FIRE FERENTZ

[1977Hawkeye]

I don't disagree with anything your saying. There seems to be some disconnect but the idea that KF is this iron fist of a coach really perplexes me. Unless he has some Jekyll amd Hyde personality. He is pretty reserved with the press and public which drives people to think he is indifferent, which could be spot on. But why is it his players seem to love him? I don't think I have ever heard any of his players criticize him. Just seems odd. Is he just a nice guy he has lost his ability to put a good team out there?

I'm not sure what the truth is.. I'm not involved with the program in any way and don't know any of the coaches personally, nor have I ever even met any of them. All I will say is that there could well be a difference between what coaches and players say publicly and in front of the media, and what goes on behind closed doors. Of course everything that said to the media is going to be peaches. Maybe everybody gets along, too, but I'd like to be the fly on the wall in situations where the coaches & players think nobody is listening.

 

[dmclone]

I came over here expecting fans to be a little disappointed about the loss but didn't expect to see the negativity at this level. If at the start of the year you were told that you'd win 7 or 8 games I would think that most iowa fans would be pretty happy. Why is everyone so ****** off? After last year, were people expecting a 9-10 win season?

 

[1977Hawkeye]

This offense looks a lot like the old O'Keefe offense to me with a few wrinkles. This is what the head coach wants and he spoke to it coming into this season something to the effect that 'Greg now has a better understanding of what is needed'. That was lip service to he knows what I want. Yes we run 1-2 zone reads a game. Whoop-t-do. We throw a couple of short passes here and there. Again whoop-t-do. I got news for you so did O'keefe.

If you go back and actually look at our offensive rankings both yearly and within the B1G under KF you are going to find a ton of poor offensive teams.

Remember 2010? A number of the late game collapses down the stretch had to do with not scoring points in the second half and fourth quarters to close someone out. The defense got blamed. Sound familiar?

This is not a coordinator issue. This is a systematic program failure that has never been addressed.

We should be a power football team with a MASSIVE offensive line. It is what works in this conference given the lack of available skilled players and weather conditions. You attract a decent back or two because you have great o-lines. Mix in a tight-end or two and get lucky on a wide out from time to time and away you go. Wait is that not Wisconsin football? Works pretty well does it not. Yet we put out very poor offensive lines and when we face opponents with a pulse everything breaks down because we cannot control the line of scrimmage in the run game and cannot give the QB enough time. Hello look at our o-line in 2002, our best offensive year. Yes it was Wisky like. Go figure.

I totally agree with you about 2002. We had one of the best offensive lines we have seen, but also a dual-threat QB that ended up the Heisman runner up, a good 1-2 punch in the running game (Lewis & Russell), a TE that has gone on to have a nice NFL career(Clark) and a pretty fair set of WR's. That team had playmakers and managed to lead the conference in scoring despite KF's system. Look at 2008, too.. We had a Doak Walker winner who played in the NFL, and go figure, that team had a pretty solid offense, too. Gotta get some talent back at the skill positions obviously, but KF and his OC's continue to be a major problem when it comes to offense, IMO.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I came over here expecting fans to be a little disappointed about the loss but didn't expect to see the negativity at this level. If at the start of the year you were told that you'd win 7 or 8 games I would think that most iowa fans would be pretty happy. Why is everyone so ****** off? After last year, were people expecting a 9-10 win season?

We currently only have 5 wins. 7 or 8 wins is hardly a foregone conclusion... People are ticked off because the offense has long been an issue (with few exceptions) in the KF era, and nothing has been done to fix it. In fact, it's getting worse, if anything.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I don't disagree with anything your saying. There seems to be some disconnect but the idea that KF is this iron fist of a coach really perplexes me. Unless he has some Jekyll amd Hyde personality. He is pretty reserved with the press and public which drives people to think he is indifferent, which could be spot on. But why is it his players seem to love him? I don't think I have ever heard any of his players criticize him. Just seems odd. Is he just a nice guy he has lost his ability to put a good team out there?

In all honesty, and I don't mean to call out the players here, but we just really don't have that much talent on offense. Ferentz's o-line mojo has kind of disappeared. The QB play is just average, maybe slightly below. The WRs are not good. The RBs are average. The TEs, long a strong spot, are average. So you take average to maybe slightly below average talent and put a guy like Greg Davis in charge of running it and your offense is gonna flat out suck. I mean honestly, this offense looks crappier than the 2004 offense when we had Sam Brownlee as the starting RB because it has no quick hitter passing attack, it has no deep passing attack, it has no intermediate passing attack, it has no bubble screen. Nothing.

Hell, our offense saw 8 and 9 man fronts ALL THE TIME in 2008 and 2009, but Stanzi was above average and had guys like DJK and Moeaki to throw to and could actually burn the defense a few times a game and punish them for going 8 or 9 in the box. We just can't do that now.

I think back to Wisconsin in 2008, 2009 and 2010. I think those defenses were probably better than (or at least equal to) this year's defense (I don't care what the stats say, just on the eyeball test) playing without Borland and we managed to put up 38, 20 and 30 respectively and after I think back to yesterday's crapfest, it makes me mad that we've fallen so dang far on offense.

 

[olddude]

I agree with ok4p, fire barta. We might have a good bball season, but the athletic department as a whole has been disappointing. This has to stop or we will be bottom feeders in all sports. Go straight to the top and let heads start rolling.

 

[olddude]

Oh and before anyone decides to question if barta does not need to go asap. Think about schools like wisky, msu ect. They have sucess in multiple sports. This is not just football it is the whole department, so fire the one responsible for the dept. It wont matter who we get to coach any sport, because the problem is bigger than that.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Seriously? This was the first real blowout of the year, and it was close for half the game just like Michigan State (who's a one-loss team BTW). We almost beat Ohio State. Northern Illinois looks incredible right now.

We are a good team, and we are IMPROVING. All you morons than want Ferentz gone will be eating crow next year when we go 10-2.

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Why won't we be better next year?

Were losing our linebackers that are making this year's defense solid for one thing. And as has been discussed, the offense has traditionally been bad, and is even worse the last couple years. If you can give me any legit reason to believe this will change all of the sudden, I'm listening.

Can Iowa improve next year? Sure. But 10-2... I'm not seeing it.

 

[Jjgoiowa11]

Why won't we be better next year?

I don't care if iowa state will be better next year.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Were losing our linebackers that are making this year's defense solid for one thing. And as has been discussed, the offense has traditionally been bad, and is even worse the last couple years. If you can give me any legit reason to believe this will change all of the sudden, I'm listening.

Can Iowa improve next year? Sure. But 10-2... I'm not seeing it.

The schedule is so soft next year. But our recipe for winning 10 games has generally been dominant d-line, LBs who can ice a close game, stellar secondary and an offense that can at least keep the defense resting. Even with the schedule next year, I just don't see this offense improving enough to get us to 10 wins.

 

[okeefe4prez]

All of the playmakers are young, and should be very good next year.

Can I get a comprehensive list of these young playmakers?

 

[blubberhawk]

Iowa is pretty boring to watch. Kinda like bb under Lick. But to watch Barta fire Kirk and pony up 1 million a year to some MAC coach isn't very appealing to watch either.

Then keep Ferentz but tell him to change things or just stay the hell out the way and let his assistants coach.
His act is really, really old.

 

[Jjgoiowa11]

I AM NOT AN IOWA STATE FAN YOU ******* *********

THIS IS SPARTAAAA!!

 

[1977Hawkeye]

We have a chance to be 8-4 THIS year...I seriously doubt you expected anything like that ahead of the season.

And as for why we could improve? The offense. All of the playmakers are young, and should be very good next year. You're nuts if you think we don't have potential. Plus, the schedule will be a lot easier, and the competition will take a step back.

Kind of hard for the offense NOT to improve, really, from what we have now, but 15 years of KF football leaves me skeptical that potential will turn into results.. Would love to be wrong.

I hadn't looked at next year's schedule until just now, and holy crap, that is a cakewalk. If KF can't win 8+ games net year, then that will be a total fail.

 

[seepig]

I really struggle with the logic that people like Xerxes employ where they've got something against young MAC coaches. Let's review that stupid line of logic.

Terry Heppner- Miami OH to Indiana where his teams demolished us before he came down with a brain tumor
Butch Jones- Huge success at CMU moved to Tennessee where that program is competitive on the field and in recruiting.
Darrel Hazell- Turned Kent State around his work at Purdue TBD
Jerry Kill- NIU goes to Minnesota...yeah his team is only 7-2 this year while we are a dog crap 5-4

You are so right why would we want a $1M yr. MAC coach...they may actually make us better

 

[AHawk1]

Rudock, Bullock, Weisman, Martin-Manley...all coming back.

Thanks for the morning laugh.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Rudock, Bullock, Weisman, Martin-Manley...all coming back.

Am I being trolled here or do you really think those guys are playmakers?

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Rudock, Bullock, Weisman, Martin-Manley...all coming back.

Bullock, Weisman and KMM are all seniors next year.. Hardly what I would call "young".. If they are all going to bust out , then they'd better hurry it up because next year is their last chance.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

My point is that they're coming back...we are talking about NEXT year, aren't we???

Right. But my point is that, as juniors, I would think they would already be making bigger impacts if they had that much ability.. So if youth isn't the problem, it makes me question the talent.. Guess we can agree to disagree on our playmakers.