Anyone NOT Want To See Ferentz Go? If So .....

[doughudd]

The program has hit a point of such mediocrity that I really see nothing to lose.

We don't play anybody decent and yet we still lose 5 games a year. We don't have highly rated recruits that will go somewhere else.

Whats the low end a bad hire could realistically do at this program with such an easy schedule most years? Probably pretty close to what KF is already doing.

3 out of our last 5 seasons have been disasters.

Oh really. Check out Purdue's last two seasons.

 

[doughudd]

Another ten years then? Wait till it's run totally into the ground?

I'm dumbfounded by the fear of change.

Hayden stayed to long and it in no way helped the program. Considering the state of the conference Ferentz is doing worse.

There are fundamental flaws going on here that do not warrent patience.

And when the next new coach wins 5 games in the first two years it starts all over again.

 

[hawkinn3]

1)

5) we play TOUGH, hard-nosed, physical football. If we wanted to play Chip Kelley style football, we simply cannot recruit to that level here in Iowa. Kirk recruits to a certain brand of football. That brand of football had the kind of kids we can recruit here in mind from day 1. Mr. Davis Osborne knew he could not consistantly bring in the elite skill position players, so he built those Nebraska teams around toughness in the trenches and running the football.
.

I have to address this. Nebby had elite skill players from CA and the south. How did they get them to come to Nebraska? They must of just loved living in Lincoln. And if you believe that...

 

[HawkeyeGunner]

I don't want to see him go out like this. I really don't. I'd love for him to have another few laps around the track, right the ship and prepare the place for the next coach...that would be ideal, as I respect him a great deal.

But I think that would require more change from him than I think he has shown to be capable of.

If he just would get a new offensive coordinator and loosen the reigns on the qb situation, I think things could be turned around. See Northwestern and second half Wisconsin.

 

[David79]

The turnovers are on the players and that cost them two or three games. If you have a negative turnover margin you aren't going to have a good year

 

[RocknRollface]

Oh really. Check out Purdue's last two seasons.

Iowa is superior to Purdue in everything they can offer.

Money, facilities, stadium, reputation, fan support. None of its comparable.

Iowa needs to be comparing itself to Wisconsin. That's the program that is most similar and they are kicking our butts where we used to kick theirs.

Their AD is a winner ours is a loser.

 

[RocknRollface]

Allot of people wanted to give Licklieter more time too.

 

[homes]

I am in the don't fire him camp; however, I do think he needs to find a new OC, and turn the reigns over to him. Let the OC make the personnel decisions, call the plays and keep your hands off the steering wheel. If they go into next year without any changes and reproduce the same or similar result, then I will probably change my mind about his status as the head coach. I don't think the fear of the unknown should stymie the Administration at that point, unless middling results is deemed acceptable. If that is the result next year, and no changes are made, we will have our answer on their tolerance level (although if no changes are made this year, I have a pretty good idea how they feel about it already). I doubt the bulk of the fanbase would feel the same way. At that point, it will be a real dumpster fire, making this year seem mild by comparison. I'm a fan, I'm holding on to thinking something will change this year.

 

[RocknRollface]

And when the next new coach wins 5 games in the first two years it starts all over again.

Why would the next coach only win 5 games?

explain the thought process please.

Iowa won 7 games this year without beating a single team above 500 while still losing a game to ISU.

Every year we are going to play two cupcakes, ISU, Minnesota, NW, and Purdue.

Thats half the freaking schedule every year.

And were afraid we can't do better than 7 wins against that?

Expectations that low are just idiotic.

 

[BILLBUCKNER]

Most people critical of the state of Iowa Football are focused on the head coach right now because they are rightfully disappointed in the regular season. The expectations were that the team was capable of much more and it is the head coaches fault that those expectations were not met. If the head coach is so bad why would Iowa fans even have expectations?

As a loyal fan of 60 year I have seen the the worst and the best of Iowa Football. When I analyze the state of the football program I'm not going to dwell on the season just ended. Instead I am going to look at where college football is headed long term. There are some major issues that are ahead for all teams. Does Iowa have a coach that will be able to deal with those issues? Let's take a look at the freshman rules for eligibility beginning in 2016. What happens when the freshmen recruits are told they cannot practice or play in games because they didn't score well enough on entrance exams? The coaches that looked first to see if the recruit can qualify and remain eligible are going to look pretty smart. The head coach at Iowa has been able to achieve a degree of success and a good graduation rate by working with recruits that project to graduate.

Off the field do the facilities attract interest from recruits? Has Ferentz been able to get Iowa into a competitive position with its facilities? If you have seen photos of the new football offices that would not have happened without a push from Ferentz.

Reflecting back over this season and compared to two years ago did anyone see more risk taking on offense? I did. Going for a first down on fourth down went way up. Often calls were made for longer passes, but if the QB doesn't find wide open receivers it is hard to justify saying they weren't trying to open it up. On defense we seen some more blitzing and stunts on third downs. Whether the change is apparent or not at least there has been some attempt to take greater risk.

I listened to a commenter talk about Michigan. The comment was maybe Michigan is suffering from the same mentality that Nebraska is going through. The conditions under which much of their success occurred no longer exist. Overall the Big Ten is operating under a different mentality when it comes to over-signing, having academic admission standards, and football being one of many sports. The comments Sally Mason made about Kentucky tells you alot about where the academic community of the Big Ten is at. Similar comments are coming from the PAC 12 and do not be surprised to see the ACC echo the need for changes regarding cleaning up football and the issues related to concussions, off the field behavior, and the alarming costs to operate a program.

Changing coaches in the midst of a turbulent time, with realignment creating much of it, is not the wisest thing to do. As of yesterday there were 9 head coach positions open and one program being eliminated. When you need a steady hand to guide you then Ferentz looks pretty good.

I was not aware of these rule changes...So Alabama won't be able to let their 5* studs play or practice their freshman year?

 

[ZackGreinke]

i don't, remember from 2002-2004, 2009? Exactly why he should stay. He is an amazing coach and an amazing in-game coach. He really uses his Timeouts at the perfect times as well. What other coach will let 30 seconds run off the clock and then use the timeout?

 

[David79]

Look at the big ten stats and it's clear that the season came down to a couple of things; Turnovers and red zone offense. If you flip Minnesota and Iowa's TO margin Iowa would likely be in the championship game.

 

[RocknRollface]

Look at the big ten stats and it's clear that the season came down to a couple of things; Turnovers and red zone offense. If you flip Minnesota and Iowa's TO margin Iowa would likely be in the championship game.

Got to look at the bigger picture man. Iowa been a 500 program for ten years.

you could make these kind of statements just about every year.

At some point it's time to accept it's not getting better.

 

[David79]

Got to look at the bigger picture man. Iowa been a 500 program for ten years.

you could make these kind of statements just about every year.

At some point it's time to accept it's not getting better.

Im talking about this season.

 

[herkish]

Look at the big ten stats and it's clear that the season came down to a couple of things; Turnovers and red zone offense. If you flip Minnesota and Iowa's TO margin Iowa would likely be in the championship game.

Double our TOs and we're likely 0-12, so what's your point? If you're evaluating our coach based on fantasy situations that never happened i can see why you are so proud of our efforts.

 

[David79]

Double our TOs and we're likely 0-12, so what's your point? If you're evaluating our coach based on fantasy situations that never happened i can see why you are so proud of our efforts.

Just pointing out that people are looking in the wrong places for why they lost games this year.
Look at the stats. Red Zone offense was horrible and I think a lot of that is on the OC but Rudock deserves a lot of it as well.
Turnovers especially fumbles were a huge problem.

Big Ten stats
Scoring: Iowa 5th
scoring D: Iowa 8th
Total Offense: Iowa 4th
Total D: 4
Rushing O: 7
Passing O: 2

Punting :12
first downs: 3
3rd down efficiency: 3
The least penalized team
Time of Possession: 3

Turn over margin: 12
Red Zone Offense: 10th

so it's clear where the weaknesses were. Turnovers, Red Zone O, Punting

If you look at the losses, Iowa had more turnovers in each of those games.

 

[JHHawk]

Agree with eyek, KF has put Iowa in a good position to continue to compete.
We all get frustrated on some gamedays, but kf can fix it...go vertical ...new OC.

If KF is gone, the top recruit Epenesa and dtackle Harris probably gone....we have the facilities to compete finally...KF can turn this. Also...he has a contract.

 

[Gibsonian]

KF could turn this, most undoubtedly. Iowa has a lot going for it in a lot of ways. We have a solid base to work from. The question is, will he? It requires change, and likely more change than he has ever created on his own. If he doesn't, we will not improve our position, will likely get worse before the end of his tenure.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Why would the next coach only win 5 games?

explain the thought process please.

Iowa won 7 games this year without beating a single team above 500 while still losing a game to ISU.

Every year we are going to play two cupcakes, ISU, Minnesota, NW, and Purdue.

Thats half the freaking schedule every year.

And were afraid we can't do better than 7 wins against that?

Expectations that low are just idiotic.

Haven't you heard? A coaching change means that the program WILL go into the tank. Even if we were somehow to hire Nick Saban. It's unavoidable. Pffft.

For the record - I don't believe what I just wrote, not for a second. It would happen that way if it's the wrong hire, for sure. But make the right hire, and I think it would be a relatively seamless transition. Just ask Wisconsin. They had a recent coaching change, and they didn't really miss a beat. Maybe some bumps adjusting to a new system part of the first year, but IMO that would probably be about it. The only problem I have is that I'm less than confident about our athletic department making a good hire.

 

[herkish]

Just pointing out that people are looking in the wrong places for why they lost games this year.
Look at the stats. Red Zone offense was horrible and I think a lot of that is on the OC but Rudock deserves a lot of it as well.
Turnovers especially fumbles were a huge problem.

Big Ten stats
Scoring: Iowa 5th
scoring D: Iowa 8th
Total Offense: Iowa 4th
Total D: 4
Rushing O: 7
Passing O: 2

Punting :12
first downs: 3
3rd down efficiency: 3
The least penalized team
Time of Possession: 3

Turn over margin: 12
Red Zone Offense: 10th

so it's clear where the weaknesses were. Turnovers, Red Zone O, Punting

If you look at the losses, Iowa had more turnovers in each of those games.

Most would argue that stats are only that; stats. These same "problems" could be shown to be our strengths looking purely at numbers. What everyone sees, is that our problems are not a product of our staff breaking down in certain key moments but a fundemental lack of knowledge/ability pertaining to basic football strategy.
With zero risks, no functional offensive scheme, poor player analysis, and literally the worst game management in the biz; we have a coach who, regardless of any strengths the program may have, they are negated by what equates to a staff w/ the IQ of seahorses trying to manage the games.
Or, our gameplan from the onset is horribly flawed. Even if our players "executed" like KF throws them under the bus for continuously; what would we be executing? 2 yard outs on 3 and 10, full back stretch plays for zero gain? There is no positive outcome w/ Kirk running the show because our plan ain't going to work even w/ 100% execution. This too would explain our poor red zone offense. When it's 3rd and goal from the 1 and you opt for taking a knee and punting (sarcasm), it doesn't matter how "well" you do this, the end result is an "L"