Give Brian Ferentz some Credit

[longtimer]

No not as an offensive coordinator. A job that cannot be his next year.
But after reading yet another article about how the crowd on Saturday night was loud and supportive when Iowa was on defense and chanting Fire Brian when on offense (on national TV) you have to give Brian some credit for the courage he shows to be on the sideline. He could hide in the booth. The guy has to be under unimaginable pressure.
Not doubt why we haven't seen him at a press conference lately. It is just not going to get better and I don't know how he can endure for the rest of the year

 

[hawkinn3]

The Iowa OC has to be on the sideline to see exactly to the inch where the first down line is and then call a play that doesn’t go beyond it.

 

[BigD]

The Iowa OC has to be on the sideline to see exactly to the inch where the first down line is and then call a play that doesn’t go beyond it.

Lol, just spit up my soda.

 

[NCHawker]

No not as an offensive coordinator. A job that cannot be his next year.
But after reading yet another article about how the crowd on Saturday night was loud and supportive when Iowa was on defense and chanting Fire Brian when on offense (on national TV) you have to give Brian some credit for the courage he shows to be on the sideline. He could hide in the booth. The guy has to be under unimaginable pressure.
Not doubt why we haven't seen him at a press conference lately. It is just not going to get better and I don't know how he can endure for the rest of the year

I think people forget that he's a human being. He took the job that was offered to him. Kirk should be the guy getting the blame here.

 

[hawkinn3]

I think people forget that he's a human being. He took the job that was offered to him. Kirk should be the guy getting the blame here.

He took a job he knew he wasn’t qualified for and knew he didn’t earn. He could have stayed as a position coach but he took the money (as we all would) to be OC so the price is you can’t bitch about people calling you out for being terrible at your job.

He can always quit.

 

[oldhawk12]

No not as an offensive coordinator. A job that cannot be his next year.
But after reading yet another article about how the crowd on Saturday night was loud and supportive when Iowa was on defense and chanting Fire Brian when on offense (on national TV) you have to give Brian some credit for the courage he shows to be on the sideline. He could hide in the booth. The guy has to be under unimaginable pressure.
Not doubt why we haven't seen him at a press conference lately. It is just not going to get better and I don't know how he can endure for the rest of the year

Just no….

 

[Hawkboys]

I think people forget that he's a human being. He took the job that was offered to him. Kirk should be the guy getting the blame here.

And UI was competing with the NFL at the time. Not so much anymore I suppose.

 

[M1911A1Hawkeye]

He deals with it better than Matt Campbell does when it comes to being heckled.

 

[HuckFinn]

I thought he did a good job working with a rookie QB. Yes, I am serious.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

He took a job he knew he wasn’t qualified for and knew he didn’t earn. He could have stayed as a position coach but he took the money (as we all would) to be OC so the price is you can’t bitch about people calling you out for being terrible at your job.

He can always quit.

This is not accurate. First, there is no way he "knew" he wasn't qualified for the job. Everyone who has any competitive bone in their body thinks they are ready for the next step. In the corporate world, the phrase is "you rise to the level of your incompetence." You keep getting promoted until you prove you are not good at the next job. But, no one knows they suck at the next promotion until they do.

Second, he took the money? So what? You would too. Don't hate on someone for accepting money that is offered to him.

Finally, he was more than qualified for the position. Former player, NFL experience as a position coach. Several years as a position coach and a run game coordinator. OC was absolutely the next logical step in his ascension. Turns out that he isn't all that good at it, but it does not mean he did not have the resume to be offered his first coordinator position.

 

[InGoodCo]

Brian called a good game last week, probably his best of the season. Iowa went out and tried to use the WR's in the offense. He's down his top TE, his top 2 RB's, his starting QB .... he was working with a QB who couldn't use his plant foot so that limited the entire playbook.

He took a job knowing he was unqualified is hilarious. Everyone does that. This can't be fun for Brian, but you know what? He's his dad's kid. They're in this together. They likely know a little more about football then your average football fan. Winning is all that matters to Kirk and Brian and that is at the expense of the fans. We want to see points and score points and get great offensive weapons that score and we want to be entertained because this is some boring ass football.

Kirk and Brian don't care... they want a W.

 

[trj]

As I have stated many times before I will never confuse him with Lincoln Riley in terms of being a playcaller, but in his defense(no pun intended) he is handcuffed by a lot of things that are out of his control.

Sidenote: I root for two teams(Hawks and Steelers) where everyone knows the offensive coordinator's name. When you know the name of the offensive coordinator of a team you don't root for...it usually means he sucks at his job.

 

[rschneider]

I'm all for ragging on the dude. I just wish we had a good to great o-line.
It is what it is, and reputations have been tarnished. It will take years of good offenses to climb out of that for Brian. Not worth the wait for Iowa fans.
Old man took a gamble.

 

[dagdaj]

I do give him credit. He's never, as some have suggested, hidden himself away. He's more than aware of the heat from fans, media, and the internetz and has actually handled that quite well. I do think he waited too long last season to take the heat off Petras. Also, he must be a great dude. And players must appreciate his coaching, otherwise the offense wouldn't be in the black when it comes to portal moves (as of this season). I don't think anyone can identify a measurable change in recruiting. Sure, they lose out on a few, but that's nothing new. No way do I believe the caliber of players coming to Iowa is measurably different than any other era. So there's all that.

Also, I think it's bad form booing players (I did not like Petras being booed). I'm not really a fan of the "Fire Brian" chant. But, I get it. Fans feel completely powerless and hopeless.

I can say this.
If you take average yards per play as a measure of the offense, that in and of itself does not really tell much of a story. However, you would expect a team to hit that average roughly 50% of the time, right? And for the first 18 years of the KF era, they exceeded the average 10 times. Statistically, close enough to 50% for me.

That average is:
5.39 yards per play

Here's the average yards per play under Brian:
2017 5.1
2018 5.4
2019 5.5
2020 5.4
2021 4.7
2022 4.2 * **
2023 4.3

Statistically, I'm going to call it, at or below average, 100% of the seasons as OC. Fine, he's still 1 for 5 if you want to count 2019.

* Denotes a historic low in the entirety of the KF era.
** Denotes a historic low in the average yards per play allowed by the defense (a pretty astounding 4 yards/play) in the KF era.

FTR, the defense is performing well better than the average against the historic average since 2018. And just might be the reason for a 5 year period of showing up in the final polls. Also 2020 was weird. Again, none of this really telsl 100% of the story. I sense a stronger correlation between the defensive average and 'success' than I do offense.

That being said, there is only 2 years in the KF era where the offense was below average on yards/play and wound up ranked. That was 2004 and 2016. I will also note that the only times we saw 2 consecutive years below the average on offense prior to Brian were 1999-2000 and 2012-2013.

I am also an amateur #s guy. I think there's value in them. But I don't really know how to do them beyond a very basic look. Maybe when I'm done paying out the arse for out-of-state tuition at Iowa, my actuarial science major son can do a better job for me.

 

[HuckFinn]

This is not accurate. First, there is no way he "knew" he wasn't qualified for the job. Everyone who has any competitive bone in their body thinks they are ready for the next step. In the corporate world, the phrase is "you rise to the level of your incompetence." You keep getting promoted until you prove you are not good at the next job. But, no one knows they suck at the next promotion until they do.

Second, he took the money? So what? You would too. Don't hate on someone for accepting money that is offered to him.

Finally, he was more than qualified for the position. Former player, NFL experience as a position coach. Several years as a position coach and a run game coordinator. OC was absolutely the next logical step in his ascension. Turns out that he isn't all that good at it, but it does not mean he did not have the resume to be offered his first coordinator position.

You are right. This continued nonsense about his college role as a player being a drawback or even the criticism because he was a line and tight end coach, is ignorance fully displayed. A coach with his background could be predicted as a decent choice. But, for whatever reason, and it is complicated, he has not shown promise as an OC.

 

[HuckFinn]

I do give him credit. He's never, as some have suggested, hidden himself away. He's more than aware of the heat from fans, media, and the internetz and has actually handled that quite well. I do think he waited too long last season to take the heat off Petras. Also, he must be a great dude. And players must appreciate his coaching, otherwise the offense wouldn't be in the black when it comes to portal moves (as of this season). I don't think anyone can identify a measurable change in recruiting. Sure, they lose out on a few, but that's nothing new. No way do I believe the caliber of players coming to Iowa is measurably different than any other era. So there's all that.

Also, I think it's bad form booing players (I did not like Petras being booed). I'm not really a fan of the "Fire Brian" chant. But, I get it. Fans feel completely powerless and hopeless.

I can say this.
If you take average yards per play as a measure of the offense, that in and of itself does not really tell much of a story. However, you would expect a team to hit that average roughly 50% of the time, right? And for the first 18 years of the KF era, they exceeded the average 10 times. Statistically, close enough to 50% for me.

That average is:
5.39 yards per play

Here's the average yards per play under Brian:
2017 5.1
2018 5.4
2019 5.5
2020 5.4
2021 4.7
2022 4.2 * **
2023 4.3

Statistically, I'm going to call it, at or below average, 100% of the seasons as OC. Fine, he's still 1 for 5 if you want to count 2019.

* Denotes a historic low in the entirety of the KF era.
** Denotes a historic low in the average yards per play allowed by the defense (a pretty astounding 4 yards/play) in the KF era.

FTR, the defense is performing well better than the average against the historic average since 2018. And just might be the reason for a 5 year period of showing up in the final polls. Also 2020 was weird. Again, none of this really telsl 100% of the story. I sense a stronger correlation between the defensive average and 'success' than I do offense.

That being said, there is only 2 years in the KF era where the offense was below average on yards/play and wound up ranked. That was 2004 and 2016. I will also note that the only times we saw 2 consecutive years below the average on offense prior to Brian were 1999-2000 and 2012-2013.

I am also an amateur #s guy. I think there's value in them. But I don't really know how to do them beyond a very basic look. Maybe when I'm done paying out the arse for out-of-state tuition at Iowa, my actuarial science major son can do a better job for me.

Damn good post. I am aware that the comments on HN about BF have actually softened a bit to a more reasonable, analytic view, in my opinion. The “fire Brian“ chant was a product of the “going for the jugular” mentality of the recent political/social era we are all suffering through. So, it has become the “ignorance is bliss” no class climate in the good old USA.

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

This horse has been beaten to death, but honestly I really haven't had much issue with Brian's play-calling. In general, I'm not a big fan of criticizing play-calling. So much of it is 20:20 hindsight. A classic example is the draw play on third and long. When it works, everyone praises the play-caller. When it doesn't, everyone is indignant and can't believe how bone-headed the call was. That said, there are times where I question a play-call whether it works or not. For instance (and I'm not a Bears fan), when the Bears coaches decided to go for it on 4th down Sunday when they could have easily gone up by three in that situation, I questioned the call. Even if they would have made it (they didn't), I still would have questioned the call.

One negative issue I have with Brian is that I don't think he necessarily gets off the hook when the players fail to execute. As the offensive coordinator, he not only is responsible for play-calling, he also is accountable for ensuring that his players are ready. Poor performance by the OL and WRs ultimately is a big reflection on him. He may not be the OL or WR coach, but nevertheless it is his job (and ultimately Kirk's) to make sure that the entire unit is ready to perform. With respect to that job responsibility, he has failed now for a couple of years in a row.

 

[dahlhawk]

I'm all for ragging on the dude. I just wish we had a good to great o-line.
It is what it is, and reputations have been tarnished. It will take years of good offenses to climb out of that for Brian. Not worth the wait for Iowa fans.
Old man took a gamble.

The truth is this is Brian's offensive line, his recruits and his coaching. The buck stops with him. I was sitting in a section that was chanting "Fire Brian", no I was not a part of it. Hate to say it but most of the chanters were under the age of 30. It's definitely popular with the social media savy.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

Give Brian some credit:

Here Brian....are you happy?

 

[HaydenHawk56]

He took a job he knew he wasn’t qualified for and knew he didn’t earn. He could have stayed as a position coach but he took the money (as we all would) to be OC so the price is you can’t bitch about people calling you out for being terrible at your job.

He can always quit.