession
as the linebackers and special teams coach at Western Washington in 1985. Since
then, the former Iowa State linebacker from Avoca has coached at Washington,
Drake, Northern Iowa, Simpson, Hardin-Simmons, Northern Illinois and Rutgers
before Ferentz hired him.

The job has come with a bonus. Jay is able to rub shoulders with his youngest son,
Nick, on a daily basis. Nick is a senior and one of Iowa’s starting linebackers.
“It’s been awesome,” Jay said. “That daily interaction is something I missed out on
for a number of years until I got to Iowa.”

Ben Niemann, Jay and Lou Ann Niemann’s oldest son, was also a standout linebacker
for the Hawkeyes from 2014 to 2017. Jay had to watch Ben’s career unfold from a
distance, because he was coaching at Northern Illinois and then Rutgers during that
time.

On the day Ben played his final game at Kinnick Stadium on Senior Day 2017, the
38 th start of his career, Jay was also in a Big Ten stadium. But it was 388 miles away,
in Bloomingon, Ind., where Rutgers was playing Indiana.

“I kind of knew that was going to be the situation going in,” Ben said that day.
Originally, both were going to be part of the same program. As a senior at Sycamore
High School in Sycamore, Ill., Ben committed to Northern Illinois. Jay was the
Huskies’ defensive coordinator at the time.

But Ben would later change his mind and sign with Iowa. And Jay had to follow his
career from a distance.

Text messages and phone calls filled some of the void. And Jay would see his son
play in person when the schedules worked out. Jay saw Nick play against Illinois in
Kinnick Stadium in 2017. And after Rutgers played Indiana in a noon game in 2016,
Jay drove to State College, Pa., to see Ben and the Hawkeyes play Penn State that
night.

“He’s made sacrifices, when he can, to get to my games,” Ben said back then.
Nick signed with the Hawkeyes in 2016, and redshirted his first season. Jay and Lou
Ann moved to Iowa City before his junior season.

“One, I’m appreciative of the opportunity to be here,” Jay said. “It’s fun to see Nick
progress and watch him practice and play in games and do all those things. That’s
one aspect if it. The other part of that is just to have the opportunity to have
interaction day-to-day in the building. Just for him to be able to come out to our
house and have a meal. Things you normally don’t get to do if you were coaching at
another university like I have been prior to this. We’ve enjoyed it thoroughly.”

The 2019 season was special in a lot of ways for the Niemann family. Jay was able to
get a job in his home state. He had a front-row seat to watch Nick start in eight
games and play in all 13. Nick had 32 tackles, including 15 solo stops. He had a sack
and an interception in the Holiday Bowl victory against USC.

Niemann took that interception 25 yards for a touchdown with 1 minute 43 seconds
to play, the capper in Iowa’ 49-24 victory over the Trojans. And Jay reacted like a
father on the play.

“I have to admit I came out of my seat,” Jay said. “Just a natural reaction. I don’t
know what else to say. It was a proud moment.”

Another proud moment came at Super Bowl LIV. Ben Niemann and the Kansas City
Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers, 31-20. Ben, who signed with the club as an
undrafted free agent in 2018, had reached football’s pinnacle.

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“We had the opportunity to go to the Super Bowl, which is an incredible event and
an incredible opportunity in and of itself,” Jay said. “Winning the game was a bonus
that made it even better. It’s been fun to watch him progress and get some snaps
and opportunities there.”

Nick enters his final college season as Iowa’s starting weakside linebacker, and he’ll
probably play some middle linebacker as well.

“Hopefully there will be a good senior year for him ahead that we can enjoy,” Jay
said.

The Niemanns are a football family, often separated by miles but always together in
spirit.

“We’ve been incredibly blessed as a family to have two young men that had
opportunities to play football, do what they’ve done and be able to see and be a part
of it,” Jay said.