Fitzgerald v. Ferentz: Who is the better coach?

ChosenChildren

ChosenChildren

Well-Known Member
OK, here goes:

Fitzgerald record at NW (06 through 13): 55-46
Ferentz record at IA (06 through 13): 59-43

Fitz bowl record during those years: 1-4
Ferentz bowl record during those years: 3-3

Fitz BCS bowl record during those years: 0-0
Ferentz BCS bowl record during those years: 1-0

Fitz January 1 bowl record: 1-1
Ferentz January 1 bowl record: 2-1

Fitz record v. Ferentz: 5-3
Ferentz record v. Fitz: 3-5

Fitz record last 4 years: 28-23
Ferentz record last 4 years: 27-24

Overall, I give a slight edge to Ferentz. Some on this board argue that Iowa should always defeat Northwestern, because Iowa is the better "football school". I disagree. Northwestern has a better academic reputation, and is located in a huge metropolitan area putting them in a strong position from a recruiting standpoint. Northwestern won 2 Big Ten championships in the nineties and another one under Randy Walker prior to Fitz taking over. Iowa won only one Big Ten title in the 10 years prior to Kirk's first year at Iowa. In short, Northwestern was a football school when Fitz took over. Iowa had a good reputation as well, but no better than Northwestern at the time Ferentz took the reins.

Game day coaching? No edge to either. Ferentz has blown some leads, but Fitz blows more.

Players in the NFL? Advantage Ferentz, I believe.
 
In Big Ten games only, it goes like this:

Fitzgerald record (06 through 13): 27-37
Ferentz record over same period: 32-32

Fitz Big Ten record last 4 years: 12-20
Ferentz: 15-17

Advantage Ferentz
 
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I agree with most of your thoughts but:

Fitz more fiery and maybe a better game day , game time motivator.

Fitz takes more chances, less conservative I would say, but maybe he has to

Ferentz steadier and more solid - last years NW collapse a bigger black mark than KF in 2012
 
uihawk82 said:
I agree with most of your thoughts but:

Fitz more fiery and maybe a better game day , game time motivator.

Fitz takes more chances, less conservative I would say, but maybe he has to

Ferentz steadier and more solid - last years NW collapse a bigger black mark than KF in 2012
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Agree with all of this, for what it is worth.

I'm just a little tired of the "Fitz worship". Good coach? Sure. Better than Ferentz? Absolutely not
 
Not really even that close in my opinion In overall accomplishments but the wierd thing is Fitz has the edge head to head.
 
I think KF's record vs Fitz is easy to explain (just like his record against McCarney, etc) - Iowa has "played up" to good teams under Ferentz and "played down" to inferior teams. I think it's a chip on the shoulder type thing. Ferentz has punked several Michigan teams that Iowa had no business beating talent-wise - the Fitz's and McCarney's of the world have returned that favor more than a few times.
 
Much as I love to debate these things, I have to caution myself and remember that KF and Fitz are different types of coaches and are suited to different types of schools/programs.

Put Fitz at Iowa or KF at NW, and I think both would still "achieve". Put Urban Meyer at either one? Wouldn't happen, at this point, given that Urban couldn't succeed on "The Big Stage" without a few...shall we say..."advantages" or "accouterments".

I hate what Fitz has done against s, but I like him as a coach. And he's got major guts to take the stand he has taken on the union thing. You know darn well that certain folks take a dim view of ANYone speaking against a union or what a union represents.
 
No doubt that NW has a much easier time recruiting and is more of a football school than Iowa. Iowa is better than them in basketball though.
 
I'd say it's a toss-up, so I'm gonna have to give the edge to Patrick Fitzgerald, because he (along with Gerald Fitzpatrick) is the punchline to of one of my favorite jokes.
 
hawkeyebob62 said:
Much as I love to debate these things, I have to caution myself and remember that KF and Fitz are different types of coaches and are suited to different types of schools/programs.

Put Fitz at Iowa or KF at NW, and I think both would still "achieve". Put Urban Meyer at either one? Wouldn't happen, at this point, given that Urban couldn't succeed on "The Big Stage" without a few...shall we say..."advantages" or "accouterments".

I hate what Fitz has done against s, but I like him as a coach. And he's got major guts to take the stand he has taken on the union thing. You know darn well that certain folks take a dim view of ANYone speaking against a union or what a union represents.
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I would take Ferentz over Fitz in a heart beat! Iowa does not have a problem bringing fans to games which allows winning to be the most important thing, and not bravado. Ferentz has had a great run at Iowa, and even when they get down for a year or two they usually bounce back very quickly, this is because of Ferentz and his staff.

Also

I dont quite understand your comment about Meyer.. To say he hasn't acheived on the big stage is a pretty bold statement.. Two national titles at Florida and a BCS win at Utah! Not to mention winning his first 24 games at Ohio St. They may not have pulled it off last year, but that happens. There might only be a couple coaches in the entire country that an Athletic Director would hire over Urban Meyer. Next to Nick Saban there probably hasn't been a more successful coach in the BCS era.
 
ibahawkeye said:
Not really even that close in my opinion In overall accomplishments but the wierd thing is Fitz has the edge head to head.
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Yes but I can think of 2 games just off the top of my head where NW pulled a victory from the jaws of defeat. The 28-27 win in 2005 (didn't they recover 2 onside kicks to pull that one out?) and 2010 where Persa threw a miracle game-winning TD on the same play where he ruptured his Achilles. Iowa's only close win in the series (against Fitz) was last year where Iowa dominated OT.
 
ChosenChildren said:
OK, here goes:

Fitzgerald record at NW (06 through 13): 55-46
Ferentz record at IA (06 through 13): 59-43

Fitz bowl record during those years: 1-4
Ferentz bowl record during those years: 3-3

Fitz BCS bowl record during those years: 0-0
Ferentz BCS bowl record during those years: 1-0

Fitz January 1 bowl record: 1-1
Ferentz January 1 bowl record: 2-1

Fitz record v. Ferentz: 5-3
Ferentz record v. Fitz: 3-5

Fitz record last 4 years: 28-23
Ferentz record last 4 years: 27-24

Overall, I give a slight edge to Ferentz. Some on this board argue that Iowa should always defeat Northwestern, because Iowa is the better "football school". I disagree. Northwestern has a better academic reputation, and is located in a huge metropolitan area putting them in a strong position from a recruiting standpoint. Northwestern won 2 Big Ten championships in the nineties and another one under Randy Walker prior to Fitz taking over. Iowa won only one Big Ten title in the 10 years prior to Kirk's first year at Iowa. In short, Northwestern was a football school when Fitz took over. Iowa had a good reputation as well, but no better than Northwestern at the time Ferentz took the reins.

Game day coaching? No edge to either. Ferentz has blown some leads, but Fitz blows more.

Players in the NFL? Advantage Ferentz, I believe.
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Any way you can tweet/email the author of that Sporting news article? Would love to see a reaction.
 
walkon said:
I would take Ferentz over Fitz in a heart beat! Iowa does not have a problem bringing fans to games which allows winning to be the most important thing, and not bravado. Ferentz has had a great run at Iowa, and even when they get down for a year or two they usually bounce back very quickly, this is because of Ferentz and his staff.

Also

I dont quite understand your comment about Meyer.. To say he hasn't acheived on the big stage is a pretty bold statement.. Two national titles at Florida and a BCS win at Utah! Not to mention winning his first 24 games at Ohio St. They may not have pulled it off last year, but that happens. There might only be a couple coaches in the entire country that an Athletic Director would hire over Urban Meyer. Next to Nick Saban there probably hasn't been a more successful coach in the BCS era.
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I NEVER said Meyer wasn't successful. I said he wouldn't win at major level unless he was at a "major" school. Like it or not, NW and IOWA are NOT "major" schools in the FBS-Land-of-the-4-team-Playoff Realm.

I'm saying he wouldn't survive at a program like Iowa or NW where those special little "extras" seem to be a part of a scholly offer. I'm saying, in effect, that he...well, I'm just "saying".

And I too would take KF in a heartbeat, but I respect Fitz's coaching and the job he has done.
 
walkon said:
I would take Ferentz over Fitz in a heart beat! Iowa does not have a problem bringing fans to games which allows winning to be the most important thing, and not bravado. Ferentz has had a great run at Iowa, and even when they get down for a year or two they usually bounce back very quickly, this is because of Ferentz and his staff.

Also

I dont quite understand your comment about Meyer.. To say he hasn't acheived on the big stage is a pretty bold statement.. Two national titles at Florida and a BCS win at Utah! Not to mention winning his first 24 games at Ohio St. They may not have pulled it off last year, but that happens. There might only be a couple coaches in the entire country that an Athletic Director would hire over Urban Meyer. Next to Nick Saban there probably hasn't been a more successful coach in the BCS era.
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Basically, put Meyer or Saban at Iowa...and they either do no better than KF, OR Iowa ends up on probation.
 
Fitz has done a good job of keeping NW respectable...no small task. Game day coaching is just ok for Fitz as he has blown a number of double digit second half leads the last two years. Fitz gets huge props from the media for keeping NW at the same level they were with Walker, for some reason...he is a good PR guy for the program, I guess, or has a solid publicist. No doubt he tries to curry favor with the talking heads, but has treated some of the local media like crap at times. Jim O'Donnell, longtime sports scribe, took issue with Fitz ''preaching'' the holier than ND'' mantra to the press...and was banned from the NW media room.

I will take KF. Fitz is a phony, KF is all about substance.
 
Fitz is the most overrated coach in the B1G. Fitz inherited a jNW team that had won 4, 5, and 5 B1G games in the last 3 years under Walker, so he didn't take over some dumpster fire. He then turned that into 2, 3, 5, 5, 3, 3, 5, & 1 B1G wins. Fitz is entering his 9th season as coach and has yet to really make a mark like Barnett did, or KF has at Iowa.
 
Fitz's overall record is somewhat misleading because the guy was thrust into the HC job in his early 30's, probably a decade before he was ready, when his mentor and close friend passed away suddenly shortly before the 2006 season. I alternate between who I think is better, but the one thing I know is both guys are perfect "fits" for the programs they head up and make the most out of their relative recruiting strengths and inherent deficiencies (e.g., Ferentz is great at developing and utilizing his players in the trenches to his advantage and Fitz is great at covering up line deficiencies with a pretty well executed completely unpredictable spread offense and blitz packages that help pressure the QB and give run support to his bad d-lines).
 
deanvogs said:
Fitz is the most overrated coach in the B1G. Fitz inherited a jNW team that had won 4, 5, and 5 B1G games in the last 3 years under Walker, so he didn't take over some dumpster fire. He then turned that into 2, 3, 5, 5, 3, 3, 5, & 1 B1G wins. Fitz is entering his 9th season as coach and has yet to really make a mark like Barnett did, or KF has at Iowa.
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Actually, he did inherit a bit of a dumpster fire because Brett Basanez was a total stud QB who won Big Ten offensive player of the year in 2005 and he graduated prior to Fitz taking over the reigns. Iowa and NU played about the same B1G schedule in 2006 and Iowa, behind senior Drew Tate (granted he was injured) also managed to win 2 games that year, against Illinois and Purdue. NU beat only Illinois and Iowa.
 
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