In Kirk We (Used to) Trust

[RocknRollface]

Like Ross but don't agree with him when he says you're not a real Hawkeye fan if you think we coudn't expect Hawkeye football to sustain his success from the early to mid 2000s until now. Ferentz and Iowa had reached successes from 2001-2006 far beyond what any rational football fan should expect for Iowa Hawkeye football. We know about the lack of D-1 talent in Iowa and other disadvantages Iowa football has in relation to other schools so to say that success rate was sutainable is off base.

Being realistic about expectations doesn't make you a non-Hawkeye fan.

C'mon Ross, you should get a 15 yard penalty for that one.

05 and 06 were a combined 11 losses.

No one has an expectation of double digit wins but you're just not being honest if you can't admitt that Iowa has greatly underachieved the last five years.

We can all accept regular losses to good teams like Wisconsin, Nebraska MSU, OSU, Michigan, Penn State unless it's a situation like Nebraska last year where you give up a huge lead.

What can't be accepted is regular losses to ISU, NW, Minnesota, Indiana, Maryland, and MAC teams. Iowa has probably put more players in the NFL than all those schools combined over his tenure.

That's ridiculouse.

If KF would have just won 70-80% of games against those type of opponents he would have an amazing record and no one would have a problem with it.

 

[okeefe4prez]

when they were debriefing after the 2014 season, if they did this,

ROFLCopter. "If they did this." Hilarious. Bro, say you are about 60 years old with ballpark $20 mil in the bank and you have an employment contract with 5 years left on it and you'll rake ballpark $19 mil if you decide to stick around and manage not to get fired or maybe about $14 mil if you get fired. Football season is over and it is colder than hell in Iowa. Are you gonna stick around and listen to the pontifications of Greg effin Davis? Hell no. I've seen this crap in my job. Old guys with 8 figure net worths just do not give two craps about leaving behind a steaming pile of dog crap for their successors and they just punch the clock. It is a character flaw in the Baby Boomers.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

05 and 06 were a combined 11 losses.

No one has an expectation of double digit wins but you're just not being honest if you can't admitt that Iowa has greatly underachieved the last five years.

We can all accept regular losses to good teams like Wisconsin, Nebraska MSU, OSU, Michigan, Penn State unless it's a situation like Nebraska last year where you give up a huge lead.

What can't be accepted is regular losses to ISU, NW, Minnesota, Indiana, Maryland, and MAC teams. Iowa has probably put more players in the NFL than all those schools combined over his tenure.

That's ridiculouse.

If KF would have just won 70-80% of games against those type of opponents he would have an amazing record and no one would have a problem with it.

Yep. Agreed.

 

[SteveGarvey]

05 and 06 were a combined 11 losses.

No one has an expectation of double digit wins but you're just not being honest if you can't admitt that Iowa has greatly underachieved the last five years.

We can all accept regular losses to good teams like Wisconsin, Nebraska MSU, OSU, Michigan, Penn State unless it's a situation like Nebraska last year where you give up a huge lead.

What can't be accepted is regular losses to ISU, NW, Minnesota, Indiana, Maryland, and MAC teams. Iowa has probably put more players in the NFL than all those schools combined over his tenure.

That's ridiculouse.

If KF would have just won 70-80% of games against those type of opponents he would have an amazing record and no one would have a problem with it.

I never said we haven't underachieved the last few years. It just depends to what degree we've underachieved. My whole point was that it's unrealistic to expect 9+ wins every year for Iowa, given the handicaps Iowa has to start out with, and that Ferentz himself built up the unrealistic expectation so to now use his own success against him is ridiculous. While I don't expect us to win 9+ every year, I hope we do. I don't think that makes me a bad fan but I guess Ross and other fans do.

 

[eveningnewsteam]

I don't think this has to be personal to ferentz. When ANYONE does something for too long, they burn out, lose their edge, and cut corners. Politicians who have been in office too long are the last ones to come up with innovative new ideas, and are more concerned with kickbacks and playing politics. Same with corporate CEOs, pro athletes, or your basic Wal Mart employee. Kirk is a victim of his own success. In the early days, he worked his butt off. He recruited. He devised schemes to fit his players' skill sets. He focused on fundamentals. He loved what he did, and the players could see it. Now, 17 years in, he views recruiting as a thankless job. A chore. He views innovative play calling as risky and would rather simply stick to what he knows rather than learn new ideas. He plays the players that don't give him lip. The mindless drones who keep their head down, work hard and don't ask questions. Guys with a little moxie are too much trouble to maintain and they ride the bench. Kirk doesn't even look like he enjoys football anymore. He never smiles. Rarely gets fired up after bad calls. I doubt he's even involved much in the day to day practices anymore. He's burned out and phoning it in. It happens in every profession.

+1. This program needs to clean house

 

[BigD]

That play was so awesome, for so many reasons. I had watched it dozens of times to relive it, blindly just feeling like it was one of the best plays in the history of Iowa football.

Then a few years ago, after multiple clock management / playcall gaffes from our staff, some likely costing us games...I watched it again...and it was like I watched it for the first time...if it hadn't been for Mr. Drew Tate, that clock would have hit zero, the staff was unaware.

My wife, three kids, and myself were at that Capital one game. I still chuckle when I think of the LSU family that was sitting right in front of us. When LSU scored with little over a minute left. The father turns to us and says "thanks for making it a fun game." A few minutes later he looked like he just got kicked in the nuts. I was nice and didn't say "thanks for making it fun." Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!

 

[BleednGumsMrphy]

Ferentz has to have a successful season to keep his job and leave a positive legacy. The only problem is I'm not so sure Ferentz cares anymore. Obviously he wants to do well but I dont feel a burning passion from the coaches, certainly not Greg Davis.

 

[DDThompson]

I never said we haven't underachieved the last few years. It just depends to what degree we've underachieved. My whole point was that it's unrealistic to expect 9+ wins every year for Iowa, given the handicaps Iowa has to start out with, and that Ferentz himself built up the unrealistic expectation so to now use his own success against him is ridiculous. While I don't expect us to win 9+ every year, I hope we do. I don't think that makes me a bad fan but I guess Ross and other fans do.

I agree. 9+ wins every year is unrealistic.

However, Expecting to win all 4 non-con games every year isn't all that unrealistic (considering the competition). That has not been a Ferentz standard of success. Expecting to split conference games 8 of 10 years is not unrealistic either (depending of the competition). That has been a Ferentz standard of success.

So most years the floor expectations are eight wins. Winning the ninth game 1/2 of those years isn't really expecting too much.

Ferentz's standard of success of back-to-back-to-back 9+ wins is a decade past. I'm willing to use his expectation of competing for B1G titles.
He has not met his own expectations.

The underachieving part is an end-of-season check which, of course, depends on injuries, team play/game coaching, and opposition's competency. Far too often the underachieving comes because of Iowa losing to teams they should not (and some they should never) lose to and far too often because of game day coaching (because we all know what the game plan is). Rarely blowing out lesser teams drains the good-will bank and adds to the angst of expectations.

 

[eveningnewsteam]

Ferentz has to have a successful season to keep his job and leave a positive legacy. The only problem is I'm not so sure Ferentz cares anymore. Obviously he wants to do well but I dont feel a burning passion from the coaches, certainly not Greg Davis.

Sure he wants to win, who doesn't. He just doesn't have the passion to do the things necessary to win anymore.

 

[PCHawk]

Sure he wants to win, who doesn't. He just doesn't have the passion to do the things necessary to win anymore.

Kinda like i want to work out. But my lazy *** just sits on the couch every night.

 

[ArvadaHawk]

If Kirk wouldn't have been so successful for those four years then we wouldn't have such high expectations now. Shame on Kirk then for being so successful early on because he's letting us down now for not being as successful. He should have just had 7-8 win seasons back then. Then we wouldn't have such high expectations now, and then all of us could be considered good Hawkeye fans. Makes sense to me.

Dunno about you, but I'm done with paying a coach $20 mil for 34-30 (19-21), 7-9 against ISU, 8-8 against jNW and losing to MAC teams.

 

[SteveGarvey]

Dunno about you, but I'm done with paying a coach $20 mil for 34-30 (19-21), 7-9 against ISU, 8-8 against jNW and losing to MAC teams.

Conversely, you're for letting a guy go who brought us four top 8 finishes, a couple of B1G championships, two BCS games and one BCS win. It goes both ways, and my whole point was that his own success is being used against him.

What I'm for is a balanced, fair approach to it. Should Ferentz be 6-6 or worse this year, I'd like to see him get one more year to turn it around, looking at the whole picture. If he doesn't turn it around after that the next season, I'd be for letting him go as well.

And it really doesn't matter what we think. Most likely, if the team is bad this year, he'll only be given one more year at most.

 

[ArvadaHawk]

Conversely, you're for letting a guy go who brought us four top 8 finishes, a couple of B1G championships, two BCS games and one BCS win. It goes both ways, and my whole point was that his own success is being used against him.

What I'm for is a balanced, fair approach to it. Should Ferentz be 6-6 or worse this year, I'd like to see him get one more year to turn it around, looking at the whole picture. If he doesn't turn it around after that the next season, I'd be for letting him go as well.

And it really doesn't matter what we think. Most likely, if the team is bad this year, he'll only be given one more year at most.

No, I'm not. They have become two completely different coaches. The last 5 seasons are $20 mil for 34-30 (19-21) and that isn't even close to cutting it. Five seasons is a trend, my friend.

 

[knighthawk13]

It is no coincidence that the downfall of Iowa football began when Norm Parker got sick. KF was exposed at that time.

In regards to clock management, what goes down as on of the single greatest plays in Iowa football history, Tate to Holloway, was on of the biggest clock management blunders ever. KF just happened to get bailed out and the rest is history. But, don't let KF kid you. He had no idea what was going on in the closing seconds of that game.

Not knowing Wisconsin HAD TO FAKE THE PUNT was a fireable blunder and is definitely his worst mistake. That was the end for me.

 

[docholihawk]

Conversely, you're for letting a guy go who brought us four top 8 finishes, a couple of B1G championships, two BCS games and one BCS win. It goes both ways, and my whole point was that his own success is being used against him.

What I'm for is a balanced, fair approach to it. Should Ferentz be 6-6 or worse this year, I'd like to see him get one more year to turn it around, looking at the whole picture. If he doesn't turn it around after that the next season, I'd be for letting him go as well.

And it really doesn't matter what we think. Most likely, if the team is bad this year, he'll only be given one more year at most.

After last years results with the schedule we had was bad enough. If we go 6-6 with an equally bad schedule this year he should be fired. I would have been happy with a coaching change after the way KF handled last year.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

After last years results with the schedule we had was bad enough. If we go 6-6 with an equally bad schedule this year he should be fired. I would have been happy with a coaching change after the way KF handled last year.

This is basically where I am at. Less than 7 wins and/or another loss to a very bad isu team...that can't stand.

I've always respected KF, and how he handled the program for the most part(minus the glaring clock management deficiency, overly conservative too many times, and 2 specific failures to see the fake punt coming)

IMO, he's gotta win a Minimum of 7 games AND beat a Bad isu team.

The said, again, IMO 8+ wins, beating isu and nebby, not getting blown out, not giving up 14+ point leads, and a competitive bowl game would be a very good year, This Year.

 

[RocknRollface]

Conversely, you're for letting a guy go who brought us four top 8 finishes, a couple of B1G championships, two BCS games and one BCS win. It goes both ways, and my whole point was that his own success is being used against him.

What I'm for is a balanced, fair approach to it. Should Ferentz be 6-6 or worse this year, I'd like to see him get one more year to turn it around, looking at the whole picture. If he doesn't turn it around after that the next season, I'd be for letting him go as well.

And it really doesn't matter what we think. Most likely, if the team is bad this year, he'll only be given one more year at most.

Really? That would be 7 bad seasons in a row and 10 bad seasons out of the last 12.

That's allot of patience for some stuff that happened a long time ago.

 

[SteveGarvey]

Really? That would be 7 bad seasons in a row and 10 bad seasons out of the last 12.

That's allot of patience for some stuff that happened a long time ago.

Really, now 8-5 and 7-6 are "bad" seasons? I agree that they're mediocre but if you want to look at "bad" go look at Ames for that.

Again, Kirk Ferentz created the barometer in which we gauge seasons for Iowa Hawkeye football due to his remarkable success early on. It seems unseemly to now demand his firing because he can't quite get the program to where he once had it.

No, he shouldn't just be able to coach forever if the results are mediocre or worse but instead of giving in to the instant gratification and unbalanced, win now, what have you done for me lately culture we live in, how about being fair to the man who brought the expectations of Iowa Hawkeye football so high?

 

[hawkeye4life68]

Really, now 8-5 and 7-6 are "bad" seasons? I agree that they're mediocre but if you want to look at "bad" go look at Ames for that.

Again, Kirk Ferentz created the barometer in which we gauge seasons for Iowa Hawkeye football due to his remarkable success early on. It seems unseemly to now demand his firing because he can't quite get the program to where he once had it.

No, he shouldn't just be able to coach forever if the results are mediocre or worse but instead of giving in to the instant gratification and unbalanced, win now, what have you done for me lately culture we live in, how about being fair to the man who brought the expectations of Iowa Hawkeye football so high?

LOL. This post and probably your existence are an epic fail. That success early on happened 10, 11 and 12 years ago. Since then Ferentz has had ONE similar year and is a .500 coach in conference play. 41-39

Since those season a decade plus ago he has been made one of the highest paid coaches in his profession which will provide his family generational wealth for decades to come and been given some of the best facilities in the country.

Haven't been fair to the man? You are way too full of Kool-Aid to even begin to debate the point about being fair to the man.

 

[trj]

Really, now 8-5 and 7-6 are "bad" seasons? I agree that they're mediocre but if you want to look at "bad" go look at Ames for that.

Again, Kirk Ferentz created the barometer in which we gauge seasons for Iowa Hawkeye football due to his remarkable success early on. It seems unseemly to now demand his firing because he can't quite get the program to where he once had it.

No, he shouldn't just be able to coach forever if the results are mediocre or worse but instead of giving in to the instant gratification and unbalanced, win now, what have you done for me lately culture we live in, how about being fair to the man who brought the expectations of Iowa Hawkeye football so high?

Given the schedule and how manageable it has been the last the 5 years this argument no longer works.