Dienhart: Iowa builds season to remember

DP5555 said:
Bitter Iowa fans are hilarious. It would be like Tom Brady complaining about a speck sized mole he found on the underside of Giselle's foot. "God damnit Giselle I don't care about the big picture. You have got to take care of that freakin mole!"

No matter what they are determined to find something to ***** about.
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analogy fail
 
bhawk326 said:
Thanks for the compliment. I agree it is rarefied air to have 3 chances for rebuilding opportunities. I think that speaks to Ferentz's commitment to Iowa and the Iowa Brass's commitment to him.

I actually assumed Alvarez was a better coach until I started looking into the numbers. I was surprised how close Ferentz and Alvarez were during their overall tenure. However, it is interesting how Wisconsin reveres Alvarez for his accomplishments and yet there are a lot of Iowa fans calling for Ferentz's head at the moment. Then again there were rumblings (much smaller from what I remember) for a change at Wisconsin near the end of Alvarez's tenure.
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Alvarez is Wisconsin's version of our Hayden Fry, he resurrected a bad football program so he will always be remembered as a great coach. But like Hayden Fry he had his down seasons as well, which led to grumblings, but now that he has moved on to AD nobody will talk about the bad years which, again, is just like Iowa with Fry. Some people here either forget or are not old enough to remember that we were calling for Fry's head after the 94 season.
 
I guess it comes down to how you define success. Alvarez and Ferentz have almost identical records. If we remove the first rebuilding job for both coaches (90 - 92 seasons for Alvarez and 99 & 00 seasons for Ferentz), then the both coached 13 seasons in their prime (including 2013 for Ferentz). Take a look at the numbers:

Alvarez - Overall Record (107-51-4), Big Ten Record (60-41-3), BCS Record (3-0), Bowl Record (8-3), Big Ten Champs (3 with 2 Ties)
Ferentz - Overall Record (103-59), Big Ten Record (60-42), BCS Record (1-1), Bowl Record (6-4), Big Ten Champs (2 with 2 Ties)

I didn't count Alvarez's loss in the Rose Bowl last year since that wasn't during his normal coaching tenure. Also, Ferentz still has two games left this season which may result in him having a better Big Ten Record, nearly the same overall record, and a very close bowl record.

tm3308 said:
He still only had 7 or fewer wins in back to back seasons twice, if you include his first three seasons when he was in the process of building the program the first time (and that was the only time he failed to hit 8 wins for three straight seasons). Ferentz has done that three times, and he's failed to hit 8 wins in three straight years twice (with the chance for a third right now, but I don't think it will happen).

The bottom line is that, as you said, doing it three times in one tenure is pretty rare.
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You are correct that because of where Wisconsin was before Alvarez that he is more like Fry in terms of importance. No question.

I do find it very interesting that he has a nearly identical record to Ferentz. I'll admit that one of the big differences is the fact that Wisconsin won 3 Rose Bowls during Alvarez's tenure. To be fair to Ferentz, Alvarez never had an undefeated Big Ten season though.

ssckelley said:
Alvarez is Wisconsin's version of our Hayden Fry, he resurrected a bad football program so he will always be remembered as a great coach. But like Hayden Fry he had his down seasons as well, which led to grumblings, but now that he has moved on to AD nobody will talk about the bad years which, again, is just like Iowa with Fry. Some people here either forget or are not old enough to remember that we were calling for Fry's head after the 94 season.
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I love that the same jackasses who were predicting 3 wins before the season are now claiming that 7 wins are not an accomplishment.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
analogy fail
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Why? Because you didn't understand it? The constant complainers, of which you typically fall into that category, consistently fail to look at the big picture. When you look at the history of Iowa football Kirk's Iowa teams overachieve more often than not. It's as simple as that. Now I understand getting greedy. Every single one of us wants more. I want more. I would love to see KF take the Hawks to higher levels of achievement. However, in my opinion there's a big difference between wanting more and expecting more. You're only setting yourself up for failure if you are expecting something to happen that never has. I'm happy with the kind of person Kirk is, and by and large I'm happy with what he gets out of his teams.

I will admit I've seen a more positive tone to some of your posts lately. Out of all the posters who tend to me more negative I think you manage to stay pretty reasonable.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
7-5 will be a "good" season...and the typical season under Ferentz (in many ways, including statistically)... but nothing special.

8-4 would be a really good season... but still nothing special, it's what this program should be producing on a fairly regular basis.

It will only be a "special" year if it proves to be the beginning of better things ahead. Meaning, we make a run at a couple of conference titles and reach the 9-10 win range again.
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I have little time for fans that are too naive to understand that expectations should change on a yearly basis.
 
bhawk326 said:
Thanks for the compliment. I agree it is rarefied air to have 3 chances for rebuilding opportunities. I think that speaks to Ferentz's commitment to Iowa and the Iowa Brass's commitment to him.

I actually assumed Alvarez was a better coach until I started looking into the numbers. I was surprised how close Ferentz and Alvarez were during their overall tenure. However, it is interesting how Wisconsin reveres Alvarez for his accomplishments and yet there are a lot of Iowa fans calling for Ferentz's head at the moment. Then again there were rumblings (much smaller from what I remember) for a change at Wisconsin near the end of Alvarez's tenure.
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less message board trollin' back in the early 2000s... ;)
 
Lets say we go 1-1 with the last two games. We end up with an 8-5 record and either a win at Nebby or a bowl win. This should exceed about 95% of Iowa fans expectations for this season. I know before the season I thought just making a bowl this year would have been an accomplishment. So, are people really still calling for KF to be fired if he exceeds an overwhelmingly majority of both fan and media expectations? And if you're still calling for him to be fired, what is your justification?
 
CRHawk2002 said:
Lets say we go 1-1 with the last two games. We end up with an 8-5 record and either a win at Nebby or a bowl win. This should exceed about 95% of Iowa fans expectations for this season. I know before the season I thought just making a bowl this year would have been an accomplishment. So, are people really still calling for KF to be fired if he exceeds an overwhelmingly majority of both fan and media expectations? And if you're still calling for him to be fired, what is your justification?
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Ferentz exceeds expectations for the first time since 2009.
Time for him and his agent to fire up the NFL rumors, once again.
 
hawkinn3 said:
You don't get credit for righting a ship that you capsized in the first place.
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So, all of the blame for a poor season, and none of the credit for exceeding expectations the following year. This logic seems a tad skewed to me. Fewest returning starters last year in the btn, and two new coordinators. It was not a surprise it was a down year. What is a surprise is the inability for people to look past last year and find the positives things happening this year.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
You let me know when our offense starts to resemble Gisele Bundchen, then we'll have something to talk about.
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Dude it's an analogy. I wasn't talking about the offense in particular either. I was talking about the program as a whole. Again, you're failing to see the big picture. If Iowa football was a chick (haha weird analogy I know) and you look at the history of the football program.... what Ferentz has done here would be considered super model territory. If you're comparing Iowa football to Alabama, USC, Michigan, Notre Dame, or Ohio State then Iowa football is more like Roseanne. But that just isn't a fair or realistic comparison because Iowa is never going to be in that category.That's the point. It sure seems like a lot of the individuals who continue to complain about KF have totally unrealistic expectations when you look at what Iowa has done historically.

I get that it was a weird analogy, but the point remains. If I'm married to a super model I'm not gonna b!tch about finding a mole on her foot because that's just crazy. Would you? If I'm a Hawkeye football fan and Kirk can consistently maintain a level of success that isn't exactly common in the history of Iowa football then I'm not going to waste my time complaining about poor clock management. Sooner or later it just makes you look like a spoiled brat. Try looking at the big picture, and be happy with what we have.

Kirk is a great human being, and he's a damn good football coach. As a Hawkeye fan, I feel very lucky to still have him in Iowa City. The grass is always greener on the other side. Coaching carousels don't usually work out very well.
 
bhawk326 said:
However, it is interesting how Wisconsin reveres Alvarez for his accomplishments and yet there are a lot of Iowa fans calling for Ferentz's head at the moment. Then again there were rumblings (much smaller from what I remember) for a change at Wisconsin near the end of Alvarez's tenure.
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It isn't just his record as coach that buys him his superstar status. Alvarez has six Rose Bowls to his credit as either coach or AD of his hand picked successor and now it looks like he picked a good replacement for Biff and that folks is how you become a CFB legend.
 
DP5555, that was one heck of a weird analogy. You went from a chick, to Roseanne, to a super model with a mole on her foot.

:D
 
KF deserves the credit for making hard choices and changes that were necessary after last season. He gets the ire from me at times but also the accolades when the program produces. Big kudos this season for a nice bounce back especially if we can finish the deal at Nebby.

I absolutely love the brand of football he believes in; Pro-style, pound-the-rock and play-action game along with a stout defense and kicking game. No complaints there except for the need to score a few more points.

The main issue with me has been holding players accountable through playing time. The willingness to go to the next man if the entrenched starter does not get it done over a period of time (not a single mistake or two) or is really struggling. The opportunity to build depth through competition for playing time which helps the program overcome injuries to players and graduation losses by having someone capable to step in. We all see what has happened this year by playing a lot of RB's, WR's, DL, TE's as an example. Depth is being built. That has been my biggest issue in past seasons but it is getting better.
 
SpecialKHawk said:
KF deserves the credit for making hard choices and changes that were necessary after last season. He gets the ire from me at times but also the accolades when the program produces. Big kudos this season for a nice bounce back especially if we can finish the deal at Nebby.

I absolutely love the brand of football he believes in; Pro-style, pound-the-rock and play-action game along with a stout defense and kicking game. No complaints there except for the need to score a few more points.

The main issue with me has been holding players accountable through playing time. The willingness to go to the next man if the entrenched starter does not get it done over a period of time (not a single mistake or two) or is really struggling. The opportunity to build depth through competition for playing time which helps the program overcome injuries to players and graduation losses by having someone capable to step in. We all see what has happened this year by playing a lot of RB's, WR's, DL, TE's as an example. Depth is being built. That has been my biggest issue in past seasons but it is getting better.
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Yeah and school is STILL out on his choice for O coordinator but that said the playing calling is vintage KF. Let's run stretch run left then right and then again on thrid and 2 and lose 2 yds.
 
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