Here's What I Wrote on Eno

[CJHawkeye]

Did we pull his scholarship offer? I'm really torn about this. I listened to Jon's podcast and he made some decent points but it was fairly one-sided and I didn't agree with all of his points.

He calls people losers for caring about recruiting but takes no issue with a 60 year old man playing chicken with a 17 year old kid over the largest decision of their life to date. I've seen Kirk pout enough in his tenure to know he's not blameless in these situations. e.g. "As he said last night, the coaches couldn't get over him taking the visits and felt it best to move on." Unless he's lying, this is on the coaches and Jon can talk about being over his crybaby year but this is a completely different situation. And, deciding not to be brat doesn't mean you don't hold the coaches responsible for anything.

 

[blubberhawk]

What pisses me off about the ferentz "philosophy" is if eno was a soft commit or leaning Iowa then he could still visit other schools and Iowa wouldn't care. But since he committed then ferentz treats it like a blood oath. Thats not the way kids today work.

If you wanted to take other trips, why commit then?

Iowa didn't trick Eno, they didn't force him to commit, he had plenty of options. If he wanted free trips he should have taken them and then decided. That is all Iowa ask is if you say you are coming, then you don't take visits to other schools. Pretty simple.

Also, pretty simple: Ferentz should get his ass to work. What in the hell does he and his staff do all week? What do they do in practice? They only run 5 or six plays on offense. They stay in the same defense most plays. Opposing staffs have to do nothing to get ready for Iowa, because nothing ever changes.

 

[westender]

Gary didn't give Kirk that extension without a blessing from the huge donors. The money will continue to flow like the salmon of capastrano.

Exactly right. Kirk is here to stay. Don't be dumb. People can whine and cry all they want. So a kid decommitted. So what, better for him and us. We don't know whether he would have panned out here or not. We have some good running back talent coming up. I understand Iowa stating if they offer it is 100% guaranteed. We don't pull any Michigan crap as far as I know and pull offers after kids are committed. So we don't pull offers, even when kids get hurt, so why should we let kids continue to play footsie with other schools after they commit. we can't find a bunch of kids on the last day if all the sudden they flip days before signing day.

 

[HomerChampless]

...I have to think his <Willes'>giant ego, incredible leaping ability and 6'3" frame was able to overcome his academic limitations. Even if Willies couldn't block or learn routes, I would tell him, "Sprint to the endzone and high-point the football and we have 6 points."

Eno; Willies; etc. These are square pegs that Kirk seems to want to fit into a round hole. If you have a square peg, why not alter the hole so that it can fit a round peg AND a square peg????

Because, with KF, its more about playing football 'the right way' and not winning. That is what distinguishes, for example, conservative coaches like Saban, Dantonio and KF. Les Miles (less of LSU) is more like KF. I just wish KF would aspire to the same type of defense as Miles...

 

[BLKNGOLD48]

Just another example of how out of touch KF and his staff are. Calloway is all but gone then based on what just happened with Eno, he's taken multiple visits. Crazy how things change so quickly, what version of KF is this now? Back to the same ole' crap......

 

[westender]

Did we pull his scholarship offer? I'm really torn about this. I listened to Jon's podcast and he made some decent points but it was fairly one-sided and I didn't agree with all of his points.

He calls people losers for caring about recruiting but takes no issue with a 60 year old man playing chicken with a 17 year old kid over the largest decision of their life to date. I've seen Kirk pout enough in his tenure to know he's not blameless in these situations. e.g. "As he said last night, the coaches couldn't get over him taking the visits and felt it best to move on." Unless he's lying, this is on the coaches and Jon can talk about being over his crybaby year but this is a completely different situation. And, deciding not to be brat doesn't mean you don't hold the coaches responsible for anything.

So Iowa is committed when they offer if the kid accepts. They do not dump kids (unless they get into trouble). So a kid accepts an offer. At that point Iowa is locked in and will not pull the offer. So why should Iowa not expect a kid to be 100% committed if they have accepted an offer? So we can get close to february and have them dump us and leave us there? We are NOT Alabama or Ohio State or Michigan! Recruits are not going to run to us like those schools. I like it. It is integrity and serious. It is stating we are committed to you and if you commit to us we expect the same level of commitment. Iowa does not back out, you should not be flirting around with other schools.

 

[westender]

Because, with KF, its more about playing football 'the right way' and not winning. That is what distinguishes, for example, conservative coaches like Saban, Dantonio and KF. Les Miles (less of LSU) is more like KF. I just wish KF would aspire to the same type of defense as Miles...

Good God. Read your first sentence! So you what Ohio State sweater vest guy as your coach. Or maybe like Louisville, get those kids some hookers. Yeah I want to be a fan of programs like that. let's cheat and lie and do illegal crap so we can win.

 

[HomerChampless]

...So what, better for him <Enos> and us. We don't know whether he would have panned out here or not. We have some good running back talent coming up. I understand Iowa stating if they offer it is 100% guaranteed. We don't pull any Michigan crap as far as I know and pull offers after kids are committed. So we don't pull offers, even when kids get hurt, so why should we let kids continue to play footsie with other schools after they commit. we can't find a bunch of kids on the last day if all the sudden they flip days before signing day.

Oh. Is that why Iowa spent all that money building the state of the art football training facilities? So recruits could de-commit? What do you suppose KF's reason for building the modern facilities is?

 

[westender]

What an archaic, overzealous philosophy. If I'm a kid and have free trips to college campuses across the country, I'm making those trips

Then don't freaking commit first! How hard is that?!?!?!?

 

[westender]

I hear ya... Loud and clear. That's what is so dumb. Not all recruits should be created equal. You have a top 300 4 star RB committed to you so let's push him away because he wants to visit a couple other places??? Yeah that's logical. Because Iowa has 3 other 4 star stud RBs just banging down the door waiting to come too... Regardless of how many 2 star recruits Iowa has turned into studs your still beholden to talent. The staffs pretty ignorant if they think that Eno needed Iowa more then the other way around... That kid could go about anywhere he wants. And not only that take a handful of pretty good players that are friends of his with him. This staff underestimated his value in a really big way I think and I'm afraid the wheels are falling off the bus pretty fast...

We don't know the story? You got sources?

 

[HomerChampless]

Good God. Read your first sentence! So you what Ohio State sweater vest guy as your coach. Or maybe like Louisville, get those kids some hookers. Yeah I want to be a fan of programs like that. let's cheat and lie and do illegal crap so we can win.

I'm a front runner and I'm proud. Iowa is no front running football program. It's a do the things the right way program. Sigh.

 

[deanvogs]

They didn't have much choice with Higdon because it was so late in the process and he held all the leverage. They tried hard to hang on. He flipped. The backup plan was Graham, who, as it turned out, was overmatched at this level. Nothing changed with the policy. Been the same since I can remember and I've covered Iowa football for 20 years.

As I said in my last post, and as Kirk said Tuesday, it's case-by-case decision based on several factors. The coaches evaluate and determine what to do. It's not black and white and completely rigid.

They bailed on Seantrel Henderson when they determined it wasn't worth it even though he had us in his Top 5.

As far as my report last week, Eno said he felt things were well with Iowa. I quoted him as saying as much, he was still a Hawk, that the coaches weren't happy with his visits and the he and they were working on the relationship. As he said last night, the coaches couldn't get over him taking the visits and felt it best to move on. Would have been tough for me to write that last week when it didn't happen until last night.

I talk with "the other people that do what I do" quite often. We share information because it helps all of us to get as close to the truth as possible in what can be a very murky and what is a very fluid process. I think you understand that as someone who follows it as closely as you do.

I'm sure you know that as soon as you posted that article that there was another guy who does what you do refuted it saying the relationship was not repaired, and that the coaches were not where Eno was on this. I was hoping you and Eno version was right, but it wasn't

I think it is a bit misleading to make it sound like Iowa generally allows verbal commits to take visits. Iowa's hand was forced with Higdon, but outside of him who else has done so over the last 2-3 years? I honestly don't know because I haven't always followed recruiting really closely. Also you can easily say that Iowa's no visit policy directly helped keeping kids like Fant (didn't end up officially visiting Minnesota), Lattimore (getting pushed hard to visit his home state MSU school) with Stanley (Same with Wisconsin making a hard push to visit them) and with Toks (I think it was Indiana who he was gonna visit, but then canceled).

The staff is very upfront with these kids. They make them take visits to Iowa before committing, they clearly tell them that they expect them to NOT take other visits if they verbal to Iowa. They are actually trying to make sure the kids are sure before they verbal so they don't have this.

No matter what way you approach it, you are going to lose Verbal commits, that is inevitable. I think though that by expecting and enforcing the no visit rule you will end up keeping more players than if you allowed those kids to make other official visits.

 

[westender]

Oh. Is that why Iowa spent all that money building the state of the art football training facilities? So recruits could de-commit? What do you suppose KF's reason for building the modern facilities is?

So the recruit himself has no part in this eh?

 

[Mrke1]

So Iowa is committed when they offer if the kid accepts. They do not dump kids (unless they get into trouble). So a kid accepts an offer. At that point Iowa is locked in and will not pull the offer. So why should Iowa not expect a kid to be 100% committed if they have accepted an offer? So we can get close to february and have them dump us and leave us there? We are NOT Alabama or Ohio State or Michigan! Recruits are not going to run to us like those schools. I like it. It is integrity and serious. It is stating we are committed to you and if you commit to us we expect the same level of commitment. Iowa does not back out, you should not be flirting around with other schools.

Jack Beneventi would like a word.

 

[westender]

I'm a front runner and I'm proud. Iowa is no front running football program. It's a do the things the right way program. Sigh.

So you taught your kids to use people and be liars and users cause you can get ahead faster in life and get $$$ that way. That the way you think? Or are you about honesty and integrity and working your ass off and keeping your word and being committed to something once you commit?

 

[westender]

Jack Beneventi would like a word.

I don't know the exact issue there. Maybe you do. Maybe you have someone on the inside or know Jack so you know exactly how that all went down.

 

[westender]

I don't know the exact issue there. Maybe you do. Maybe you have someone on the inside or know Jack so you know exactly how that all went down.

okay so they may pull an offer if you stink your last year or year and a half of high school ........... From BHGP .......

"To be fair, Beneventi's senior season didn't much help matters. Beneventi switched high schools, reportedly because his family moved to a different part of Chicago. According to the Des Moines Register/Iowa City Press-Citizen, Beneventi completed just 47 percent of his passes and threw 14 interceptions against just 12 touchdowns. He then got benched late in the year after going 14/41 with four interceptions in his team's final two games. There had also been more than a little talk of a serious backslide during his junior season, so this might not have simply been a one-year blip with a new program. Obviously it was enough for Iowa to put him on an ice float, however poor that may look to outside observers.."

 

[HomerChampless]

So the recruit himself has no part in this eh?

Iowa, since it's apparent they are committed to getting better recruits with their new training facility, shouldn't be giving up so easily on a recruit - a recruit that can maybe bring more recruits to Iowa.

 

[RobHowe]

I'm sure you know that as soon as you posted that article that there was another guy who does what you do refuted it saying the relationship was not repaired, and that the coaches were not where Eno was on this. I was hoping you and Eno version was right, but it wasn't

I think it is a bit misleading to make it sound like Iowa generally allows verbal commits to take visits. Iowa's hand was forced with Higdon, but outside of him who else has done so over the last 2-3 years? I honestly don't know because I haven't always followed recruiting really closely. Also you can easily say that Iowa's no visit policy directly helped keeping kids like Fant (didn't end up officially visiting Minnesota), Lattimore (getting pushed hard to visit his home state MSU school) with Stanley (Same with Wisconsin making a hard push to visit them) and with Toks (I think it was Indiana who he was gonna visit, but then canceled).

The staff is very upfront with these kids. They make them take visits to Iowa before committing, they clearly tell them that they expect them to NOT take other visits if they verbal to Iowa. They are actually trying to make sure the kids are sure before they verbal so they don't have this.

No matter what way you approach it, you are going to lose Verbal commits, that is inevitable. I think though that by expecting and enforcing the no visit rule you will end up keeping more players than if you allowed those kids to make other official visits.

I'm not taking a stance on the no-visit policy. I can see plusses and minuses to it. At the end of the day, that's up to the coaches to decide. And I never said Iowa generally allows verbals to take visits. But like Kirk said, it's not a rigid policy.

Let's say AJ Epenesa decides a week before signing day that he wants to visit Michigan just to make sure Iowa is the place for him. Do you think the coaches just pull the offer on the spot or continue working on him?

Again, it's not black and white. Kirk said as much last Tuesday. He knows he can't be e completely inflexible. It's based on timing, analyzing the situation and other things. That's part of their job in recruiting.

My guess is that during Eno's call with Kirk last Sunday, coach did not cut bate. He told the kid, I need to meet with my coaches on the situation and we'll get back to you, but we're not happy you took visits. We're preparing for a game this week and we'll get back to you.

The coaches discussed it on Saturday night or Sunday, and based on the info they had, decided to move on. Maybe Eno demanded to know where he stood and the coaches said they needed more time to discuss it, to which Eno said I need to know now. Then the coaches said maybe it's better if we sent our separate ways.

It's a fluid situation. It's not about Eno lying last week when he talked to me. That's where he and the coaches stood in his mind. Again, he said he was working to repair the relationship. It didn't happen.

 

[Mrke1]

okay so they may pull an offer if you stink your last year or year and a half of high school ........... From BHGP .......

"To be fair, Beneventi's senior season didn't much help matters. Beneventi switched high schools, reportedly because his family moved to a different part of Chicago. According to the Des Moines Register/Iowa City Press-Citizen, Beneventi completed just 47 percent of his passes and threw 14 interceptions against just 12 touchdowns. He then got benched late in the year after going 14/41 with four interceptions in his team's final two games. There had also been more than a little talk of a serious backslide during his junior season, so this might not have simply been a one-year blip with a new program. Obviously it was enough for Iowa to put him on an ice float, however poor that may look to outside observers.."

Point is, a commitment is not set in stone and it goes both ways.