10-25-22 Press Conference Content

Kirk is losing the fan base. His comments about that reporter who dared ask him a few tough questions were enough to turn me against him. Based on twitter reaction I’m one of many
 
Really disappointed by those comments. I've generally always been a Kirk fan. And I'm understanding of regrettable comments made right after a disappointing loss. But he went out of his way to bring up grievances with the media during a regular mid-week press conference. I get the sense he doesn't think he should be challenged with questions like that, and wanted to prove that point days later. And made things personal too. Answering questions about performance are as much a part of the job as they were in 1999.

Is he still up for that? Just grit the teeth and say the offense isn't performing how he'd like, it's on him and the other coaches, they'll keep plugging away with the players and he'll evaluate everything at the end of the season like he always does. Say that over and over every week. It'll keep being asked regardless.

For those who haven't seen the comments, here you go:

Unprompted, here's how Kirk Ferentz responded Tuesday.

"During the questioning and in some cases interrogation on Saturday that I experienced, the one good thing about that dawned on me (was) coming home," Ferentz said. "I said as bad as today was, it could've been worse because I could've been that guy (Lesmireses). I could've been that guy, had his job and act like he did. It could be a hell of a lot worse. Things aren't all bad."

Ferentz eventually got back to answering the original question.
 
SwirlinLingerie said:
Really disappointed by those comments. I've generally always been a Kirk fan. And I'm understanding of regrettable comments made right after a disappointing loss. But he went out of his way to bring up grievances with the media during a regular mid-week press conference. I get the sense he doesn't think he should be challenged with questions like that, and wanted to prove that point days later. And made things personal too. Answering questions about performance are as much a part of the job as they were in 1999.

Is he still up for that? Just grit the teeth and say the offense isn't performing how he'd like, it's on him and the other coaches, they'll keep plugging away with the players and he'll evaluate everything at the end of the season like he always does. Say that over and over every week. It'll keep being asked regardless.

For those who haven't seen the comments, here you go:

Unprompted, here's how Kirk Ferentz responded Tuesday.

"During the questioning and in some cases interrogation on Saturday that I experienced, the one good thing about that dawned on me (was) coming home," Ferentz said. "I said as bad as today was, it could've been worse because I could've been that guy (Lesmireses). I could've been that guy, had his job and act like he did. It could be a hell of a lot worse. Things aren't all bad."

Ferentz eventually got back to answering the original question.
Click to expand...
Kirk used the word, "interrogated." That was the end of a lot of respect the guy had from me.

A 9 figure millionaire with enough money to support his next 3 generations bitching and crying in his cheerios about being asked a perfectly valid question, expecting us to shed a tear for him being "interrogated" jumps the shark. I still support him as a coach because I think 1) he's really good at it, and 2) if he'd just accept that his kid isn't smart enough to manage a Subway let alone a football team, things could get better quick.

So yeah, I support him, but at the same time he can go F himself, too.

He's been too rich, too bougie, and had too much power for too long. Obviously disconnected from the reality of the people who ultimately come to games and watch on TV, and he can't see that he's tanking the program on purpose.
 
I was disappointed yesterday after I thought he handled Saturday's questions well. What he did yesterday was draw more attention to the guy's column that ripped him.

I get that it's human nature to defend yourself. And in this case, he's also a father defending his son. As a father, I know I would have the same feelings. And that's the biggest problem in this situation.
 
Kirk isn't stupid. I'm sure as he promoted Brian to OC he would have said to himself..if we win all is good. If we lose, it could get ugly. That being said, I don't think Kirk or the majority of Hawk fans ever dreamed the offense would be this bad. I think a few changes have led to a perfect storm for this trainwreck. 1) transfer out of Charlie Jones 2) Linderbaum to NFL 3) Petras overall performance 4) inability to run the ball. 5) the makeables. As BF said, we need to make the makeable plays. We have failed miserably in this category. We could be 5-2 if we had made the plays we should have against Iowa State and Illinois. If we lose to NW and the offense doesn't score this will get even uglier.
 
1980HAWKFAN said:
Kirk isn't stupid. I'm sure as he promoted Brian to OC he would have said to himself..if we win all is good. If we lose, it could get ugly. That being said, I don't think Kirk or the majority of Hawk fans ever dreamed the offense would be this bad. I think a few changes have led to a perfect storm for this trainwreck. 1) transfer out of Charlie Jones 2) Linderbaum to NFL 3) Petras overall performance 4) inability to run the ball. 5) the makeables. As BF said, we need to make the makeable plays. We have failed miserably in this category. We could be 5-2 if we had made the plays we should have against Iowa State and Illinois. If we lose to NW and the offense doesn't score this will get even uglier.
Click to expand...

Losing to 1-6 Northwestern at home on homecoming with no offensive scores would be rock bottom.
 
1980HAWKFAN said:
As BF said, we need to make the makeable plays.
Click to expand...
That’s where Brian shows himself a total idiot with no conceptual understanding of his job.

He speaks in nothing but obvious generalities and tries to disguise it as wisdom or higher level concepts but he just sounds stupid.

“We need to make the makeable plays.”

No shit. A 4th grader would know that a sports team needs to “make makeable plays.”

“We need to do the things that will make us better as a unit.” Really? Wow…thanks for the deep sentiment. It all makes sense now. I never would’ve guess that a sports team would need to try and get better. Idiot.

“If we want to win ball games we need to score points…”

Uhhhhh…

It’s like he’s trolling us, but in reality he’s not intelligent enough nto troll anyone. I really do feel that if dad wasn’t a P5 head coach millionaire and he grew up in a normal household, he’d be your average fizzle wondering why his performance reviews at his 9-5 job always suck.

Listen to a guy like Phil Parker, or LeVar Woods, or Reese Morgan, or any host of other coaches talk in a presser and you get actual football specifics. You get X’s and O’s to the degree that they’re allowed to talk about. You get real football and football answers.

What you don’t get are a bunch of vague generalities and cutesy quotes that sound like a self help book about success and “doing my job,” or a bunch of regurgitated coach-speak psycho babble that he apparently learned from watching Frank Garza seminars.
 
This is bad bad.. So after 3 days of sleeping on things he decides to go after the reporter (and by proxie journalists in general) that asked him fair questions and wrote that article about how nepotism in college football is bad. That should be so far beneath him to bring up. Just leave it. If asked again brush it off and do what he often does and sidestep/ignore it. He can't go there and think he's gonna win any PR battles by bashing the reporter in a non specific way no less.

Saying that 'things could be worse' in the way he did was such a poor poor choice of words in how he used them. Like being a journalist is so far beneath being a HC. First thing I thought was well I can think of one thing that's worse and that's his offense that his kid is running. That can't possibly get any worse and totally is the point of what Dougs questions and article ended up being about.

He feels to be on tilt to me. He normally wouldn't have went there like that. He's feeling the pressure and it's showing. I can't see how this ends well fellas. I really don't. If Iowa loses this Northwestern game the wheels will all be off the wagon.
 
Not that this matters, but this is a play right out of Hayden's PR play book. He attacked the media with the same sort of passive aggressiveness indicating that they didn't know dick about football pretty much every October. It's actually tame compared to Hayden, he was always miffed at media criticism and he let them know it.
 
RobHowe said:
I was disappointed yesterday after I thought he handled Saturday's questions well. What he did yesterday was draw more attention to the guy's column that ripped him.

I get that it's human nature to defend yourself. And in this case, he's also a father defending his son. As a father, I know I would have the same feelings. And that's the biggest problem in this situation.
Click to expand...
I agree. he pretty much was making Dougs point by how he responded to it.

Does the media get to talk to KF again before Saturday? The next time he's speaking to the media I would think he's either going to be apologizing for what he said or digging in more.
 
InGoodCo said:
Not that this matters, but this is a play right out of Hayden's PR play book. He attacked the media with the same sort of passive aggressiveness indicating that they didn't know dick about football pretty much every October. It's actually tame compared to Hayden, he was always miffed at media criticism and he let them know it.
Click to expand...
I do think this is a little different because Kirk is being "interrogated" (to use his term) about very obvious, textbook nepotism...not really football itself. The nepotism is negatively impacting the football program, but the criticism coming at him is about his HR practices.
 
Fryowa said:
I do think this is a little different because Kirk is being "interrogated" (to use his term) about very obvious, textbook nepotism...not really football itself. The nepotism is negatively impacting the football program, but the criticism coming at him is about his HR practices.
Click to expand...
I see it a little differently obviously, but Brian reports to Gary, so that question is pointed incorrectly. Let's start there. Also, Kirk's comment was tame compared to how Hayden would go at them a lot of times. Hayden has a few "famous" post games. It was part of his charm that made him endearing to the fans. It was part of his aw shucks persona that Iowa fans ate up. This in context is completely different, but again, tame compared to how often Fry went at the media.

Look, I think Kirk should be held to the fire, but I also think, he has won a lot of games and the season hasn't played out yet, let's see how it finishes. He thinks he should have more good will. I do too personally, but I think obviously changes need to be made on offense.

Either way it's not a good look but right now a huge part of me thinks Iowa fans and media are acting like a 16 year old that didn't get a sports car for their first vehicle.
 
Last edited:
RobHowe said:
I was disappointed yesterday after I thought he handled Saturday's questions well. What he did yesterday was draw more attention to the guy's column that ripped him.

I get that it's human nature to defend yourself. And in this case, he's also a father defending his son. As a father, I know I would have the same feelings. And that's the biggest problem in this situation.
Click to expand...
It will probably go down as Kirk's biggest mistake next to all of the other stuff.....hiring his son in the OC/QB position. It is a shame.
 
I walk/bike by the practice field on my way into work some days. Typically, the voices heard are those of the assistant coaches. I rarely hear the head coach.

This morning the ONLY voice I heard was the head coach, clearly instructing the OL during drills. He was very into it.

Just an interesting observation.
 
InGoodCo said:
I see it a little differently obviously, but Brian reports to Gary, so that question is pointed incorrectly. Let's start there. Also, Kirk's comment was tame compared to how Hayden would go at them a lot of times. Hayden has a few "famous" post games. It was part of his charm that made him endearing to the fans. It was part of his aw shucks persona that Iowa fans ate up. This in context is completely different, but again, tame compared to how often Fry went at the media.

Look, I think Kirk should be held to the fire, but I also think, he has won a lot of games and the season hasn't played out yet, let's see how it finishes. He thinks he should have more good will. I do too personally, but I think obviously changes need to be made on offense.

Either way it's not a good look but right now a huge part of me thinks Iowa fans and media are acting like a 16 year old that didn't get a sports car for their first vehicle.
Click to expand...
Only from the technical standpoint... Even Barta told the truth about how that actually works when that Doug guy questioned him about it all. It's a they know that we all know that they only did it that way to circumvent the actual rules/laws that there are in regards to nepotism. That's not even adding to the fact that Barta isn't hardly KFs boss either.

Kf could get Barta fired way more so then the other way around if he wanted.
 
Fryowa said:
That’s where Brian shows himself a total idiot with no conceptual understanding of his job.

He speaks in nothing but obvious generalities and tries to disguise it as wisdom or higher level concepts but he just sounds stupid.

“We need to make the makeable plays.”

No shit. A 4th grader would know that a sports team needs to “make makeable plays.”

“We need to do the things that will make us better as a unit.” Really? Wow…thanks for the deep sentiment. It all makes sense now. I never would’ve guess that a sports team would need to try and get better. Idiot.

“If we want to win ball games we need to score points…”

Uhhhhh…

It’s like he’s trolling us, but in reality he’s not intelligent enough nto troll anyone. I really do feel that if dad wasn’t a P5 head coach millionaire and he grew up in a normal household, he’d be your average fizzle wondering why his performance reviews at his 9-5 job always suck.

Listen to a guy like Phil Parker, or LeVar Woods, or Reese Morgan, or any host of other coaches talk in a presser and you get actual football specifics. You get X’s and O’s to the degree that they’re allowed to talk about. You get real football and football answers.

What you don’t get are a bunch of vague generalities and cutesy quotes that sound like a self help book about success and “doing my job,” or a bunch of regurgitated coach-speak psycho babble that he apparently learned from watching Frank Garza seminars.
Click to expand...

Fryowa said:
That’s where Brian shows himself a total idiot with no conceptual understanding of his job.

He speaks in nothing but obvious generalities and tries to disguise it as wisdom or higher level concepts but he just sounds stupid.

“We need to make the makeable plays.”

No shit. A 4th grader would know that a sports team needs to “make makeable plays.”

“We need to do the things that will make us better as a unit.” Really? Wow…thanks for the deep sentiment. It all makes sense now. I never would’ve guess that a sports team would need to try and get better. Idiot.

“If we want to win ball games we need to score points…”

Uhhhhh…

It’s like he’s trolling us, but in reality he’s not intelligent enough nto troll anyone. I really do feel that if dad wasn’t a P5 head coach millionaire and he grew up in a normal household, he’d be your average fizzle wondering why his performance reviews at his 9-5 job always suck.

Listen to a guy like Phil Parker, or LeVar Woods, or Reese Morgan, or any host of other coaches talk in a presser and you get actual football specifics. You get X’s and O’s to the degree that they’re allowed to talk about. You get real football and football answers.

What you don’t get are a bunch of vague generalities and cutesy quotes that sound like a self help book about success and “doing my job,” or a bunch of regurgitated coach-speak psycho babble that he apparently learned from watching Frank Garza seminars.
Click to expand...
Good point. I looked at that comment from BF "We have to make the makeable plays" as coach speak for my God Spencer you have a guy running 5 yards from you get him the ball and he walks in for the score against Illinois. Spencer freaked out threw it 2 yards into the ground when a D line guy scared him. Most fans are going to say Spencer is terrible and his play shows he is, but you know as a coach in his position he can't say that. Therefore, we get the makeable play bullshit.
 
RobHowe said:
I was disappointed yesterday after I thought he handled Saturday's questions well. What he did yesterday was draw more attention to the guy's column that ripped him.

I get that it's human nature to defend yourself. And in this case, he's also a father defending his son. As a father, I know I would have the same feelings. And that's the biggest problem in this situation.
Click to expand...
Why would you think he handle it well? He was obviously lying.
 
InGoodCo said:
I see it a little differently obviously, but Brian reports to Gary...
Click to expand...
I know we won't agree on this and it's not probably worth arguing, but he doesn't.

That's an "on paper" relationship meant to get by the nepotism laws.

Kirk is Gary's boss when it comes to football and GB isn't doing anything to BF.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top