Definition of a Successful Season?

9 wins is a successful season. 10+ wins and at minimum Cap One Bowl for a great season.

8 wins is an ok season. 6 wins or fewer is a bad season.

Using rankings to determine success is a fools erand. You really gonna try and paint the picture that Iowa wasn't one of the 25 best teams in the country last year?
 
You all know I put the mark at 8 wins. That was a more representative number when it was a 12 game schedule.

However, it still means Iowa won a bowl, or 66% of their regular season.
 
silvanthalas said:
And how many times has Iowa gone 4-0 in the non-conf under Ferentz, regardless of opponents? I mean, he's what, 6-7 against ISU? :(
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Haha. My expectations are often not met. Honestly, that 2002 ISU game HAUNTS me, among others. 1999 and 2000 are the only Ferentz-era years when I feel ISU had more talent than us. 2001, 2005, and this year were close talent-wise and probably hinged on home-field. No excuse for 2002 and 2007, and we easily could have won 2001 and 2011 with more aggressive play.

The 2008 Pitt game could have a trick play named after it called "The Christensen give-away." {Not sure what that play would look like, though.}
 
Is the U of I in the top 25 public schools in enrollment? Is the U of I ikn the Big 10?

We should always have at least 8 wins, an occasional 7 win season, and several 9 win seasons, and a smattering of 10 wins or better.

This is realistic, maybe not in the present environment, but it is realistic.
 
7-5 should be the bare minnimum accepted in the regular season at Iowa. There is too much tradition and too much money involved to accept anything less.

"Success" starts at 8-4 and up. Bowls are also key. Anything Outback and up is obviously a success. The Insight/Gator (whatever the 4th pick is) is the bare minnimum that should be considered a successful bowl.

Anything below those standards is an extremely poor season.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
It is realistic to expect a Top 25 football program "overall". To say otherwise is asanine IMO. But it IS unrealistic to expect to be a Top 25 program each and every single year if you talk about finishing ranked in the final polls. There will be up and down years. No way around that.

Iowa's final ratings our past 4 years:
2008 - #23 or so
2009 - #7
2010 - unranked
2011 - unranked (presumably)

So where does that really put us? It's hard to measure this, but maybe that would be a Top 25 "overall"? Guess it would be pretty close anyway.

But season by season, I would say that depends on the team you have, as to whether you can call it a successful season.

2010 - an 8 win season IMO was not a success given the talent the team had. I don't care if they made a bowl game.. 6-6 teams are making bowl games these days..

But this year, an 8 win season could be considered fairly successful. Whether or not we get to 8 wins is a different discussion.

Just my 2 cents.
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Let's not be presumptuous!:p
 
You all know I don;t count the bowl game in the W_L totals as it relates to a successful season.

8-4 is the benchmark for success.
7-5 is meh.
9-3 is very good.
 
I'd be fine finishing the season with 8 wins or so. 7 and less is a disappointment.
 
DTF said:
I'd be fine finishing the season with 8 wins or so. 7 and less is a disappointment.
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When you play 12 regular season games, 7 at home, 4 OOC games that don't include big time programs...then yes 8 wins is a minimum to not have an unsuccessful season.

You cannot compare overall winning percentage from Fry's years, because of the types of schedules we have today.

Anything below 4-4 in conference is a bad year...losing to bad teams is unacceptable and KF needs to fix that.
 
I would say a successful season would not be a season in which Iowa loses to not one, but two completely shitless teams, and performs reasonable in comparison with their competition. 7-5 last year was capable of being a "good season", however, the 7-5 Iowa produced last year was absolutely garbage. Just like the 6-4 thus far this year is garbage. There is a lot to be said in the way you lose games. A win is a win. Losing is a little more complex. If Iowa played a solid game against MSU, I don't care if they lose by 10-12 points. If Iowa plays solid at Penn State, I can stomach that. I can't stomach a season where Iowa comes out flat over and over again, and loses to two of the more shitless BCS teams in the country.
 
Regardless of what you all say now, in reality, the number is 8 wins total.

I know this from watching Hawk fans over the years.

8-4 in the regular season puts the Hawks in Outback at the least. Hawk fans consider that a good season, win or lose.

7-5 is disappointing, but to get to 8 wins, that means you win a bowl game and a 7 win Hawk team would be in a bowl with a decent opponent. The what have you done for me lately crowd will feel all warm and tingly over that win and predict a 10 win season the next year.
 
Exceed my pre season expectations and play hard. I know that's general but it's what makes a good season in my mind. Not being done this year.
 
For our program, 9 wins, or greater, and a bowl greater than or equal to the Outbook is decent.
 
So, 6-6 puts us in a bowl game...is that success? I would say no.

Schedule three or four patsies preseason and all Iowa has to do is win w or three games in conference play. Are two to three wins, maybe four in conference play successful while at the same time pay a coach one of top five salaries in the country? IF that is good enough, Iowa could hire any number of coaches for a lot less and still get the same results.

Again, I would say no. Apparently some here have ISU's asparitions for success.
 
10+ wins phenomenal season
9 wins terrific season
8 wins successful / base season
7 wins below average season
6 wins or less is a failed/disappointing season

Top 25 is a good barometer of a successful season.
 
NewMexHawk said:
So, 6-6 puts us in a bowl game...is that success? I would say no.

Schedule three or four patsies preseason and all Iowa has to do is win w or three games in conference play. Are two to three wins, maybe four in conference play successful while at the same time pay a coach one of top five salaries in the country? IF that is good enough, Iowa could hire any number of coaches for a lot less and still get the same results.

Again, I would say no. Apparently some here have ISU's asparitions for success.
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Minnesota thought the same when they got rid of Glen Mason, who had many successful 6-6 and 7-5 seasons and look at where it got them.
 
8 wins in 12 games, barely successful, means middle of B1G. average.

9 wins in 12 games is successful. means we are relevant in B1G and have decent bowl game and finish in Top 20.

7-5, 6-6 keep us on life support, and hurt in recruiting when back to back.

We COULD be relevant on the national picture IF coaching staff strived for that. success breeds success.

take out Haydens last couple of seasons and recalculate his win percentage. 60% or less should be not acceptable over 3 year spans.
 
HawkeyeMHA said:
10 wins is what i call a great season. but unlike many, i do not feel it is obtainable every year. I'd say 8 is where I think we can be every year, anything less than 8 is a down year
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You and I are kind of hit and miss in our views of different aspects of the program, but I would have to agree with you here. Ten wins is a great season, but to me nine is a good season. Eight should be the worst we ever do. Last year sucked when you consider the promise we had, but I think we got a little vindication with our bowl win. Missouri was a 10 win team that people said had a better offense (obviously) and a better defense and yet we beat them. Three years ago, we had a disappointing three game skid vs Pitt, MSU and Northwestern when a little change in play calling would have meant wins in all those games. We got our vindication by taking down Penn State and a South Carolina team that thought they were too fast for us.



I don’t think a top 25 finish is a good gauge of anything. You’re (the thread author) telling me that an arbitrary ranking made by a group of pollsters ranging anywhere from slightly to completely biased is how you judge a good season? So finishing out of the top 25 by a few votes means the difference between good and bad seasons?



VHSHAWK said:
If you take out the 2009 season as an outlier, Iowa is 42-31 since 2004, an average of 7-5. Wow, now that's worth the salary we are paying?

Jon mentioned that 3 mediocre years in a row might make things interesting. Well, we've had 5 in the last 7, so I guess that 3 mediocre years isn't going to be enough to shake some changes now, will it?
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Why take out the 2009 season? That’s cherry picking. Hayden Fry averaged 7 wins a year over his time at Iowa and he is treated like royalty. Sounds like you’re trying to justify hatred for Kirk.



I love how people want to talk about down seasons we had, 4,5 and 6 years ago. Why stop there when we could go back 7, 8, or 9 years? If this is a “what have you done for me lately†business, Kirk has been 28-11 the last three years with a 15-9 Big 10 record. That’s not too bad at all. Don’t even bring this year into it because it isn’t over yet.
 
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