Hawkeye Football for next 5 years

[Saginawbay]

Iowa football is coming off a great draft and heading into what should be a great 2010 season. My question is what is going too happen with Iowa football over the next 5 seasons my feeling is Coach Ferentz will take Hawkeye football too great success and at least a couple of BCS games. I feel coach Ferentz will really make this next decade a great time for Hawkeye football. I don't thing we will have the drop off like we had early in the decade after the 02,03, and 04 run we will do what makes Hawkeye football great. KF learned from mistakes earlier this decade and will not repeat dropoff look for Hawks too remain a top team in the Big Ten and contend for a National Championship in the next 5 years.

 

[CAARHawk]

I think the Hawks will break through nicely this year with respect to recruiting, which will help them have the types of players that will let them continue to compete. The thing about this year's team is that you don't see a guy who seems like his measurements are just not quite Big Ten caliber.

There are no puffed up linebackers playing defensive tackle, corners who run in the 4.7 range, linebackers who lack the necessary mobility to cover guys out of the backfield, etc. At every position, except possibly center?, we have legitimate Big Ten bodies.

 

[GhostofBTT]

I think Iowa will rise high for a season or two, then fall back to the pack for three or four years, then rise high again.

The pattern has only played out that way for 30 years, and I don't think it is going to stop.

 

[hawkeyescott]

I have to agree with Ghost, Iowa will have a major rebuilding job to do next year (2011) and I think we fall back into the middle of the pack with an 8-4 or 7-5 type of season.

 

[hawkfarmer]

It all hinges on how well we can parlay the success of the team into recruiting. I know we do well with diamonds in the roughs but we need some of those high talent (high ranking) guys that can help immediately. If we can get the talent, the coaching is there, and we can have continued success, but there will always be a rebuilding year when you lose half your receiving core, 3/4 of your D-line and a 3 year starter at QB. Not to worry, Iowa will continue to impress for years to come I believe.

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

I have to agree with Ghost, Iowa will have a major rebuilding job to do next year (2011) and I think we fall back into the middle of the pack with an 8-4 or 7-5 type of season.

hawkeyescott -

The Iowa O should be excellent in 2011. The big issue will be the D ... and, in particular, rebuilding/reloading the front 7 guys. Guys like Binns, Daniels, Nielsen, and Bruce Davis, will provide us with decent foundations there. However, our front 7 on D will still be nowhere as impressive in 2011 as they were from '08 to '10.

What is the implication there? I believe that it means that the 2011 season will likely be more like a 8-4 season for us. It could be better ... but I highly doubt that it would be much worse than 8-4.

Then, the interesting question will be how our young guys develop on the DL. If our back-ups see plenty of action in 2010 and if guys like Alvis and Bigach develop as anticipated ... along with all the talented guys from the DL recruiting classes in '10 and '11 ... then the 2012 DL actually has pretty nice potential.

If Hyde sticks around for his SR year OR if we continue to have great success developing CBs ... then I'm confident that our secondary will continue to be a strength. Furthermore, our safeties and LBs will be very experienced units by 2012.

Thus, I fully anticipate that Iowa will be VERY solid in 2012.

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

It all hinges on how well we can parlay the success of the team into recruiting. I know we do well with diamonds in the roughs but we need some of those high talent (high ranking) guys that can help immediately. If we can get the talent, the coaching is there, and we can have continued success, but there will always be a rebuilding year when you lose half your receiving core, 3/4 of your D-line and a 3 year starter at QB. Not to worry, Iowa will continue to impress for years to come I believe.

I really anticipate that the 2010 season will be another excellent season for the Hawkeyes. That will then mean that the coaches will have A LOT to sell from the success of the '08, '09, and '10 Hawk squads!

When you look at the success recruiting in the 2010 class and how positive things are looking for the 2011 class ... I really don't anticipate that there will be ANY issue with regard to talent.

The big issue for the coaches and squad is to AVOID, at all costs, the culture of complacency/entitlement that knocked the program down a few pegs in 2005 and 2006. The "aftershocks" then forced the 2007 season to be a complete REBUILDING job. Fortunately, the rebuilt squad ended up being every bit as good as the squads from 2001-2004.

 

[hawkfarmer]

I really anticipate that the 2010 season will be another excellent season for the Hawkeyes. That will then mean that the coaches will have A LOT to sell from the success of the '08, '09, and '10 Hawk squads!

When you look at the success recruiting in the 2010 class and how positive things are looking for the 2011 class ... I really don't anticipate that there will be ANY issue with regard to talent.

The big issue for the coaches and squad is to AVOID, at all costs, the culture of complacency/entitlement that knocked the program down a few pegs in 2005 and 2006. The "aftershocks" then forced the 2007 season to be a complete REBUILDING job. Fortunately, the rebuilt squad ended up being every bit as good as the squads from 2001-2004.

I agree with you, but we aren't seeing kids jump on board extremely early. And who knows with some of those higher ranked players. I'm hoping we can get another class, like the 2010 class, and have a high profile WR and some good DBs.

 

[heitland]

Well said Homer, I agree that the front 7 on defense is the only area that at this time appears to be of real concern for 2011. The secondary should be stellar, given they all return. LB should be just fine, if LB is good this year, they should be as good or even better in 2011.

DL is a big ??? Have to figure there are guys there that will play and play well, they've been working with some amazing DL for the last few years. By the time 2012 rolls around, we'll have guys like Morris, Poggi, Ferguson, Gray, LTP, etc. who are entering their RS Soph years.

I'm cautiously optimistic about stringing together a long run of 9+ W seasons as long as the players keep their heads on straight.

 

[ThCatch]

I'm sorry to say it, but no analysis of the next five years is complete without factoring in Norm Parker's health.

 

[busabus114]

I have to agree with Ghost, Iowa will have a major rebuilding job to do next year (2011) and I think we fall back into the middle of the pack with an 8-4 or 7-5 type of season.

This is probably pretty true - there will be a new QB and a lot of talent departing. I'm just glad that Iowa is at a point where an 8-4 or 7-5 season is a bit of a rebuilding year. Its hard to be in the top ten every year

 

[pmchawk]

5 years is a big window. I'll feel better about it if we can win games by a large enough margin we can get backups plenty of expierence this year.

 

[ChosenChildren]

Ghost is right -- it has always been hard for Iowa to stay at or near the top.

We do, however, have an excellent record of playing in bowl games (22 out of the past 28 seasons) and I really expect Iowa to continue to play in some type of bowl game almost every year (I believe Ferentz has been bowl eligible in each of the past 9 seasons!).

As Hayden used to say, there are no bad bowl games. They are all good ones.

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

I agree with you, but we aren't seeing kids jump on board extremely early. And who knows with some of those higher ranked players. I'm hoping we can get another class, like the 2010 class, and have a high profile WR and some good DBs.

hawkfarmer -

I'm one of those who believes that patmyne has some credible info in stating that Jay Lee backed out from committing to Iowa due to the fact that his girlfriend probably unduly biased his opinion. Were it not for that ... Iowa might very well have had 3 commits.

As for the other guys ... you have to remember a few "rules" of Iowa recruiting:

1. Many of these young guys like the attention ... thus, they often string thing out in order to visit many schools and to maximize the attention they receive.

2. Ferentz strongly encourages guys not to commit until they're certain that they won't change their mind. Furthermore, it really seems like Ferentz no longer accepts commits from guys who haven't yet visited campus. Thus, I wouldn't be surprised if some out-of-state guys are told by the coaches that they won't accept a commit until after they visit.

3. Even with Iowa stepping up their recruiting efforts and recruiting guys earlier and harder ... we still don't operate like Texas or schools that are located in talent-rich areas. The coaches are still VERY deliberate because we're still always going to be rather reliant on our developmental program.

 

[homes]

5 years is a big window. I'll feel better about it if we can win games by a large enough margin we can get backups plenty of expierence this year.

I agree with you. Who would have thought 5 years ago that USC would be 9-4 in the 2009 season. Too many variables in college football to predict where a team will be that far into the future - injuries, early entries to the draft, transfers, a few misses on recruits, to name a few.

The thing that will keep Iowa generally going well is the consistent coaching staff, and even that is an "if".

 

[HawkeyeState81]

I agree with you. Who would have thought 5 years ago that USC would be 9-4 in the 2009 season. Too many variables in college football to predict where a team will be that far into the future - injuries, early entries to the draft, transfers, a few misses on recruits, to name a few.

The thing that will keep Iowa generally going well is the consistent coaching staff, and even that is an "if".

The fact that 9-4 for USC is a down year is simply unreal, wouldn't it be great to be at that level........

 

[homerHAWKeye777]

5 years is a big window. I'll feel better about it if we can win games by a large enough margin we can get backups plenty of expierence this year.

pmchawk -

Fortunately, I think that our schedule affords us a good number of opportunities over the next two years to see several victories by a legit margin.

In 2010:

Likely comfortable margin victories -
EIU - no need explaining
Ball State - no need explaining

Possible comfortable margin victories -
ISU - no disrespect, however, Iowa's special teams play + the quality of Iowa's D, the match-up of the Iowa O vs the ISU D, and the fact that the game is at Kinnick makes a victory by a comfortable margin more than possible
IU - they have great talent on O, no doubt. However, so many new faces on D is the bigger issue. Their primary key returning starters are 2 SO DTs ... ouch! They were forced to move Evans to safety ... a smart move, but one that should have been done a while ago. Besides, for whatever reason, Iowa seems to play with better focus at their house than ours.
NU - people will probably think I'm nuts here, however, I sincerely doubt that Persa will yet be the type of precision passer that gives Iowa fits. More importantly, the Wildcat secondary took a pretty hit from graduation and they lost some good guys on the DL too. Not unlike Indiana, Iowa seems to play with better focus at their house.
Minnesota - their D took substantial hits personnel-wise and there's still no guarantee that their O is going to play with much consistency. Besides, Brewster led teams have had awful trouble moving the ball against Parker's Ds ... irrespective of scheme. What's going to change? I see a healthy Stanzi picking the Gopher D apart and that will lead to Iowa's RBs having a big day!