Article...The End is near for Ferentz

My guess is KF isn't going out after this yr on a stinker of a weird yr all the way around. Barta isn't firing him that's just not happening. After next season would make sense to me. Nothing would surprise me too much he's pretty tight lipped about things. The tea leaves with how things are with how the program operates just tells me after this yr we won't see drastic changes. They'll want to get things back on the right path first if possible..
 
Lol.

This guy is completely, 100%, certifiably full of shit. He's a hack B1G "writer" who knows nothing about the program and just needs to get his click quoita for the month. He says, "the university" as if there's some sort of authority Ferentz has to pay tithing to.

Kurt Ferentz will be the Iowa football coach as long as he wants. The people who decide if he's the coach are donors...and they LOVE Kurt.

Barta doesn't decide, and Harreld doesn't decide. The Paca family, the Rastetters, the Jacobsen family, and a bunch of other million and billionaires do. They love Ferentz and they love having a coach who (in their eyes) is scandal-free and the ultimate image of wholesomeness. Have there been scandals? Yep. But Barta and Doyle and others get paid handsomely to divert the attention.

Harreld isn't going to get rid of him. Hell, who do you think got Harreld in office for god's sake??? Bruce Rastetter did. Harreld isn't an educator or administrator or anything remotely close to that. Harreld is a businessman only, who knows how to make money. And Kurk makes money.

He ain't going anywhere till he decides to leave. What a joke of an article.
 
Lol.

This guy is completely, 100%, certifiably full of shit. He's a hack B1G "writer" who knows nothing about the program and just needs to get his click quoita for the month. He says, "the university" as if there's some sort of authority Ferentz has to pay tithing to.

Kurt Ferentz will be the Iowa football coach as long as he wants. The people who decide if he's the coach are donors...and they LOVE Kurt.

Barta doesn't decide, and Harreld doesn't decide. The Paca family, the Rastetters, the Jacobsen family, and a bunch of other million and billionaires do. They love Ferentz and they love having a coach who (in their eyes) is scandal-free and the ultimate image of wholesomeness. Have there been scandals? Yep. But Barta and Doyle and others get paid handsomely to divert the attention.

Harreld isn't going to get rid of him. Hell, who do you think got Harreld in office for god's sake??? Bruce Rastetter did. Harreld isn't an educator or administrator or anything remotely close to that. Harreld is a businessman only, who knows how to make money. And Kurk makes money.

He ain't going anywhere till he decides to leave. What a joke of an article.
I don't disagree with anything that you state. I also agree it will be KF's decision. With what has gone on with COVID and this past summer, a part of me thinks that this could be wearing on KF personally and I could see him calling it quits. Not sure if after this year or next, but I feel he'll want to go out after one more successful season. I don't see him as the type to go out leaving a reclamation project to BF or the next guy in line.
 
What a garbage article by someone who knows nothing about the program.

And, have the eight former players actually filed a lawsuit yet? The last I heard was that they sent a demand for changes with the threat of a lawsuit if the demands weren't met. Maybe I missed the lawsuit filing.
 
I don't think it's at all unreasonable for anyone to come to the conclusion that this could be Kirk's last season at Iowa. He's also 65 so it seems even more likely he's close to the end. That said, he's still gonna leave on his own terms.
 
I don't think it's at all unreasonable for anyone to come to the conclusion that this could be Kirk's last season at Iowa. He's also 65 so it seems even more likely he's close to the end. That said, he's still gonna leave on his own terms.
Compared to much bigger Big Ten and other programs, Iowa is a "small town" program. It's in a really small town, and the major donor base is pretty concentrated and "out there" which I mean to say that people who follow the program closely and read local news outlets know who they are and how they lean.

I can understand an outsider (this author obviously) seeing what's happening and giving a generalized, Cowherd-esque hot take. 1) it's plausible to casual observers, and 2) it generates clicks. But what he doesn't see is that the major donors love Kirk, and contrary to a program like say, Wisconsin where Alvarez is running the ship, Barta doesn't call the football and basketball shots. The donors do that, and Harreld is gonna follow the money.

tl;dr, as an outsider looking in this author can make a case for what he's saying, but it's nowhere near the truth.
 
I actually take a counterpoint with the article. I don't think it is a bad article. I don't think Kirk is in any danger of being fired (unless they reached some terms that this would be his last year to coach and he steps down and retires on his own kind of deal for the racism stuff). Like noted above, Ferentz is 65 years old, has not won a title in 16 going on 17 years, and just had a huge scandal hit his program over the summer. We are closer to the end of this book. If they don't win a game this year....or maybe 1 or 2 will not help the cause.

I don't think it is unreasonable he retires at the end of this year.
 
We need to cut the Barta head off this snake first.
It's unreal that losing that lawsuit didn't get him fired... The dude is untouchable pretty much. He is in with the big $ donors and that's all that matters. He can bring in the cash and that makes the school tickled enough to look the other way on his incompetence towards everything else. I bet KF steps down before he does..
 
We need to cut the Barta head off this snake first.
Getting rid of Barta would have zero to do with getting rid of Ferentz if that's what you mean.

Barta couldn't get rid of Kerk if he tried. There are a whole bunch of people and families donating way more than Barta's yearly salary every year who love him. Those people also got Harreld appointed as president.

Barta is there to be the scapegoat when things go wrong, take pictures at fundraisers, and manage golf, somersault club, and pool jumping. Nothing more. The guy's a court jester and whipping boy.
 
It's unreal that losing that lawsuit didn't get him fired... The dude is untouchable pretty much. He is in with the big $ donors and that's all that matters. He can bring in the cash and that makes the school tickled enough to look the other way on his incompetence towards everything else. I bet KF steps down before he does..

Sometimes a leader is just in the right place at the right time. You see it all the time in business. Someone will take over a company right as some seismic shift causes the company to be perfectly positioned to become a gem. We've seen it a ton in sports. Like Paul Tagliabue for instance. The guy took over as NFL Commish after Rozelle handed him a monopoly on Sunday afternoon TV slots and due to numerous content bidding wars, the NFL revenues skyrocketed.

Barta is one of those guys. There was a seismic shift in college football economics right as he started. I think he joined in 2006, which was right at the point the U started the shakedown for season tickets. "Oh wow, look at how much donations are up!" Yeah, no shit. Then, in 2007 Delany started the BTN and ESPN/Disney and Fox got into a major dick measuring contest to buy college football TV rights. The problem is that the suits who read results of some guy like Barta have no clue what exogenous factors went into their "success." So what happens is they think they have a world class punter like Reggie Roby when in actuality every single punt the guy made was with a jet stream level wind at his back and the mere act of getting the ball airborne is all he can do.
 
Personally don't see big changes coming nor do I necessarily believe changes are necessary or the best thing for the program going forward. Starting the season as we have has ignited more negative thinking for many (myself included) but stepping back I think the 0-2 has caused an overreaction. Changes have been made to address some of the bias issues. I haven't seen a mass exodus of current players or recruits other than perhaps those that hadn't yet found playing time and are disappointed. I think Kirk has put together one of his better staffs. Yes, B. Ferentz needs to show us more than he has but few were complaining after 10-3 last year. Iowa has some things to figure out for sure.

Yeah, there's plenty of angles to stir all this into a juicy negative forecast but I'm staying on this side of the fence for now.
 
That article is glorified clickbait. Iowa could go 0-8 (and, based on the schedule and my personal eyeball test, that could happen) and Ferentz will still have a job. This strikes me as an example of someone trying to land a hot take from much too great of a distance.
 
Recruiting will be the number one issue going forward, if the lawsuit goes forward and people are put on the witness stand (like Brian) and forced to acknowledge things they said, it will be bad. If recruiting dries up and players begin portal jumping that will be similar to Fry's last year. What I wrote months ago I still feel is the only way out. A minority hire of the AD or Head coach, and I said OC back then, but now I think it has to be one of the first two. Look, I don't like it either, but if Iowa had jumped out 2-0 and in first place things could be different but they didn't. People are gonna see just how many wins Kirk got due to Kinnick crowd and cupcake scheduling.
 
It would be incredibly stupid to fire KF this year. First, we have the potential for many on the two deep returning. Might we lose some seniors? Maybe. Secondly, we have a strong recruiting class coming in, one of our best in a while. Again, could some decommit? Sure. Not unusual. Third, this season will be quickly forgotten, even if Iowa’s record is poor. It is by definition an anomaly. Fourth, KF, in my opinion, has enough positives over 20 plus years to deserve at least another year or more, and the opportunity to correct the racial tones in the program. Fifth, here is the headline if KF is fired...”KF Fired Over Racist Behavior.” Really? That is a door we want to open? Sure would end the program for a long time. Sixth, bring KF back and take a look at the 2022 recruits. Good predictor for our future and worth the wait. Seventh,, want to see the 2021 class jump ship? Escalate the cry to fire KF. Finally, what coach of quality would consider Iowa if the efforts to right the ship on the racism issues are unresolved? Or, if KF can right the ship before leaving on his own. I will take the latter, thank you. I bet he can do it.
 
I don't think it's at all unreasonable for anyone to come to the conclusion that this could be Kirk's last season at Iowa. He's also 65 so it seems even more likely he's close to the end. That said, he's still gonna leave on his own terms.
People are delusional if they think he's going to walk or get tossed before his current contract is up. Ain't gonna happen. This is especially true if we think back on all the Bad Barta stuff and that tool still has a job. The other thing is Kirk, I don't think, has cemented his Brian legacy in place and unfortunately I believe we've seen Brian's high water mark and the people in flood plains aren't scared one bit. Sad really.
 
It would be incredibly stupid to fire KF this year. First, we have the potential for many on the two deep returning. Might we lose some seniors? Maybe. Secondly, we have a strong recruiting class coming in, one of our best in a while. Again, could some decommit? Sure. Not unusual. Third, this season will be quickly forgotten, even if Iowa’s record is poor. It is by definition an anomaly. Fourth, KF, in my opinion, has enough positives over 20 plus years to deserve at least another year or more, and the opportunity to correct the racial tones in the program. Fifth, here is the headline if KF is fired...”KF Fired Over Racist Behavior.” Really? That is a door we want to open? Sure would end the program for a long time. Sixth, bring KF back and take a look at the 2022 recruits. Good predictor for our future and worth the wait. Seventh,, want to see the 2021 class jump ship? Escalate the cry to fire KF. Finally, what coach of quality would consider Iowa if the efforts to right the ship on the racism issues are unresolved? Or, if KF can right the ship before leaving on his own. I will take the latter, thank you. I bet he can do it.
We could lose commits just from watching our offense on TV....I would certainly think WTH.
 

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