Apologist forgiveness thread
- Thread starter Joshbrown
- Start date
tksirius
HN's Love Doctor
I was in the 9 win camp, but that was assuming Brian was going to be a better OC than Davis.
theboat
Well-Known Member
Joshbrown
Well-Known Member
If we beat Nebraska many will jump back on the bandwagon.
It'll be "we beat Nebraska and Ohio State in the same season! When was the last time we did that? Raise and extension baby or we'll lose him to someone else."
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HawkeyeDenis
Well-Known Member
I don't fall off the band wagon. But I don't hold my tongue either. Win or lose. Always a Hawkeye.
Joshbrown
Well-Known Member
Good post.
And can someone explain to me how meeting a Cyclone-type season-prediction is a reason NOT to fault the head coach?
If ya have to set the bar low to feel good about your HC, guess what, you have the wrong head coach. Progressively winning fewer games each year is not a HOF accomplishment.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
I blame it Ferentz for sure. Play calling has been a negative all season. The biggest issue, is KF hasn't done enough to get fired either. So, here we are.
HawkeyeDenis
Well-Known Member
It's just sad when Iowa is in Cyclone territory. I'll say it, though it might make me puke, Iowa State is a better team than Iowa at this point.
theboat
Well-Known Member
He might do just enough to extend his buyout. Thanks Barta.
theboat
Well-Known Member
Not even a question at this point.
Joshbrown
Well-Known Member
I think people are confused by the fidelity issue.
"always a Hawkeye" doesn't translate to "always support Lickliter cuz if ya don't you're not an Iowa fan"
Actually, being an Iowa fan means supporting the firing of Lickliter. Now I know KF isn't Lick. But Lick wasn't advancing the program and neither is KF.
But the larger issue to me is how fans enable our current predicament by not being able to understand what "supporting the Hawkeyes" really means. Setting high standards is actually supporting the Hawkeyes, but that concept has been twisted to the point where "I think 6 wins is pride-worthy cuz we met expectations" is considered being the superior fan. If your child gets Cs and Ds in school, its not supporting them to tell them you are impressed with their report card and no changes needed.
GotTimDodge
Well-Known Member
Apologists have a new favorite word: stability.
Joshbrown
Well-Known Member
Another chestnut:
"He's a good fit. Iowans don't like scandal."
Really? That contract's a scandal and fans apparently luv it.
Joshbrown
Well-Known Member
I'm guilty of this one.
I've pointed out numerous times how he has a winning record against Mich and Penn State. And that used to work for me. No more.
Fryowa
Administrator
Unless he gets caught in Cedar Rapids with a hooker and blow in his car, Ferentz won't get fired.
Joshbrown
Well-Known Member
IMO he did enough to get fired during the 2010-2014 time period. You don't need 2017 to justify wanting him gone. Short-memory syndrome is the disease making Barta a failure. Stockholm syndrome is the fan disease keeping Barta employed.
I was also at 8 wins but that didn't include a Sr day home loss to Purdue at all. I'm hoping we show up against Neb but to be honest, not sure they really have to play for much. Only thing might be is whether they play in NY or Nashville. Neb defense is terrible but so is our offense so whichever is slightly better than anemic wins....ugh
Unfortunately, they play to the level of their competition (most of the time) and since he's had some big wins, they have rewarded him with extensions. They don't have a killer instinct to want to blow people out. When it happens, it's usually by accident cause most of the time they let their foot off the gas.
I think we fall into this mantra that Iowa can't be Bama or whoever you want to plug into the equation at the time. Maybe not year in and year out Nat'l Championship contention...fine. But this program has the ability to be upper echelon. And not that they don't want to be but wanting isn't enough...There's no reason they can't be Wisc, PSU, MSU, Mich. None. Facilities are great, fan base is great, school is great, city is nice, biggest game in the state by far, the funds to pay coaches well....the only thing is possibly weather. You know who else has similar weather? Columbus, Pittsburgh, Madison, East Lansing and Ann Arbor. But those programs EXPECT to win and will recruit tirelessly to get talent.
Because Iowa has labeled themselves a developmental program, it's like they feel they can't be on the top line. Therefore, they don't recruit talent necessarily, they recruit development. There's always that need for those players but you have to have talent to be at the next level. Very tough to live and die by the Dallas Clark and Josey Jewell storylines. Those are awesome stories and absolutely love them as players but when those types don't work out that way then your program is susceptible to down times. Gotta have those guys in your program but if you don't expect to be a top notch program (not just saying it but working towards it) then you can never hope to achieve it. Low expectations yield low results. Iowa shouldn't want to be equals with Minn, Indiana, NW, Purdue...they shouldn't want to sleep until they have achieved that.
I am not on the "we have to fire X" bandwagon...we have a great person at the head of this program. You can't debate he's a really good person but what needs to change is having an open mind by this staff to do somethings differently. Get rid of the stubbornness and that it's your way or the highway. Maybe the zone blocking gets changed to downhill blocking like Wisc, etc...whatever it may be. But what used to work isn't really working as well these days. Then they have to get talent at the skill positions but again, that's going to take a mindset change. Maybe a kid isn't the greatest at blocking but can fly down the field and actually catch the ball. Then go after him. Also have to be willing to throw to them. Big and fast WR's won't come to Iowa City? Really? Cause ISU has like 3-4 dudes that are over 6'4"...why? Cause they'll actually throw to them and not make em sit on the bench for three years while they perfect their blocking.
Long post but the bottom line is that this program has to expect more out of itself before it will take the step to the next level. If not, then all that is going to happen is that they will exceed the bar of low hanging fruit and I think they can be better than that.
