He won a coin toss.

Farley was introduced in a joint press conference with new UNI men’s basketball coach Greg McDermott, believed to be the first such joint venture in Division I history. Farley was given the opportunity to call heads or tails to determine who would address the media first because he had less hair.

Farley, who chose heads, elected to defer to McDermott.

“It’s been busy,” Farley said of his hectic first day as head coach during a brief telephone interview between meetings. “Shoot, it’s exciting. It’s really exciting.”

Farley, who had coached linebackers since coming to KU with coach Terry Allen in 1997, signed a five-year deal at a base salary of $92,000. He was selected from a short list of five finalists that included fellow KU assistant Bill Salmon.

Allen has said he hopes to have Farley’s replacement hired by the end of the week.

“We’re certainly excited for Mark and his family and we wish him the best of luck,” Allen said in a written statement. “It’s a great opportunity for him and I’m confident he will do an outstanding job.”

Farley won’t have much time to get acclimated, though, as the spring practice session begins Thursday.

Tuesday’s press conference was attended by Farley’s wife, Lori; his sons, Jake and Jared; his daughter, Jamie; and his mom and niece, Betsy, from Waukon, Iowa.

When he played for the Panthers, Farley was known as the “Walk-on from Waukon.”

“When I came in here, I wanted to play,” Farley said. “I went to school and I found out how important school is, the academics and everything that goes along with it. But through football, I was presented with great opportunities in my life.

“And this, by far, is the best experience and most responsibility as well.”

After earning a scholarship, Farley became a three-year starter at linebacker from 1984-86, leading the Panthers in tackles all three seasons. His ferocity on the field led to being named the Gateway Conference Defensive Player of the Year as a junior.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education in 1986 and then joined the UNI staff as a graduate assistant, working with the inside linebackers. Farley became a full-time assistant in 1989.

Being both a former player and coach at Northern Iowa made his being selected head coach even sweeter.

“It was a great experience and from then on it was a very comfortable situation because this is home for me,” Farley said of the interview process. “Everything else from here on, this is a comfort zone for me. The faces I see out there the family, the friends, the neighbors I mean, it’s all here.”

During his emotion-filled meeting with the media, Farley spoke repeatedly about returning the Panthers to glory. He also said he is determined to recruit diligently throughout Iowa.

Farley met with his new team for the first time Monday night.

“The first thing we talked about last night was this program,” Farley said. “This program is the most important thing. It was here before we were here. It will be here after we leave. Right now we represent this program and this university. We represent the community. We represent the state. And we’ll do everything we can to put UNI football at the level that we’re proud of and that we always have been at this university because and I haven’t told Greg this yet but Iowa is a football state.”

The Panthers, who won seven consecutive conference championships and seven straight Division I-AA playoff berths from 1990-96 during Farley’s tenure as an assistant, have not claimed a conference crown or reached the postseason since Allen departed.

“This program is not broken. They’ve done a good job with it,” Farley said. “We just want to take it a step higher, raise the bar. We want to win the Gateway we will win the Gateway. We’ve got to re-establish ourselves so people are scared to come in here.”