Barry Alvarez Would Never Have Let His HC Keep Brian Ferentz On Staff

Fryowa

Fryowa

Administrator
Barta is a puppet of KF and the donors, so I don't imply that he has any ability to change the OC situation (btw, the "He's in charge so he can definitely do something!" crowd can save the keystrokes. The biggest football donors pay the bills and love KF).

But having a guy like Alvarez as AD--who knows football and what it takes to win--compared to a guy like Snaggletooth McFarta as AD...is the difference between an truly elite team and a pretty good team.
 
Fryowa said:
Barta is a puppet of KF and the donors, so I don't imply that he has any ability to change the OC situation (btw, the "He's in charge so he can definitely do something!" crowd can save the keystrokes. The biggest football donors pay the bills and love KF).

But having a guy like Alvarez as AD--who knows football and what it takes to win--compared to a guy like Snaggletooth McFarta as AD...is the difference between an truly elite team and a pretty good team.
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Hasn't Wisky made coordinator changes in-season in recent memory? They just brought in a new OC this past offseason.

I know Minnesota changed OC in-season in 2021.
 
CP87 said:
Hasn't Wisky made coordinator changes in-season in recent memory? They just brought in a new OC this past offseason.

I know Minnesota changed OC in-season in 2021.
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I though Bert bounced his line coach (and when Bert bounces you it can go a long way)

You're correct about Fleck as well. It was a coordinator in season.
 
There is not an AD in the country that would demand a 20+ year HC coming off of 10 win seasons in his last two full years (Covid) fire anybody.

Brian should be fired but it needs to come from Kirk. If your AD lays that down you better fire everyone or the staff is going to riot and good luck attracting any decent coaches in the future.
 
Barta needs to fire Brian.
He is responsible for allowing this nepotism to occur in the first place.
He assured the fans and other athletic department employees that Brian would report to him - not Kirk - and that Brian would be evaluated like any other employee.
If Barta does not believe Brian has performed poorly enough to be fired, then Barta should be fired for demonstrable incompetence as a manager.
If he is simply too much of a feckless coward to fire Brian, he should be fired for a lack of integrity and dishonoring his previous commitment to the University.
Either way, a new interim AD should be hired whose first action would be to fire Brian Ferentz.
 
As much as I don't like Brian running as OC and Q/B coach and learning on the Job, to fire him by the AD would be so ugly it would make the lawsuit look like small potatoes. There is no way this is happening in-season. Kirk will be required to "shift" his coaching duties to the offensive line or get one of his buddies to take Brian on elsewhere if the offense starts putting Iowa in the basement of the Big. That's the pressure it will take, it does seem Kirk is in the driver seat as a buy-out would be crushing to the university and we already know Kirk values doing things "his way" over wins. This entire situation is why hiring family and working in a public job is such a bad ideal. Hiring family for a private business is fine, but to say that Brian has "earned" his position based on being a former player and coaching for one part of a season for the Patriots (which was probable a favor from Bill to Kirk) is BS. There are so many coaches that have spent their lives reaching the position that was given to Brian. How do you think Wallace and Woods feel about watching this rookie fly up the organizational ladder of Hawkeye football. Compare and contrast their resumes to Brians. Even the new coaches, Betts and Hodge have been working years for their chance. What do you think the water cooler talk is about at the office and I bet it stops when Brian and Kirk walk by. Coaches on this staff are getting it done, some are not.
 
hawkinn3 said:
There is not an AD in the country that would demand a 20+ year HC coming off of 10 win seasons in his last two full years (Covid) fire anybody.
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If this were going on at Wisconsin during Alvarez's tenure as AD it would most certainly happen. Without a doubt. And Alvarez would have donor support.
 
BF doesnt need to be fired. He is a Hawkeye with roots passion and knowledge that is beneficial to the Iowa program. What needs to happen is he needs to be reassigned within the program to an area where he could at least be useful. Strength coach, OL, TEs, quality control, etc....but KF needs to man up for this to happen.
 
cohawkeye said:
BF doesnt need to be fired. He is a Hawkeye with roots passion and knowledge that is beneficial to the Iowa program. What needs to happen is he needs to be reassigned within the program to an area where he could at least be useful. Strength coach, OL, TEs, quality control, etc....but KF needs to man up for this to happen.
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I don't disagree, but that will never happen.

To demote Brian would mean two things.

1) Kirk would be admitting that he was nepotistic and that he made a bad personnel decision involving his own son; someone he knows better than any other coach or staff member he's come across in his entire career.

2) It would nationally and severely embarrass his own son and effectively end his career advancement in P5 football. Brian would never get hired again at the coordinator level, let alone the HC level. Kirk knows that, and if it came down to ruining his family dynamic at home and having to explain to Mary what he was doing, or alienating the fan base and team, I guarantee you he's going with option B every time. He's built generational wealth and has the support of hundreds of very, VERY wealthy and influential people. KF doesn't give two fucks what fans think about the situation.

Kirk's only safe out is to continue rolling the dice on Brian year after year, hoping he lucks into a couple seasons with the right QB and an offensive ranking in the top third of D1A. At that point KF can just chalk it up to learning and feel like Brian's the real deal.

I have serious doubts about that.
 
cohawkeye said:
BF doesnt need to be fired. He is a Hawkeye with roots passion and knowledge that is beneficial to the Iowa program. What needs to happen is he needs to be reassigned within the program to an area where he could at least be useful. Strength coach, OL, TEs, quality control, etc....but KF needs to man up for this to happen.
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James for strength coach whenever he retires from the NFL. That dude is still jacked in his thirties. I'd be more than happy to see BF move back to OL, but if they didn't switch him and Polasek while he was the OL coach, it's never going to happen.

As Fry said above, it's bad for Brian's career. We need to hope some Go5 team takes a flyer on him as HC at some point. Not sure why they would, but that's probably the only way he leaves.
 
Could you imagine an AD telling a coach who's in the top 8 winning percentage in P5 the last 5 seasons and coming off a West Championship to fire anyone let alone asking him to do anything other then keep the wins and money flowing in? Even Barry knows it's a business and frankly, business has been good for Iowa recently.
 
This is exactly why corporations have nepotism rules. It provides conflict and is detrimental to the organization. It's too awkward to do the right thing.
 
InGoodCo said:
Could you imagine an AD telling a coach who's in the top 8 winning percentage in P5 the last 5 seasons and coming off a West Championship to fire anyone let alone asking him to do anything other then keep the wins and money flowing in? Even Barry knows it's a business and frankly, business has been good for Iowa recently.
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Iowa has been winning in spite of BF. That's a major distinction and I don't think Barry would tolerate it.
 
Fryowa said:
Barta is a puppet of KF and the donors, so I don't imply that he has any ability to change the OC situation (btw, the "He's in charge so he can definitely do something!" crowd can save the keystrokes. The biggest football donors pay the bills and love KF).

But having a guy like Alvarez as AD--who knows football and what it takes to win--compared to a guy like Snaggletooth McFarta as AD...is the difference between an truly elite team and a pretty good team.
Click to expand...
Alvarez was essentially a .500 big ten coach. Certainly a good AD, but the pedestal some hoist him onto is crazy
 
InGoodCo said:
Could you imagine an AD telling a coach who's in the top 8 winning percentage in P5 the last 5 seasons and coming off a West Championship to fire anyone let alone asking him to do anything other then keep the wins and money flowing in? Even Barry knows it's a business and frankly, business has been good for Iowa recently.
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Based on Brian's performance as OC, would he still be on the staff of any other P5 program after 5 years?
 
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Fryowa said:
I don't disagree, but that will never happen.

To demote Brian would mean two things.

1) Kirk would be admitting that he was nepotistic and that he made a bad personnel decision involving his own son; someone he knows better than any other coach or staff member he's come across in his entire career.

2) It would nationally and severely embarrass his own son and effectively end his career advancement in P5 football. Brian would never get hired again at the coordinator level, let alone the HC level. Kirk knows that, and if it came down to ruining his family dynamic at home and having to explain to Mary what he was doing, or alienating the fan base and team, I guarantee you he's going with option B every time. He's built generational wealth and has the support of hundreds of very, VERY wealthy and influential people. KF doesn't give two fucks what fans think about the situation.

Kirk's only safe out is to continue rolling the dice on Brian year after year, hoping he lucks into a couple seasons with the right QB and an offensive ranking in the top third of D1A. At that point KF can just chalk it up to learning and feel like Brian's the real deal.

I have serious doubts about that.
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With every dismal offensive season, and every game like SDSU, Brian's chances for future employment as a coach at any level or capacity become less and less. (It is debatable if he has any prospects at this point)
Kirk now realizes this too. Short term, the only option to keep Brian gainfully employed is to hang on as HC (with Brian as OC) longer than he should (to the detriment of the program).
Long term, Brian's failures become the very reason he becomes the next Iowa HC. Kirk realizes Brian has no other coaching career path. He calls in his markers to the boosters and gains their commitment to name Brian as HC to replace him.
 
SCHawkeye2 said:
Based on Brian's performance as OC, would he still be on the staff of any other P5 program after 5 years?
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Iowa is 40-18 over that span, when you win close to 70% of your games, your jobs aren't in jeopardy... tell me what P5 program would want that to change?
 
Fryowa said:
Iowa has been winning in spite of BF. That's a major distinction and I don't think Barry would tolerate it.
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They have won in spite of it, but also, know this....this is pretty much their blue print. I can't say it's all to plan but Iowa has always been about Defense and Special Teams since he got here. Kirk would rather be on defense and most of all he wants an offense that doesn't turn the ball over.

I am not saying it's right or wrong, but I am saying, this is how Iowa wants to win games.
 
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