Howe: It’s Brian Ferentz’s Time to Be Iowa’s Offensive Coordinator

[HawkeyeWalker]

The scheme isn't the problem. WR recruiting is the problem. I don't think Bill Walsh could turn this offense around with the WR group we have. In order for this offense to really click, you need 2 WRs and a TE that are legitimate threats to a defense. So, unless someone comes in here and starts recruiting WRs and then has the balls to put them in the starting lineup, down field blocking be damned....it's not going to work out any better for Brian.
I hate to advocate this but if "the big donors" want KF to succeed and they want BF to be the next coach, they should find a bag man and buy some quality WRs.

While we may not have elite receivers, I see teams all over the country with the same or lesser receiver talent have at least some success in getting receivers open.

How would we even know the talent level we have at WR when they are targeted 4-5 times a game. We don't seem to even try to scheme or throw receivers open.

I am not saying we shouldn't try to improve WR talent, we absolutely should.

I'm saying even elite receivers are not catching passes wide open unless it's a defensive bust or they are schemed open. Most catches are made with some coverage, and many times are 50/50 balls.

We almost never give our receivers even a chance to make a play. 3-5 targets a game is not enough sample size.

We had T. Smith, at the very least fringe NFL talent, and Vandeberg as a very solid #2 last year, we still threw to them very little. Smith should have been a huge weapon last year, and target twice as much as he was.

Talent very well be an issue, I still believe its more a pass route/scheme and WR coaching issue than just a talent issue.

As someone else stated, we may not have great WR talent or depth, but it sure as hell isn't "1 catch for 11 yards in a bowl game" bad.

It's also a circular problem, we don't throw vertical or middle of the field, so we face 9-10 man boxes, and lots of blitzing, which 5-6 man lines can't block, which gives the QB less time, which makes pass pro look bad. So we bring extra blockers in and keep a rb in for protection, meaning maybe 2 receivers in routes, and facing blitzing defenses.

Again, we don't need a great passing game, hell, we don't even need a good passing game, we need a decent passing game, and I contend we have enough WR talent for that.

This is not to say we shouldn't try to get better WR talent, we absolutely should, but I'm not so sure it would have made a huge difference given our schemes the last 5 years.

KOK only had 1 statistically worse passing year year than Davis's best, and his avg talent at WR was about the same, if not lower, on avg....and that was even with Davis focused on bringing in WR talent, and neglecting Oline and Dline recruiting.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

KF and Miles.... what interesting end of game games....

LoL, it would possible rip open a hole in the universe.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

Wisconsin isn't running out dudes who run a 4.4 forty. I don't see the Patriots with a bunch of guys that can stretch the field. Scheme does matter. Right now the only serviceable receiver they have is MV

I agree 100%, except the last sentence, which may be true, but I'm not sure how we can know, given the sample size of targets our WRS get. When schemed open, McCarron looked pretty good running away from a statistically pretty good nebby secondary. He caught a pass in the middle of the field, imagine that. This isn't me saying Mccarron great, this is me saying he's more than serviceable when used correctly.

 

[lightning1]

Wisconsin isn't running out dudes who run a 4.4 forty. I don't see the Patriots with a bunch of guys that can stretch the field. Scheme does matter. Right now the only serviceable receiver they have is MV

Nothing in my post said anything about SPEED. You don't have to be able to stretch the field. You do need to be able to catch anything that's thrown your way and beat man to man defenders off the LOS. We don't have those.

 

[BVHawk95]

Nothing in my post said anything about SPEED. You don't have to be able to stretch the field. You do need to be able to catch anything that's thrown your way and beat man to man defenders off the LOS. We don't have those.

A lot of catches against man coverage come as 50/50 balls, but we never give our receivers the chance to fight for those, and gone are the crossing routes and targeting the TE that used to be successful in our offense. J Smith has shown a little bit of an ability to fight for catches, but we can't use that when we only throw it at him 2-3 times a game. Our receivers may be bad, but what's worse is we scheme away from them, and if we could at least return to even an offense similar to KOK, we'd likely see an uptick in passing production.

 

[lightning1]

You guys can argue the WR problem all day long but I have the stats to prove my point. We have had 1 WR drafted in the 6th dound, that KF/staff recruited. That's by far the poorest position turnout for any KF coached group at Iowa. The offense has ranked worse than any other group during KF's tenure. I think we have managed 1 top 30 finish in the offensive rankings since KF arrived. Maybe 2? RBs aren't the problem. TEs aren't the problem. OL isn't the problem. We don't have many QBs in the NFL but that's a problem that most D-1 programs suffer. There are only 100 QBs on NFL rosters, every season. Teams that are lucky enough to find a starter, hold onto them for 10+ years.
I don't care if you want to admit it, argue it or ignore it. The facts are the facts. Kirk Ferentz sucks arse at recruiting WRs. It's a personality clash that he personally has with WRs, the divas of the football world. Until he gets over it (not gonna happen without fear of his job = not gonna happen), every OC that works under him will struggle.

 

[lightning1]

A lot of catches against man coverage come as 50/50 balls, but we never give our receivers the chance to fight for those, and gone are the crossing routes and targeting the TE that used to be successful in our offense. J Smith has shown a little bit of an ability to fight for catches, but we can't use that when we only throw it at him 2-3 times a game. Our receivers may be bad, but what's worse is we scheme away from them, and if we could at least return to even an offense similar to KOK, we'd likely see an uptick in passing production.

Agreed. An UPTICK would mean a return to the 50-75th ranked offenses. Which is still the bottom half of all Division 1 football teams. To move into the top 25-50 range on a consistent basis, we need much better WR recruiting.

 

[lightning1]

While we may not have elite receivers, I see teams all over the country with the same or lesser receiver talent have at least some success in getting receivers open.

How would we even know the talent level we have at WR when they are targeted 4-5 times a game. We don't seem to even try to scheme or throw receivers open.

I am not saying we shouldn't try to improve WR talent, we absolutely should.

I'm saying even elite receivers are not catching passes wide open unless it's a defensive bust or they are schemed open. Most catches are made with some coverage, and many times are 50/50 balls.

We almost never give our receivers even a chance to make a play. 3-5 targets a game is not enough sample size.

We had T. Smith, at the very least fringe NFL talent, and Vandeberg as a very solid #2 last year, we still threw to them very little. Smith should have been a huge weapon last year, and target twice as much as he was.

Talent very well be an issue, I still believe its more a pass route/scheme and WR coaching issue than just a talent issue.

As someone else stated, we may not have great WR talent or depth, but it sure as hell isn't "1 catch for 11 yards in a bowl game" bad.

It's also a circular problem, we don't throw vertical or middle of the field, so we face 9-10 man boxes, and lots of blitzing, which 5-6 man lines can't block, which gives the QB less time, which makes pass pro look bad. So we bring extra blockers in and keep a rb in for protection, meaning maybe 2 receivers in routes, and facing blitzing defenses.

Again, we don't need a great passing game, hell, we don't even need a good passing game, we need a decent passing game, and I contend we have enough WR talent for that.

This is not to say we shouldn't try to get better WR talent, we absolutely should, but I'm not so sure it would have made a huge difference given our schemes the last 5 years.

KOK only had 1 statistically worse passing year year than Davis's best, and his avg talent at WR was about the same, if not lower, on avg....and that was even with Davis focused on bringing in WR talent, and neglecting Oline and Dline recruiting.

Sorry for the long post.

Greg Davis was a horrible hire. Absolutely awful. The fact that KF doesn't have to answer for that hire is ridiculous in itself. It just furthers the evidence that our AD is useless as tits on a bull. Any AD with half a brain wouldn't have approved that hire. Barta could have placed one call to Bob Stoops and learned what type of OC GD was and what kind of talent his system needed to thrive. Talent KF doesn't get at Iowa.
I'm not hiring a 1 legged man to dig ditches for me. I'm not hiring GD to run my offense that lacks elite speed. GD's offense needs elite speed to function at it's highest level. Get your skill position players with elite speed in space and get them the ball.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

Greg Davis was a horrible hire. Absolutely awful. The fact that KF doesn't have to answer for that hire is ridiculous in itself. It just furthers the evidence that our AD is useless as tits on a bull. Any AD with half a brain wouldn't have approved that hire. Barta could have placed one call to Bob Stoops and learned what type of OC GD was and what kind of talent his system needed to thrive. Talent KF doesn't get at Iowa.
I'm not hiring a 1 legged man to dig ditches for me. I'm not hiring GD to run my offense that lacks elite speed. GD's offense needs elite speed to function at it's highest level. Get your skill position players with elite speed in space and get them the ball.

Agreed, the hire, and retention until now, of Davis is not something I can or would defend KF on.

 

[Fryowa]

Other than your personal story, I cannot find much of anything in here that I would agree with. And, I have been around even longer than you have. I am sorry you never had a mentor, or two, to help you along when life was tough. I am certainly grateful for my parents and later on, some coaches, and teachers, who kept me on the straight and narrow. You seem more interested in proving your point that KF should only be concerned about winning than in admitting that life is a lot more complex than you would like to believe.
No offense intended. I just fundamentally disagree with your view of the world, as least as it is expressed in this brief exchange.

Disagreeing with me is fine and I don't take any offense, but I stand by my point that it's a cop out for someone to say that football players need a special mentor for the sake of being football players. How do millions of other people grow up to lead healthy, productive, prison-free lives without a college football coach? I am not saying that he shouldn't be a positive influence in players' lives, but the comment above said his job was to (and I quote) "create decent human beings" and make sure kids graduate. There is something fundamentally wrong with that statement.

 

[RobHowe]

Wow. Iowa State plays in bowl games now because there are more bowls. Nice comparison. You think KF has done such a great job with the talent level? Tell me why the talent level is so low, and why we can't recruit worth a damn, or lose top recruits we have committed. We can't expect to recruit better than walk ons and 2 star talent at receiver? Bullshit. Get someone in here that can then. You pay top ten pay to a coach other than this moron, and trust me we will have a coach and staff here that can recruit.

If you don't think Iowa State has been better during KF's tenure than it was during HF's, you haven't been following it, especially when McCarney had it going early in KF's run. Have we lost games to ISU that we should have won under KF? Without question. But some of those teams HF's teams faced couldn't get out of their own way. It was almost impossible for us to lose.

I've said WR recruiting needs to be better. It's been a glaring weakness during much of the last 18 years. Development has lagged under Kennedy.

I get you. You're among the vocal group on here that wants a head coaching change. Unfortunately for you guys, it's not happening soon. And after winning 20 games the last two years, it shouldn't happen now, IMO.

 

[tksirius]

If you don't think Iowa State has been better during KF's tenure than it was during HF's, you haven't been following it, especially when McCarney had it going early in KF's run. Have we lost games to ISU that we should have won under KF? Without question. But some of those teams HF's teams faced couldn't get out of their own way. It was almost impossible for us to lose.

I've said WR recruiting needs to be better. It's been a glaring weakness during much of the last 18 years. Development has lagged under Kennedy.

I get you. You're among the vocal group on here that wants a head coaching change. Unfortunately for you guys, it's not happening soon. And after winning 20 games the last two years, it shouldn't happen now, IMO.

Iowa State's record is partially better during Kirk's tenure at Iowa, because he lost more games to ISU than Hayden. Just sayin...

 

[Joshbrown]

If you don't think Iowa State has been better during KF's tenure than it was during HF's, you haven't been following it, especially when McCarney had it going early in KF's run. Have we lost games to ISU that we should have won under KF? Without question. But some of those teams HF's teams faced couldn't get out of their own way. It was almost impossible for us to lose.

I've said WR recruiting needs to be better. It's been a glaring weakness during much of the last 18 years. Development has lagged under Kennedy.

I get you. You're among the vocal group on here that wants a head coaching change. Unfortunately for you guys, it's not happening soon. And after winning 20 games the last two years, it shouldn't happen now, IMO.

Go back to 1979 (Fry's first year)

Compare the programs

Then ask yourself why Iowa got stronger from that point foward and Iowa State got weaker? Could it have something to do with JHF?

I will give you this, Kirk got Danny Mac fired at two different schools. That is a noteworthy accomplishment.

 

[HuckFinn]

Disagreeing with me is fine and I don't take any offense, but I stand by my point that it's a cop out for someone to say that football players need a special mentor for the sake of being football players. How do millions of other people grow up to lead healthy, productive, prison-free lives without a college football coach? I am not saying that he shouldn't be a positive influence in players' lives, but the comment above said his job was to (and I quote) "create decent human beings" and make sure kids graduate. There is something fundamentally wrong with that statement.

Yup. You and I will have to disagree. Just to clarify, I am not saying that football players need a mentor because they are football players. Rather, mentors are often providers of positive growth assistance for all of us. I really do not think KF having a goal of helping young people grow and succeed is something you should criticize.

 

[HuckFinn]

But you are making a leap n faith about KF. In life the fairy tale story sounds nice but just now how the world goes round and round. Fairy tale life doesnt happen often at the typical Joe Iowa level and less likely so at the high stake millions of dollars playing field. Makes for nice stories but rarely real life.

I am just not ready, after 71 years on the planet, to give over to the cynism you seem to embrace.

 

[HawkGold]

I am just not ready, after 71 years on the planet, to give over to the cynism you seem to embrace.

OK, once upon a time an inexperienced coach moved to Iowa....did OK but not exceptional and retired with millions with one of the best coaching contracts ever. He did nothing wrong and was amply rewarded for his stellar efforts and got his son hired and it was all above board and everyone lived happily ever after. The end.

The Ostrich.

 

[ArvadaHawk]

If you don't think Iowa State has been better during KF's tenure than it was during HF's, you haven't been following it, especially when McCarney had it going early in KF's run. Have we lost games to ISU that we should have won under KF? Without question. But some of those teams HF's teams faced couldn't get out of their own way. It was almost impossible for us to lose.

I've said WR recruiting needs to be better. It's been a glaring weakness during much of the last 18 years. Development has lagged under Kennedy.

I get you. You're among the vocal group on here that wants a head coaching change. Unfortunately for you guys, it's not happening soon. And after winning 20 games the last two years, it shouldn't happen now, IMO.

No question 12-0/12-2 was a magical season. We all believe that. But lacks at Iowa is a sincere look at each season on it's own merits. This season we lost 2 games we should not have; but because we were 12-0/12-2 last season and beat UM this season, it is somehow acceptable. And I don't quite understand why "vocal group" is a necessary statement, Rob. It is a demeaning description of folks who rationally think Kirk Ferentz under performs, consistently, at Iowa. But, ISU is so much better now than during Fry's run that it's acceptable for kirk to be .500 against ISU.

 

[RobHowe]

Go back to 1979 (Fry's first year)

Compare the programs

Then ask yourself why Iowa got stronger from that point foward and Iowa State got weaker? Could it have something to do with JHF?

I will give you this, Kirk got Danny Mac fired at two different schools. That is a noteworthy accomplishment.

Mac built ISU up late in HF's tenure when the program was slipping.

Look, what HF did to rebuild this program is second to none. But if you're saying ISU improved just because HF left and KF took over, you're being disingenuous.

 

[RobHowe]

No question 12-0/12-2 was a magical season. We all believe that. But lacks at Iowa is a sincere look at each season on it's own merits. This season we lost 2 games we should not have; but because we were 12-0/12-2 last season and beat UM this season, it is somehow acceptable. And I don't quite understand why "vocal group" is a necessary statement, Rob. It is a demeaning description of folks who rationally think Kirk Ferentz under performs, consistently, at Iowa. But, ISU is so much better now than during Fry's run that it's acceptable for kirk to be .500 against ISU.

It isn't rational. Look at how Iowa has performed in comparison to other Big Ten teams during KF's tenure, as a whole. He doesn't "consistently" underperform. And the view of the performance is based on each individual's expectations. I had Iowa going 9-3 during the regular season. Others expected at least 10-2. Say they beat NDSU and NW but lose to Michigan, they'd have been 9-3.

But it's up to you to decide what is acceptable to you and what's not. And yes, I say "vocal group" because you're not the majority. You're the same group of people on here championing the same cause. It really isn't as large as you think it is. You're screaming from the top of the mountain after the PSU loss then silent during the three-game winning streak then back after the bowl loss. The tenor of this board is completely predictable.

If you were the majority, the stands would not be full and the money wouldn't keep rolling into a program that is among the healthiest in the country. But I know KF has nothing to do with that.

 

[westender]

If you don't think Iowa State has been better during KF's tenure than it was during HF's, you haven't been following it, especially when McCarney had it going early in KF's run. Have we lost games to ISU that we should have won under KF? Without question. But some of those teams HF's teams faced couldn't get out of their own way. It was almost impossible for us to lose.

I've said WR recruiting needs to be better. It's been a glaring weakness during much of the last 18 years. Development has lagged under Kennedy.

I get you. You're among the vocal group on here that wants a head coaching change. Unfortunately for you guys, it's not happening soon. And after winning 20 games the last two years, it shouldn't happen now, IMO.

Exactly right! People want to live in the 1980s. Just look at ISU's facilities now. So much better than they had 15 years ago. Not saying ISU will ever be a 10 or 11 win team, but at least a 6 to 8 win team sure should be possible. Their problem is going to be when the Big 12 goes away in 6 years or so. They need a life raft ASAP or they will struggle again. Will help when we go to an 8 to 16 team playoff instead of 4. Will happen because of money and fan interest at the end of the year. Suddenly millions more fans have a team that would still be in the hunt late in the season. And with that format we are more likely to get a Cinderella national champ based on someone getting hot late. Of course players should get some money from it.