Introduction
Mark Farley (born April 5, 1963) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at the University of Northern Iowa, a position he has held since 2001. Farley played inside linebacker at Northern Iowa from 1983 to 1985. He led the team in tackles in 1984 and 1985 and was named Gateway Football Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year in 1985. He then became an assistant at Northern Iowa. In 1989 he was named linebackers coach by new head coach Terry Allen. In 1997 he followed Allen to the University of Kansas, but left in 2001 when the head coaching position at his alma mater opened up. Acting as his own defensive coordinator, Farley's squads perennially rank among the top defense teams in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. In early 2008, Farley served as the interim director of athletics at Northern Iowa. With a win over in-state rival Iowa State on September 3, 2016, Farley passed Northern Iowa legend Stan Sheriff in all-time wins as a football coach.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Iowa Panthers (Gateway Football Conference / Missouri Valley Football Conference) (2001–present) | |||||||||
| 2001 | Northern Iowa | 10–3 | 6–1 | 1st | L I-AA Playoffs Semifinal | 4 | |||
| 2002 | Northern Iowa | 5–6 | 2–5 | T–6th | |||||
| 2003 | Northern Iowa | 10–3 | 6–1 | T–1st | L I-AA Playoffs Quarterfinal | 5 | |||
| 2004 | Northern Iowa | 7–4 | 5–2 | 3rd | 25 | ||||
| 2005 | Northern Iowa | 11–4 | 5–2 | T–1st | L I-AA National Championship | 2 | |||
| 2006 | Northern Iowa | 7–4 | 5–2 | T–2nd | 17 | ||||
| 2007 | Northern Iowa | 12–1 | 6–0 | 1st | L FCS Playoffs Quarterfinal | 5 | 4 | ||
| 2008 | Northern Iowa | 12–3 | 7–1 | T–1st | L FCS Playoffs Semifinal | 4 | 4 | ||
| 2009 | Northern Iowa | 7–4 | 5–3 | T–3rd | 18 | 18 | |||
| 2010 | Northern Iowa | 7–5 | 6–2 | 1st | L FCS Playoffs First Round | 18 | 19 | ||
| 2011 | Northern Iowa | 10–3 | 7–1 | T–1st | L FCS Playoffs Quarterfinal | 5 | 6 | ||
| 2012 | Northern Iowa | 5–6 | 4–4 | T–6th | |||||
| 2013 | Northern Iowa | 7–5 | 3–5 | T–7th | |||||
| 2014 | Northern Iowa | 9–5 | 6–2 | 3rd | L FCS Playoffs Second Round | 10 | 10 | ||
| 2015 | Northern Iowa | 9–5 | 5–3 | T–3rd | L FCS Playoffs Quarterfinal | 6 | 6 | ||
| 2016 | Northern Iowa | 5–6 | 4–4 | T–4th | |||||
| 2017 | Northern Iowa | ||||||||
| Northern Iowa: | 134–67 | 82–38 | |||||||
| Total: | 134–67 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title | |||||||||
| #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. | |||||||||