I just don't get it

[HawkIMalaise]

I too am tired of these tools.

ah, here we go. another person who lived through the "bad ol' days"

 

[HawkIMalaise]

Iowa is lucky to have a coach the calibre of Kirk Ferentz. 3 top-10 rankings in the final polls, an Orange Bowl win, 2 Big 10 titles. What other coach is going to get these results at Iowa? Remember what happened to the basketball program when Tom Davis was run out of town?

Kirk has....and deserves...to be Iowa's head coach as long as he wants.

^ ******. Stalin had some great years of productivity too, but he probably overstayed his welcome.

 

[HawkIMalaise]

If KF averaged a 8-4 or 9-3 record, but under the same circumstances, would you all call for his dismissal? He's the same coach and the same things happen every year, yet when he wins nobody complains. Why not, maybe he shouldn't have lost those 3 games like they did. Most fans call for changes when a team loses, but when a team wins, but everything is the same nobody says anything. Everyone focuses on the losses that Iowa should lose, but nobody has said anything about the wins that Iowa shouldn't win. Usually Iowa loses a game they shouldn't, but they counter it with a win they shouldn't win. It sucks what is happening this year, but we all knew it coming in since we have 2 new coordinators (the first in KF's tenure) and are very young. We all understand that everyone wants to win all the time, but give it a year or two with new guys in place. We all had to live through Alford then Lickliter years with basketball, do you want that to happen with football?

This statement is completely untrue in conference play. I reference his record versus O$U. He has been fortunate enough to beat the worst Michigan team on average in the last decade, that they have had in 40 years, same with Penn St. Kirk is Pat Fitzgerald's beeyatch.

 

[HawkIMalaise]

How do we get to 8-10+ win seasons each and every year? My guess would be to start with recruiting. Where are all the blue-chippers? Not in Iowa, that's for sure. They are mainly in the South (Florida, Texas, Cali, etc). Why on earth would a kid from those locations ever want to come to Iowa, or any Midwestern school for that matter? I know this is hard to believe for a lot of you but Iowa is boring. Iowa City is one of (if not the) smallest cities in the B10, it's in the middle of nowhere and it's COLD. KF and staff face an uphill battle to bring top athletes this way. That's why we have to make due with mostly unheralded athletes, with a few blue chippers sprinkled in. Unfortunately that means the occasional rebuilding/mediocre season. It sucks but we are in the middle of one right now. The good news is we have some good looking underclassmen in the wings and I'm confident KF and staff will get it turned around as he's done multiple times.

Yeah Lincoln, NE and Manhattan, KS KICK a$$ MAN! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PARTAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[HawkIMalaise]

So it only happens at Iowa?

So a player misses a field goal, no problem coach didn't let him practice enough.
So a player misses a tackle, no problem coach didn't let him practice enough or teach proper technique. Coach insists, states, we can be competitive recruiting guys only wanted by MAC schools.
So QB over/underthrows receiver, no problem, OC called the wrong play at the time.
So WR gets hit in the hands, but drops the ball, no problem coach didn't show them how to catch properly. Coach recruits MAC level players like Trey Stross who single handedly blow the game on the road at the Shoe against O$U.
So a player fumbles, no problem coach didn't make him carry a football around campus.

Should I go on??

I understand there's been poor decisions, but the players are are just as much to fault as the coaches. Anyways I don't see you out there doing it. Maybe call Kirk up and provide some suggestions since you know what the problem is and he doesn't.

 

[bcl20]

I was just looking through past schedule and there are sooo many "What could have been games?" on there. 2005 really should have been another 10 win season, 2008 could have been a BCS season, 2007 should have been a bowl game (a bad one but still), 2010 could have been a BCS season. Pretty aggravating how many close losses that we have had. Those should be pinned on the coach honestly.

 

[528646]

So, the OP makes an interesting point of "1 BCS win in 14 years". Hayden (who is one of the few people in Iowa history that can lay claim to "god" status) had 0 BCS-level bowl wins in 20 years.* Maybe this is a question of perspective then? i.e. the Iowa Football program doesn't fly in the same rarefied air that many people think it does.

A further piece of perspective - the win in the 2010 Orange Bowl was Iowa's first BCS-level bowl win since 1959. That's a 51 year drought.

Look, everyone is free to set their own expectations. If you want to have an expectation of more than 1 BCS bowl wins in 14 seasons, that's completely fine but I'm just trying to act as the voice of reason here and point out that - historically speaking - 1 BCS bowl win every 14 seasons would be a significant improvement over Iowa's historical performance. By making the choice to set such expectations, you have to have the intellectual honesty to be able to admit that you are expecting something out of the program that it has - historically - never produced.

* Yes, I realize Hayden's career only overlapped with the BCS by 1 year, but Hayden coached in 3 bowls that we would now consider "BCS" level and lost all 3.

 

[bcl20]

Hayden took a program that was complete garbage for years though and elevated them to big 10 champion level. Ferentz took a program that had been average to pretty good and turned it to average to pretty. It's a fair point but the argument ultimately fails because they weren't coming into the same situation.

Basically Fry advanced the program to another level, Ferentz didn't, though it looked like it was going to happen for a few years but when it didn't, people got upset. You don't see complete outrage towards the program (thought the negativity is starting to build) because it's not like he knocked it down a peg either.

 

[AdamHawk]

Yeah Lincoln, NE and Manhattan, KS KICK a$$ MAN! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PARTAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nebraska and Kansas State are dynasties?? Holy crap, where have I been?? I could've sworn they were on par with Iowa the last decade.

 

[BackNBlk]

This statement is completely untrue in conference play. I reference his record versus O$U. He has been fortunate enough to beat the worst Michigan team on average in the last decade, that they have had in 40 years, same with Penn St. Kirk is Pat Fitzgerald's beeyatch.

Oh, I don't know......
2011 Michigan (11-2)
2010 MSU (11-2)
2010 Missouri (10-3)
2009 Penn St (11-2)
2008 Penn State (11-2)
2005 Wisconsin (10-3)

As far as OSU goes, He's not much worse than Hayden who was 3-12-1 vs the Buckeyes.

 

[SmokeTownHawk]

The groundwork for lowered expectations was laid when someone asked Hayden about taking the program to the next level, ie competing yearly for the conference championship and an opportunity to be #1 at the end of the year. Then we heard about that being unrealistic at a place like Iowa....long cold winter, small population, out in the middle of nowhere.......and the compliant media in Iowa, lapdogs that they are ate it up.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Oh, I don't know......
2011 Michigan (11-2)
2010 MSU (11-2)
2010 Missouri (10-3)
2009 Penn St (11-2)
2008 Penn State (11-2)
2005 Wisconsin (10-3)

As far as OSU goes, He's not much worse than Hayden who was 3-12-1 vs the Buckeyes.

Kirk has beat some really good teams. He's also lost to some really bad ones. It's the bad losses that I'd like to see go away... I don't expect to beat OSU every year (although a little more success against those guys would be nice - they've owned us), but I've been saying that if Iowa could just consistently beat the bottom feeders like they are supposed to, and have 9-3 type records more often, and 7-5 less often, I couldn't complain.