Get Prepared for some Tough Times

[longtimer]

We had hoped for a special year. Obviously that is gone. Next year will be worse. Lose a lot of key players with little hope of adding enough to be good. May be looking at 3 or 4 win season
Iowa men's athletic program at crossroads. Regardless if Ferentz retires (and he needs to retire) we are going to be in a transition rebuilding state.
Add to that Fran will leaving soon as well and a new coach will need to upgrade a program that has struggled to be anything but Mediocre for years.

Tough job ahead for our AD. Hiring the right coaches won't be easy but hopefully she doesn't take the easy way out

The positives she has to work with is a solid fan base and being in the Big Ten $$
Of course the negative is being in the Big Ten makes it almost impossible for Iowa to ever challenge for championships.

Maybe the worst is that Clones are now the dominant team in both sports and they will challenge in a conference with really mediocre teams. But that will get them to the Playoffs

Could be some tough times ahead but I went through 20 years of no winning seasons in football. Unfortunately I don't have 20 years left

 

[Will C]

Looks like the smart thing to do now is get ready for next year. That means playing a lot of younger players. There is no evidence we will do that. First thing we need is better passing and the second is better tackling.

 

[NCHawker]

I wonder if Beth is operating with a strong presumption that SW will succeed Kirk - that continuity is key

 

[SCHawkeye2]

I was a student at Iowa in the '70's. I had the unfortunate timing to experience both the Commings and Lauterbur programs (including the 1973 0-11 season). Yesterday's MSU game caused me to experience some unwelcome flashbacks to those days.

 

[NCHawker]

Ya know the “good old days “ were nothing more than 7-4 or 8-3 teams with fans expecting less and happy with every win.

 

[HawkeyeGunner]

I'm wondering. Who is officially gone(graduation) and who do you think leaves, either for NFL or NIL?

 

[trj]

I'm wondering. Who is officially gone(graduation) and who do you think leaves, either for NFL or NIL?

I’m rattling this off the top of my head so take it, fwiw.

Harris
Lachey
Jones
Colby
Richman
Higgins
Jackson
Schulte
Craig
Black
Castro
CM
Fisher

I believe those guys are out of eligibility.

Kaleb Johnson is gone if he stays healthy. I think Aaron Graves stays, but I’m not sure how the NFL sees him.

Hall/Lee/Lestor

Your guess is as good as mine in what happens there. All three guys have eligibility and with Harris gone, both corner spots will be open.

XN

I don’t know I could see him leaving and I could see him staying. He has a year of eligibility left.

Everyone feel free to check my work, as I stated before, just rattling shit off the top of my head.

 

[InGoodCo]

I was shocked at how many people told me I was wrong when we made so many shifts in the coaching staff in the OC. I mentioned how bad major coordinator replacements had gone previously under Ferentz. I realize the offense is better, but, when you put all your focus on the offense, other things tend to get overlooked or have less focus. Brian Ferentz wasn't just the OC, he was a leader, a voice in our program that mattered and basically our # 2. He clearly wasn't a good OC and Iowa needed a change there, but ya cut a guy's arm off, he's going to have a hard time clapping anymore. Say what you want...but when he arrived in IC, Iowa started winning more games, and now that he's gone, Iowa is going to lose more games.

 

[SCHawkeye2]

I was shocked at how many people told me I was wrong when we made so many shifts in the coaching staff in the OC. I mentioned how bad major coordinator replacements had gone previously under Ferentz. I realize the offense is better, but, when you put all your focus on the offense, other things tend to get overlooked or have less focus. Brian Ferentz wasn't just the OC, he was a leader, a voice in our program that mattered and basically our # 2. He clearly wasn't a good OC and Iowa needed a change there, but ya cut a guy's arm off, he's going to have a hard time clapping anymore. Say what you want...but when he arrived in IC, Iowa started winning more games, and now that he's gone, Iowa is going to lose more games.

Seriously?
You believe the current state of the Iowa program is because Brian is NOT there?

 

[Hawkfnntn]

I was shocked at how many people told me I was wrong when we made so many shifts in the coaching staff in the OC. I mentioned how bad major coordinator replacements had gone previously under Ferentz. I realize the offense is better, but, when you put all your focus on the offense, other things tend to get overlooked or have less focus. Brian Ferentz wasn't just the OC, he was a leader, a voice in our program that mattered and basically our # 2. He clearly wasn't a good OC and Iowa needed a change there, but ya cut a guy's arm off, he's going to have a hard time clapping anymore. Say what you want...but when he arrived in IC, Iowa started winning more games, and now that he's gone, Iowa is going to lose more games.

I mean there's always gonna be a grace period of sorts with a new OC taking a job from the outside like he was. That's a given I would think. The playbook being so different with all the motions etc takes time. I'm almost surprised we haven't had more presnap penalties due to it. But the lack of success of the O is a combination of everything. Cade can't make plays a 6th yr qb should be able to make to me that's the glaring one that could be addressed and isn't.

They won games despite BF and the O for quite awhile. Not because of him. Let's not get it twisted. His cheerleading didn't do shit.

 

[Grady]

Lester has had a good year thus far, considering the QBs he's had to work with, moving the offense's national ranking from the 120s to the 60s in both yards and scoring. But his 1st half play calling was attrocious on Sat in E.Lansing. Two 3rd and 1s in the 1st half, both simple off-tackle plays to the left, both stuffed. Everyone knew coming into the game that Sparty was going to load up to stop the run -- they had a week to prepare and they have the players to do it. What they don't have is good LBs, which could have been deceived with misdirection plays. In the 1st half, there wasn't a single misdirection play called. NOT ONE! Unbelievable, really. Lester has said he scripts X number of plays to start each game, note to gain yardage but to see how the defense is reacting to certain formations. After the first few games, he said he realized he needed to reduce the # of scripted 'diagnostic' plays. No shit. He needs to script the beginning of games to take advantage of the vulnerabilities of the team Iowa is playing. Period. You can't waste a half 'diagnosing', as he's done more than once this season.

 

[InGoodCo]

Seriously?
You believe the current state of the Iowa program is because Brian is NOT there?

I do. BF was literally #2. I mean, I knew that the change was going to make a negative impact on the program over-all because that same thing had happened before when Iowa made big changes in it's coordinators in the past... and it didn't go well, so I at the very least knew a likely step backwards was coming. I just didn't know how bad it was going to be. I wasn't excited about having to sit through that. Still not. I'd rather we just get a new HC then have to sit and watch that monkey F that was almost certain to have an overall poor impact on our program.

That said, I am totally shocked by how well the offense has looked this season. It's much better. I am glad they made the change. I just wish it wasn't at the expense of getting rid of our #2.

Kirk got his nuts cut off, he had to make sure that shit didn't happen again, so, he laid out the hierarchy of things and named Seth Wallace assistant head coach, something that's literally never happened before that. Cause what if the linebackers have a bad year, Beth going to force out another good coach?

I didn't think BF was a great OC, I thought he was however a very good coach and ambassador for our program. We took the control out of Kirk's hands....and that's fine by me, but like, when that happens.... I for one expected it to over all negatively impact our football program.

I was told it wouldn't and that if we just had a competent offense, the lord and savor Phil Parker was going to wave a magic wand that took us to the new 12 team playoff. I was prepared to lose more games than we have since Brian came to IC, I still think that's likely.

Again, not because he was some irreplaceable figure...he was just good for Iowa football, he was good for Kirk, and he was good for the bottom line.

It's almost like no one on HN has ever worked within an organization with good leadership and the value good leadership can provide

 

[Hay Man]

Then what did you want to do with Brian? Kirk would never demote him back to O-line coach, where he should have stayed in the 1st place. At some point you have to pull the bad tooth and hope that you can continue to eat the same without it. It takes time to figure out a different way but it needed to happen.

Most high schoolers don't commit these days because of the #2 guy in the program. They commit because of the head coach, playing time, the school or money.

Ambassador for our program???? We were the laughing stock of the football world because of how terrible the offense was. People made jokes at our expense...how is that good for the program??

 

[Zstatman]

I was a student at Iowa in the '70's. I had the unfortunate timing to experience both the Commings and Lauterbur programs (including the 1973 0-11 season). Yesterday's MSU game caused me to experience some unwelcome flashbacks to those days.

I was right there with you. We still loved our Hawkeyes.........

 

[Zstatman]

We had hoped for a special year. Obviously that is gone. Next year will be worse. Lose a lot of key players with little hope of adding enough to be good. May be looking at 3 or 4 win season
Iowa men's athletic program at crossroads. Regardless if Ferentz retires (and he needs to retire) we are going to be in a transition rebuilding state.
Add to that Fran will leaving soon as well and a new coach will need to upgrade a program that has struggled to be anything but Mediocre for years.

Tough job ahead for our AD. Hiring the right coaches won't be easy but hopefully she doesn't take the easy way out

The positives she has to work with is a solid fan base and being in the Big Ten $$
Of course the negative is being in the Big Ten makes it almost impossible for Iowa to ever challenge for championships.

Maybe the worst is that Clones are now the dominant team in both sports and they will challenge in a conference with really mediocre teams. But that will get them to the Playoffs

Could be some tough times ahead but I went through 20 years of no winning seasons in football. Unfortunately I don't have 20 years left

You make some good points that are hard to disagree with. The next football and basketball hires will be key. It's kind of scary.

Money talks and bullshit walks, right? How are we to compete with an OSU that has a $20M football roster or an Oregon program that has all that Nike money?

One item that gave me a bit of hope was in that Beth Goetz letter she just sent out. Not much was made of it that I notched but maybe it was, and I missed it. The part in the letter where she stated that institutions would be able to earmark a percentage of their revenue to go to Iowa athletics. If that could be done in the right way, that could be the ticket to generate the cash to compete with the big boys.

 

[Grady]

I do. BF was literally #2. I mean, I knew that the change was going to make a negative impact on the program over-all because that same thing had happened before when Iowa made big changes in it's coordinators in the past... and it didn't go well, so I at the very least knew a likely step backwards was coming. I just didn't know how bad it was going to be. I wasn't excited about having to sit through that. Still not. I'd rather we just get a new HC then have to sit and watch that monkey F that was almost certain to have an overall poor impact on our program.

That said, I am totally shocked by how well the offense has looked this season. It's much better. I am glad they made the change. I just wish it wasn't at the expense of getting rid of our #2.

Kirk got his nuts cut off, he had to make sure that shit didn't happen again, so, he laid out the hierarchy of things and named Seth Wallace assistant head coach, something that's literally never happened before that. Cause what if the linebackers have a bad year, Beth going to force out another good coach?

I didn't think BF was a great OC, I thought he was however a very good coach and ambassador for our program. We took the control out of Kirk's hands....and that's fine by me, but like, when that happens.... I for one expected it to over all negatively impact our football program.

I was told it wouldn't and that if we just had a competent offense, the lord and savor Phil Parker was going to wave a magic wand that took us to the new 12 team playoff. I was prepared to lose more games than we have since Brian came to IC, I still think that's likely.

Again, not because he was some irreplaceable figure...he was just good for Iowa football, he was good for Kirk, and he was good for the bottom line.

It's almost like no one on HN has ever worked within an organization with good leadership and the value good leadership can provide

This is a really odd post. The idea that if the #2 person in an organization is removed due to being literally the worst performing person out of 130 similar jobs in the country, that is somehow damaging to the organization as a whole....well, that's just a bizarre perspective, whether you're discussing business, government, or any other organization.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Then what did you want to do with Brian? Kirk would never demote him back to O-line coach, where he should have stayed in the 1st place. At some point you have to pull the bad tooth and hope that you can continue to eat the same without it. It takes time to figure out a different way but it needed to happen.

Most high schoolers don't commit these days because of the #2 guy in the program. They commit because of the head coach, playing time, the school or money.

Ambassador for our program???? We were the laughing stock on the football world because how how terrible the offense was. People made jokes at our expense...how is that good for the program??

The stink from what that'd been the previous 3 yrs not just last yr isn't coming off easy. It's still there now even though we've crawled up to what should be respectability as an overall O. But we still have an abysmal passing game and a QB that can't execute the easiest of throws for a D1 QB. And besides KF BF was the reason for all of that. That band aid needed ripped off before it was put on due to nepotism to begin with. That exact scenario playing out is why those hires shouldn't be made to start with.

 

[eyekwah]

We had hoped for a special year. Obviously that is gone. Next year will be worse. Lose a lot of key players with little hope of adding enough to be good. May be looking at 3 or 4 win season
Iowa men's athletic program at crossroads. Regardless if Ferentz retires (and he needs to retire) we are going to be in a transition rebuilding state.
Add to that Fran will leaving soon as well and a new coach will need to upgrade a program that has struggled to be anything but Mediocre for years.

Tough job ahead for our AD. Hiring the right coaches won't be easy but hopefully she doesn't take the easy way out

The positives she has to work with is a solid fan base and being in the Big Ten $$
Of course the negative is being in the Big Ten makes it almost impossible for Iowa to ever challenge for championships.

Maybe the worst is that Clones are now the dominant team in both sports and they will challenge in a conference with really mediocre teams. But that will get them to the Playoffs

Could be some tough times ahead but I went through 20 years of no winning seasons in football. Unfortunately I don't have 20 years left

I'm in the same boat as you with not a lot of time left. I'm turning 77 this month. It easy to fall into pessimism after a loss, but this loss to MSU is different. Different in a lot of ways. I'm old enough to remember when the entire Big Ten was not competitive with other conferences. The Big 10 limited annual football scholarships to 30 when the NCAA allowed 45. It also had admission standards higher than the minimum set by the NCAA. Last it only allowed 1 team to play a bowl game. Changes were not made until the late 70's.

Now the conference has to deal with a much larger set of problems. Namely NIL, the court settlement that essentially pays players, and unlimited transfers. The days when Ohio State was on the same financial level as Indiana, Iowa, Purdue, etc has been erased. He who has the most gold gets the best players. I won't be surprised this shapes up looking like the Bo and Woody time period for conference championships, only now there are more candidates than Michigan and Ohio State to conquer.

In terms of student population only 3 universities in the Big 10 have fewer than 31,000 students; Iowa, Nebraska, and Northwestern. Everyone else has 40,000 or more. Those are big alumni bases to compete with when it comes to finances for NIL deals. I bring this up because of this question, "is it realistic to think Iowa can compete in this new world of quasi professional football?". I'm not sure Iowa can attract and sustain a successful coach in this new era. If you ask yourself today, " who is the prime college coach available and where is he coaching at?" It is probably a coach in the Big 12 or ACC. Unless you have the money to recruit from the transfer portal and pay the player it will be a tough to get as well as keep your current players.

I'll finish up with MSU hired and up and coming coach, it sure look like they are improving on the field and Iowa looked like it was sliding backward. Iowa has a head coach that is past retirement age, seems to have less energy, and the current roster of players not as talented in the new Big Ten. It sure seems like 1963 in Iowa City.