Brian wasn't ready when he got hired. He does seem to be doing better in recruiting, now. I think Kirk knew that and let him learn on the job anyway, figuring he had O'Keefe there to back Brian up. I didn't like the nepotism.
As Brian as learned, they've improved on offense. I didn't like the schizophrenia of the Greg Davis era, and I didn't like that our excellent defensive strategy was predicated on exactly what our offense has to do to be successful, combined with our lack of zeal for recruiting the players on offense necessary to make the offensive strategy work. That's not 'hating' Ferentz as a person, that's just hating his mismatched personnel, offensive and defensive philosophy. When he has the horses on the oline and in the backfield it works. When he doesn't, the season yields inconsistent results where tiny chance occurrences screw up any chance of winning a game.
The first two games indicate to me that Ferentz has gotten over some stuff. The checkdowns aren't the same. Iowa's not just counting hats anymore. They are attempting things beyond 10 yards downfield early in the game without down and distance dictating the decision to do so. They aren't focusing on one guy in the passing game. They are rotating backs, they are playing freshmen, they aren't punishing guys for emoting (see Smith in the Rutgers game). It took a couple years, but Brian is clearly his own man as an O-Coordinator now and is committed to his own offensive philosophy. It doesn't look like Iowa needs ten play drives to go fifty yards anymore. It looks more like Iowa is willing to take what the defense gives them, while still playing a physical game. It doesn't look schizophrenic anymore. So now I like it.
I think Ferentz is as good as his assistants allow him to be, and they need to compliment his weaknesses - they need to be aggressive recruiters, and more aggressive play callers. That allows Kirk to balance them out with his eye for player development, really good practice management, team leadership, and football iq. Let the young men innovate and the old men temper their enthusiasm. He's a perfect C.E.O. style coach who doesn't micromanage well, and I think he's learned that over the years. He just finally has a staff and personnel capable of executing his vision. It was just frustrating to watch him when he didn't have that, and still cling to it stubbornly rather than adjust to reality.
