2nd year Georgia in championship game

[BigD]

Their 17 year coach Mark Richt couldn’t get them their so they let him go. I followed Richt with interest since he took over a Georgia program that had dropped off. He and Kirk were hired about the same time and like Kirk within a couple of years he had the Georgia program back being a contender for an SEC title. The knock on him by Georgia fans was that he had trouble winning the big game. Yet his win loss record was more impressive than Kirk’s.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/coaches/mark-richt-1.html

A more successful coach for 17 years was let go because he couldn’t get them to the Championship game. The goal for most true blue blood players and fans is to play for a National title. They gave Richt 17 years to try to do it. Eventually it became evident that he just didn’t have it in him to get them there. He had a clean program and let players go when they committed serious violations of team rules or broke the laws of the land. That is something else that Mark and Kirk had in common.

Yet the fans were wanting more and they decided to take a chance and let Richt go. Now just two years later they are playing for a national title. Something they would not have experienced if they didn’t have the courage to hire a new coach. Ironically they just played and beat a first year coach at Oklahoma. In just two years one coach was able to do what Kirk couldn’t do in eighteen years. Also in two years another coach was able to do in one year what Kirk never achieved and that was to play in the BCS bowl championship series. It’s extremely unlikely that Kirk will ever recruit and coach at a high enough level to ever play in the four game playoffs. Apparently the powers that be and the fan base have decided that they would concede and give up on wanting more. This is either out of fear of failure, fear of change or the spirit of indifference neither of which is in the spirit of true competition. The old saying really is true “No guts no glory”.

Alabama was down for decades as was USC, but the right hire changed everything for both schools. Notre Dame, Michigan, and Nebraska have gone though numerous coaches in pursuit of excellence, but at least they are trying. Iowa has chose not to try. In Kirk we will rust.

 

[proudhawkfan21]

ALL-TIME sales job to recruit blue chip athletes to Iowa City. ALL-TIME. Great idea here if we weren't Iowa. And before any other moron says Im part of the problem at least Im realistic and have a damn brain in my head. Yes, I'm not going to be a hall of fame baseball player if i accept failure, but even if i don't accept it, it's still not something I could ever hope to accomplish. I'd take it, but.....it's time for some of you to accept who you are. Keep dreaming, heck, we might even have a few more balls bounce our way and make a playoff, and maybe win a game. You never know. But, the schools you mention are blue bloods. It is much easier to recruit at those places. Don't give me the bull about it can be done. Look at the recruiting numbers and history. Your beloved Wisconsin or Michigan State cant do it. Penn State or Michigan or Nebraska havent for a very long time. But go ahead, open up the search. Let the flood of established national championship coaches wanting to be Iowa's coach begin. For the young and upcoming, let us be their stepping stone to all these things at a top flight ncaa blue blood. I'm sick of the argument that any of us accept mediocrity. Occasionally David beats Goliath, but just FYI, we will never be Goliath.

 

[Caddy]

How about at least competing for a conference title on a consistent basis? Iowa will never be relevant as long as KF and Brian are here. Oh no, lets not change though, things might be so much worse.. Worse than what? We aren't relevant now, not competing for conference titles consistently in a very weak division. So why the hesitancy for change? Purdue is on the way up, Nebby will be on the way up with Frost as well. Wisconsin is the class of our division, and seems to reload every year. Us, well we're hanging our hat on hoping Brian can get our juggernaut of an offense in the top 100 in the nation. The bar is extremely high here at Iowa.

 

[phdsvp]

Oh yeah. One coaching hire and we're Alabama.

You're drunk. Log off for the night.

 

[rchawkeye]

Barry Alvarez said it best in an interview on BTN in November. When asked about how he was able to build Wisconsin into a great program from being nothing, he said that he started by determining what kind of player he could recruit to Wisconsin, then developed schemes and identity around those players.

This is who Iowa is... a top 25 program that plays tough, physical football.

I'm more than content with what Iowa is with Ferentz. Sure, I'd like some offensive changes (less zone run scheme), but there is a lot to be happy about. I think the future is bright as well. Going to be a fun couple of years.

 

[Joshbrown]

Oh yeah. One coaching hire and we're Alabama.

You're drunk. Log off for the night.

Non-sequitur + ad hominem = honorary Brownshirt.
Once upon a time you were better than that.

 

[BVHawk95]

Non-sequitur + ad hominem = honorary Brownshirt.
Once upon a time you were better than that.

Oh, the sweet irony.

For all your talk about Nazis, Josh, you'd make a pretty good one. Goebbels could've used someone like you in propaganda-making.

 

[DDThompson]

Bears. Beats. Battlestar Galactica.

Fact: Oklahoma choked that game more than Georgia’s coach making pancake after pancake block.

 

[guffus]

Bears. Beats. Battlestar Galactica.

Fact: Oklahoma choked that game more than Georgia’s coach making pancake after pancake block.

Wow, you think it was a long rant with Georgia and their 2nd year coach making the championship game, just think how long it would be if Oklahoma made the championship game with its first year coach after replacing legendary coach Stoops.

 

[FCAS]

It’s extremely unlikely that Kirk will ever recruit and coach at a high enough level to ever play in the four game playoffs.

Unlikely? Yes. Extremely unlikely? No. We were a couple plays away a few years ago.

 

[FCAS]

Over the prior 4 classes, Georgia brought in 46 4-stars and 8 5-stars, including 2 5-star QBs. So far for this upcoming class alone they have 6 5-stars and 13 4-stars. No coach would ever be able to bring in that much talent to Iowa.

 

[BigD]

How about at least competing for a conference title on a consistent basis? Iowa will never be relevant as long as KF and Brian are here. Oh no, lets not change though, things might be so much worse.. Worse than what? We aren't relevant now, not competing for conference titles consistently in a very weak division. So why the hesitancy for change? Purdue is on the way up, Nebby will be on the way up with Frost as well. Wisconsin is the class of our division, and seems to reload every year. Us, well we're hanging our hat on hoping Brian can get our juggernaut of an offense in the top 100 in the nation. The bar is extremely high here at Iowa.

Good summation of the facts.

Maybe Iowa will never be anything of relevance and be nothing more that an ISU type of spoiler (see Ohio State game). I wonder if people’s brains have been washed out by all the nitrates and other chemicals the farmers have put in the soil there?

Now we are accepting being beat out by Wisconsin each year. This is a school the Hayden Fry owned and beat 15 out of 17 years. This is ok?????

What are people saying or admitting here? That IOWA is a shit school in a shit location and should never expect more? I don’t buy that and never will.

Some one posted that those are blue blood schools. Oh really, Clemson and Auburn were middle of the road to lower bracket schools and they both have had national championships in recent years. Georgia is not a blue blood either.

Next year what’s the hope with an all new backfield and all new linebackers? This is a serious question that I would enjoy hearing comments on. I see an improving quarterback and possibly and improving offensive line. Our defense could be pretty good if the new linebackers step in and can handle it.
I did see some explosiveness in our backfield a few times from our younger running backs.

Having said that I do not see how this team next year will have the pieces to even finish in the top ten or beat out Wisconsin for the West division. So now we have to look two years down the road to when Stanley is a senior. Don’t any of you ever get tired of having to look down the road and hope for a pipe dream? Enlighten me here a little. What recruits or young players do we have coming in that could be huge impact players besides Espy on the defensive end? I am seriously looking for a ray of sunshine of hope that is realistic.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Don't you pie in the sky dreamers realize that Iowa is closer to becoming Illinois then they are Ohio State? What magical coach do you think Iowa can get to replace KF with? Don't you realize that KFs stability the last 19 yrs is why Iowa is a program that rarely has less then 8 wins? If Iowa had changed coaches 3 or 4 times in the last 20 yrs like most programs have the odds Iowa has had the same success we've had is considerably less not more? I get wanting to do better and all that. I do but comparing Iowa to places like GA and OU where 5 star kids trip over each other to go there is just apples to oranges. Richt had underacheaved. Most coaches would have done better at GA. That state is right smack in the middle of the best HS football there is. They don't have to go 500 miles off campus to recruit pretty much. It takes both coaching and players to win. Not just one or the other. It's rare to see a bad coach take good players anywhere and it's even more rare to see a good coach take bad players to the promise land...

 

[BigD]

Over the prior 4 classes, Georgia brought in 46 4-stars and 8 5-stars, including 2 5-star QBs. So far for this upcoming class alone they have 6 5-stars and 13 4-stars. No coach would ever be able to bring in that much talent to Iowa.

This may or may not be true, but we could be better than what we are currently doing. Can’t they even find a speedster who can run and catch the ball?

Seems to me to be excuses for being a middle of the road DIVISION contender. Northwestern, a has been Nebraska squad, Wisconsin. Good grief Kirk couldn’t have asked for a weaker division to compete against. That may change soon with Nebraska. We shall see. If they ever right the ship we are screwed. Then we can become the Iowa State level of team that Earl Bruce used to coach.

Beilieve me I would love for something to just click with Kirk and this program just jettison and take off. He seems like a great person who is teaching good hard work values to his players. Wouldn’t it be great to have a coach like that that dominates the Western division in the Big Ten? I would totally love that. Even now I TRY to be optimistic and think there is hope down the road as Stanley could develope into a great QB and we might get some speedsters to throw to.

 

[uihawk82]

Over the prior 4 classes, Georgia brought in 46 4-stars and 8 5-stars, including 2 5-star QBs. So far for this upcoming class alone they have 6 5-stars and 13 4-stars. No coach would ever be able to bring in that much talent to Iowa.

I somewhat disagree with this. Imagine a coach like Fry at Iowa who is an extremely good salesman/orator as a recruiter. I just dont see Kirk being that great salesman in front of recruits and their parents, probably inspiring.

Now add to that a head coach with dynamic offense and defense that attacks and uses all the skills of the players and trying interesting plays and pressure defense etc and you might get a lot more 4 and 5 star players at Iowa. We wouldnt have to get many more to be way ahead of where we are.

Can you see Brian and Kirk trying the reverse pass to a QB that OU did last night?

Did you see how aggressive all those teams are on defense, well maybe not so much OU all the time haha?

 

[BigD]

Don't you pie in the sky dreamers realize that Iowa is closer to becoming Illinois then they are Ohio State? What magical coach do you think Iowa can get to replace KF with? Don't you realize that KFs stability the last 19 yrs is why Iowa is a program that rarely has less then 8 wins? If Iowa had changed coaches 3 or 4 times in the last 20 yrs like most programs have the odds Iowa has had the same success we've had is considerably less not more? I get wanting to do better and all that. I do but comparing Iowa to places like GA and OU where 5 star kids trip over each other to go there is just apples to oranges. Richt had underacheaved. Most coaches would have done better at GA. That state is right smack in the middle of the best HS football there is. They don't have to go 500 miles off campus to recruit pretty much. It takes both coaching and players to win. Not just one or the other. It's rare to see a bad coach take good players anywhere and it's even more rare to see a good coach take bad players to the promise land...

So your saying Iowa can NEVER be great? That it would take a freak of nature for that to happen? If this is true then why has Wisconsin been out performing us? We can’t we even beat out those cheese turds?

 

[uihawk82]

I should add I dont think the so called pro-style offense is bad to use over all but most teams spread the field more than we do and more build in some pistol and zone read than we do. I would really like to see them take a chance and have Stanley/qb run a little more out of a zone read just to give another option on second and short and third and short.

We need more wrinkles and scheming to get receivers open and move the chains.

 

[BigD]

I somewhat disagree with this. Imagine a coach like Fry at Iowa who is an extremely good salesman/orator as a recruiter. I just dont see Kirk being that great salesman in front of recruits and their parents, probably inspiring.

Now add to that a head coach with dynamic offense and defense that attacks and uses all the skills of the players and trying interesting plays and pressure defense etc and you might get a lot more 4 and 5 star players at Iowa. We wouldnt have to get many more to be way ahead of where we are.

Can you see Brian and Kirk trying the reverse pass to a QB that OU did last night?

Did you see how aggressive all those teams are on defense, well maybe not so much OU all the time haha?

Exactly!!! “Well how would you like to wear the black and gold? We aren’t too sexy but we do throw the ball once in a while. We also play a prevent style defense (bend not break) until we get pushed back to our own twenty yard line. Want to come play for us?”

 

[bogeyman]

Over the prior 4 classes, Georgia brought in 46 4-stars and 8 5-stars, including 2 5-star QBs. So far for this upcoming class alone they have 6 5-stars and 13 4-stars. No coach would ever be able to bring in that much talent to Iowa.

Should be easy to recruit to Iowa, just bring all those recruits by in the next couple weeks. I'm sure they'll love the lovely weather.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

This may or may not be true, but we could be better than what we are currently doing. Can’t they even find a speedster who can run and catch the ball?

Seems to me to be excuses for being a middle of the road DIVISION contender. Northwestern, a has been Nebraska squad, Wisconsin. Good grief Kirk couldn’t have asked for a weaker division to compete against. That may change soon with Nebraska. We shall see. If they ever right the ship we are screwed. Then we can become the Iowa State level of team that Earl Bruce used to coach.

Beilieve me I would love for something to just click with Kirk and this program just jettison and take off. He seems like a great person who is teaching good hard work values to his players. Wouldn’t it be great to have a coach like that that dominates the Western division in the Big Ten? I would totally love that. Even now I TRY to be optimistic and think there is hope down the road as Stanley could develope into a great QB and we might get some speedsters to throw to.

Dude wake up. "May or may not be true" How much you want to give me as far as losing a bet on it? There's no chance Iowa could bring in half that kind of talent. It's just not possible. How many 5 star QBs has Iowa ever brought in period? GA does it year after year. It's not just the one year class. It's the year after year accumulation of talent. Iowa has and can sneak in and get a top 10-15 class here and there. But the difference between a top 5 class and top 20 is a pretty wide gap a lot of times and Iowa can't seem to crap the top 25 3 yrs in a row which GA rarely dips out of the top 15 I would bet. All they have to do is say yes to the kids that already want to go there and stay close to home. It's not nearly as easy for Iowa to compete as you think it is