Bielema waits for Iowa to offer recruits then goes after them. He plays boring smash mouth football. He has a recruiting advantage being close to two large metro areas - Milwaukee & Chicago. With the Green Bay Packers in his back yard, he's not subjected to all the fanatical crap Ferentz has to deal with. His Bowl record where his has a month to plan/practice for the opponent is a dismal 2-4. 7-5 record this year after being one of the division favorites. Wisconson lost to every mildly decent opponent they played this year and barely beat Northern Iowa, Utah State and Texas El Paso. 73rd ranked offense and 112th ranked passing game. His teams feature a solid rushing game and stout defense. Ferentz had to build Iowa's program from scratch. Bielema inherited a program loaded with talent. I'd say they're very similar coaches in philosophy and coaching talent - both from the Hayden Fry coaching tree. I like Bielema, he's a Hawkeye at heart.
can we make the case the Bret Bielema is a better coach than Ferentz?
- Thread starter HawkeyeGold
- Start date
blubberhawk
Well-Known Member
Last time I checked, Iowa City was pretty close to Chicago, too.
Fanatical crap that Ferentz has to deal with is what? Expectations that a 3.8 million dollar coach should coach like one?
azhawkeyefan
Well-Known Member
Yeah he's better, look at the results. He's still a young coach and he's still improving/learning. This year he lost something like 6 assistant coaches and a lot of impact starters and he still has a shot at the Rose Bowl. He even realized he made a mistake on his new O-line coach and canned him after a couple of games. YES, PSU and OSU are on probation, but he was able to take advantage of that situation and get the job done. The last 2 years Iowa has had a very easy schedule, how did they take advantage of that???? Like him personally or not, but he's getting the job done up there in Madison. One thing that I like is when he plays the Indiana's of the world, his teams pummel them. We like to be nice guys and give everyone a fair chance at beating us. Kirk Ferentz said it himself last week when asked about playing close games, he said something like "that's just the kind of program we are".
BSpringsteen
Well-Known Member
Biels is not a better coach and he certainly isn't a better developer of talent.
What he is, is a marketing guy who sells Wisconsin every chance he has in the most agressive way possible. Kirk could learn a lot from him in this regard.
If Biels has better talent it is because of that.
What he is, is a marketing guy who sells Wisconsin every chance he has in the most agressive way possible. Kirk could learn a lot from him in this regard.
If Biels has better talent it is because of that.
INTIMIDATORHawk
Well-Known Member
I think we will find that for Wisconsin, going 7-5, 4-4 is a "rebuilding year". The ceiling is high at Wisconsin, the basement isn't nearly as low as it is for Iowa. Not anymore. BB has done that for them.
PeoriaHWKI
Well-Known Member
Two words.... Fake Punt
Paul Chryst and that offense was the main reason for Wisconsin's success the last two years, much like Gus Malzohn and his offense was the reason for Auburns success. I don't think bert will sink to chizik levels but he's not sniffing the conference championship game with 7 wins ever again.
"This year he lost something like 6 assistant coaches and a lot of impact starters"
Wierd....Iowa lost both coordinators and d-line coach plus shifted 4 other assistants to new positions. Almost a completely new staff. Funny how you can use the "new coaches" excuse to explain Bielema's miserable gloomy 7-5 year....but that doesn't apply to the Hawkeyes program? Fan??!!
Wierd....Iowa lost both coordinators and d-line coach plus shifted 4 other assistants to new positions. Almost a completely new staff. Funny how you can use the "new coaches" excuse to explain Bielema's miserable gloomy 7-5 year....but that doesn't apply to the Hawkeyes program? Fan??!!
azhawkeyefan
Well-Known Member
The point I was making is that Wisconsin was in position for a huge drop off this year, similar to the Hawks. Wisky went 7-5, but is still going to the B1G title game. Iowa went 4-8 with a garbage schedule. Wisky made the best of their situation, Iowa crashed and burned.
"Fanatical crap that Ferentz has to deal with is what? Expectations that a 3.8 million dollar coach should coach like one?"
There were almost 60 football coaches making over $3 million in income from all sources in 2012. If you compare Ferentz' results over the last decade with those other coaches, he lands in the top 10% nationally. I know, you'd like to not look back more than a year or two, but football is big business. Projections are made in 5 year/ 10 year increments and results are viewed similarly. The whole salary thing makes you look stupid every time you bring it up. It has no relevance. Win or lose that's the going rate for football coaches. Think Ron Zook at Illinois. 35 of those highly paid coaches end the year with losing records....this is Iowa's first losing record in the last 10 years.
There were almost 60 football coaches making over $3 million in income from all sources in 2012. If you compare Ferentz' results over the last decade with those other coaches, he lands in the top 10% nationally. I know, you'd like to not look back more than a year or two, but football is big business. Projections are made in 5 year/ 10 year increments and results are viewed similarly. The whole salary thing makes you look stupid every time you bring it up. It has no relevance. Win or lose that's the going rate for football coaches. Think Ron Zook at Illinois. 35 of those highly paid coaches end the year with losing records....this is Iowa's first losing record in the last 10 years.
Wisconsin ran into many of the same offensive issues as Iowa this year. They hired an OC in Matt Canada who prefers to run a system similar to Northwestern's and he struggled adapting to the pro-style calls. Paul Chryst was the reason they had so much offensive and overall success the past few years. For BB's defensive background, his teams have been very average on defense for several years.
I live in Madison and most UW fans are willing to put up with BB as long as he wins big, but he is not popular as a person. A 3 year run like Iowa just put together would definitely end in his being fired.
I live in Madison and most UW fans are willing to put up with BB as long as he wins big, but he is not popular as a person. A 3 year run like Iowa just put together would definitely end in his being fired.
azhawkeyefan
Well-Known Member
I think all of us would love to fall to 7-5 and land safely in the B1G title game. Sure they backdoored their way in, but I'll take it over 4-8 all day long.
I never thought BB would get the job done long term at Wisconsin but he has. I thought he would fail once he cycled through Alverez's recruits. Instead he's done a pretty darn good job, and over the past 3 years I think he's done a better job than KF at managing his program. I hope and I will root for KF to right the ship and get things turned around. But in the here and now, I think BB is simply better at his job.
hawkfan2679
Well-Known Member
Wisconsin only had 10 returning starters (last in the B1G), brought in 6 completely new coaches, and lost their starting QB to a season ending injury in Sept and played much of the season with a brand new starter and the 3rd stringer. As far as I can tell, they also didn't nearly require the equivalent of a continuous clock in any of their losses...they may have fallen off a bit, but they didn't fall off as much as the Hawks.
blubberhawk
Well-Known Member
Correct.. Wisconsin played a much tougher schedule. They lost a 10-7 game at Oregon State, lost at Nebraska after leading most of the game and lost 3 games in OT, including the 12-0 Buckeyes. I would feel much better as a Badger fan today than I do as a Hawk fan.
"I think all of us would love to fall to 7-5 and land safely in the B1G title game. Sure they backdoored their way in, but I'll take it over 4-8 all day long."
In a way, you nailed it. Easy schedule, weak BigTen, two best teams on probation.....man this should have been a Rose Bowl year for the Hawks. It sucks. Even worse, no bowl at all. I'm not giving up on Ferentz though. Sometimes rough times spark change and provide motivation. I like the two new coaches (Brian & Woods) and am excited to see if they can improve recruiting. Ferentz built three teams at Iowa where I started to dream a bit...by years end we could have beaten anybody. I think he gets fired up....he's smart & proud. Would love to see Brian become O.C. - think he'd show his Dad a few new tricks. First -- Greg Davis has to go!
In a way, you nailed it. Easy schedule, weak BigTen, two best teams on probation.....man this should have been a Rose Bowl year for the Hawks. It sucks. Even worse, no bowl at all. I'm not giving up on Ferentz though. Sometimes rough times spark change and provide motivation. I like the two new coaches (Brian & Woods) and am excited to see if they can improve recruiting. Ferentz built three teams at Iowa where I started to dream a bit...by years end we could have beaten anybody. I think he gets fired up....he's smart & proud. Would love to see Brian become O.C. - think he'd show his Dad a few new tricks. First -- Greg Davis has to go!
azhawkeyefan
Well-Known Member
I hope so, I think the Brian hire was a home run. He nearly got his Dad to join twitter last summer and that may still happen, that one fact alone shows that Brian has more pull and influence on Kirk than anyone on the staff.
StatelineHawk
Well-Known Member
So true!
okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
Case closed.
