Iowa City, Iowa ? Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz is traveling more and enjoying it.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” said Ferentz, taking a breather recently in South Florida after an Orange Bowl news conference. “There’s a lot going on.”

Ferentz has a demanding itinerary for a reason: His third-ranked Hawkeyes (11-1) are one of the best teams in the country, own a share of the Big Ten title with Ohio State and return to the Orange Bowl on Jan. 2 to play Southern California.

The job he did in turning a 1-10 team into Big Ten champions in four years was rewarded on Thursday when Ferentz was chosen The AP College Coach of the Year.

The 47-year-old Ferentz received 26 votes in balloting by 71 members of the AP college football poll board, which includes representatives of newspapers, TV and radio stations.