Iowa fans need to start being realistic.

[HawkGold]

NW will be better. Purdue is better. IL is way better. MN is way better. Wisc is stuck on good.

Iowa and Nebby ...... Hmmmm

 

[HaydenHawk56]

Iowa was 12-0 and 1 play a way from the playoffs in 15. It can happen here. But we need to upgrade the lines, skill players, and more attacking downfield on offense. We should appreciate we are a competitive program, but I don't accept we can't be a championship one with key changes made.

 

[okeefe4prez]

We should appreciate we are a competitive program, but I don't accept we can't be a championship one with key changes made.

When you say championship, what do you mean? Iowa would have gotten murdered in the playoff that year. The Big Ten has been outscored by a collective score of 69-0 in its last two appearances in that event.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

When you say championship, what do you mean? Iowa would have gotten murdered in the playoff that year. The Big Ten has been outscored by a collective score of 69-0 in its last two appearances in that event.

At least consistently compete for the West and occasionally a Big 10 Title or more.

 

[Xerxes]

This defeatist attitude drives me nuts. We're just little ole' Iowa. BS, this school won national championships, Big 10 titles going back a hundred years. Look what Flick has done at Minnesota already, Campbell at Moo U. has that program on par with Iowa in four years. We schedule Sisters of the Poor for 3 games and are happy when we get to 7 wins. Even in the 60s' when Iowa was going 4-6 and 5-5 they were playing real teams. Ferentz inability to hire a competent OC is beyond me. Except for 2002 when he had a good OC and a running QB the offense has been a dismal failure. All this, "this is a developmental program" and we just don't have the talent is garbage. We have the talent this year, what we lack is an OC who knows how to use it.

You can make a argument that Iowa has had the most talent in the West since 2017. They are 2nd to Wisconsin for the most guys drafted over the last 2 seasons with 7. Wisconsin has 8. The year before that they both had 4 guys drafted. They just get more out of their talent when they're in college.

 

[okeefe4prez]

At least consistently compete for the West and occasionally a Big 10 Title or more.

I think we have consistently competed for the West. We're right there in November every year and end up losing by a few points in pivotal games. I haven't spent the energy doing the math, but I think if Minnesota loses out and Wisconsin loses 2 of their games (other than Minnesota) we can still win the division. If you're still alive by the third week in November, you are certainly competitive. We finished second last year.

 

[cincyhawk]

This defeatist attitude drives me nuts. We're just little ole' Iowa. BS, this school won national championships, Big 10 titles going back a hundred years. Look what Flick has done at Minnesota already, Campbell at Moo U. has that program on par with Iowa in four years. We schedule Sisters of the Poor for 3 games and are happy when we get to 7 wins. Even in the 60s' when Iowa was going 4-6 and 5-5 they were playing real teams. Ferentz inability to hire a competent OC is beyond me. Except for 2002 when he had a good OC and a running QB the offense has been a dismal failure. All this, "this is a developmental program" and we just don't have the talent is garbage. We have the talent this year, what we lack is an OC who knows how to use it.

Christ look at what Hayden Fry did his first decade here. The problem is lifetime coaching contracts. In a game that is constantly changing, when the first run of 3 years of down trend in performance occurs after a period of success, you have to move on.

 

[dahlhawk]

Iowa isn't consistently good when you get to schedule two easy wins a year at home and beat nobody of consequence. Iowa is, in reality, a .500 team. If you think Iowa can't be any better than that, that's on you.

I'm not calling for the firing of Kirk but for the realigning of his coaching staff to realistic assign coaches to the positions they are capable of coaching. Brian is not ready to be the OC. He has no feel for the game and the grooming of our Qb's seems more like neutering. Stanley's fear or reluctance of throwing the ball has cost us 3 games this year. Do I expect to win every game against the top 25 especially on the road? No, I don't. Do I expect to win one of those three? Yes, I do. I can accept being outplayed by better teams but Iowa had the talent to win the West this year, and after seeing what Nate can do if he is allowed to open up the offense it hurts even more. That being said if we win out and go 9-3 that would be a nice accomplishment. Just spare me the "Developmental Program" and low expectation bullshit. Iowa should have won two of the three losses this season but for bad playcalling and bad execution. I'm certainly not ready to cede the West year after year to Minny and Bucky. On a side note, we have been making fun of PJ Fleck for the last couple of years with his pie in the sky expectations for his program, now who's laughing? He can recruit and who out there saw Minnesota as anything but a "developmental program" or coaching stepping stone.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Do I expect to win every game against the top 25 especially on the road? No, I don't.

Fans like you with your low expectations are holding the program back.

 

[Northside Hawk]

. Lute brought blue chip kids to Iowa City . There is no doubt in my mind there are other coaches who could do the same . This notion that you can’t get those players to IC is ridiculous

Lute is the perfect example of the type of coach, football or basketball, that I would love Iowa to hire on a regular basis. Not a destination lifer who will spend the second half of his career fat and happy and living off the reputation of the first half. But someone who has his sights set high, even if that may mean leaving Iowa for greener pastures. These guys may be somewhere else in five to seven years (Lute was here nine) but they will never shortchange us when they are here, will demand accountability, and would never admit to saying things like "winning a conference championship is hard".

I brought up Gene Keady last week. When he had an underachieving team in 1989 and suspected certain players weren't buying in, he bounced four of them, which is a big deal for a basketball team. In 1990, a short handed Purdue team, competing against Jimmy Jackson, Steve Smith, and a typical Indiana juggernaut, finished second in the B1G.

Many expected Keady to move one more rung up the ladder, get an opportunity to coach a true blue blood (probably Kansas where he got his start on the high school level). He stayed at Purdue and was still producing conference championships and elite eight appearances 20 years into his tenure. Thats the type of coach you can go to war with. Lute as well. Chris Beard won't be at Texas Tech very long, but look at what he has done while he is there. More than his buddy Shaka Smart down the road, I'll tell you that.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

I think we have consistently competed for the West. We're right there in November every year and end up losing by a few points in pivotal games. I haven't spent the energy doing the math, but I think if Minnesota loses out and Wisconsin loses 2 of their games (other than Minnesota) we can still win the division. If you're still alive by the third week in November, you are certainly competitive. We finished second last year.

I probably should further clarify. I would like to see Iowa win the West at a 50 percent or better clip in a 10 year span.

 

[dirtwrap]

NW will be better. Purdue is better. IL is way better. MN is way better. Wisc is stuck on good.

Iowa and Nebby ...... Hmmmm

You are crazy if you think that Purdue, IL and Minnesota are better than Iowa. I usually like to be logical on these boards, but the reaction is over the top.

Every good coach that comes into a program that is down turns the program around usually in 3 but sometimes 4 years, and there is a reason for that. It allows a coach to clean out the locker room, get rid of the bad apples, and give the young guys a bunch of playing time and practice reps. Those young guys will lose to begin with, but then when they are juniors and seniors, they have the opportunity to be a good football team. When you get really lucky and the schedule works out in your favor you take advantage of that. A lot of times those coaches bring in something new to the conference and it takes everyone a little while to adjust. But they will adjust. The competition always adjusts. The only way to consistently win in a power conference is to just recruit elite players at every position, and in this conference that is Ohio State 1, then Michigan and PSU tied for 2nd, then everyone else.

After that initial period of success, the sledding gets much tougher for a coach. Now, the fanbase is not willing to get down to 1 and 2 wins a year for a couple of years and start the cycle over, they want to win every year. So now the really tough work begins, because you are always trying to blend your upperclassmen with inexperienced players, and that breeds mediocrity.

One of Iowa's major problems the past couple of years has been the imbalance of recruiting classes. We have had some bad misses, and we have had almost too good of success with some. Right now would the addition of an NFL safety, NFL defensive end, and 2 NFL tight ends make a difference? All of them would be seniors and would absolutely make a difference. Next year we will lose AJ and both our tackles, and that will hurt as well. Teams that are used to that are better recruiters and will replace those guys with younger guys without as much of a drop off. We go from an NFL guy to a kid just off the bus.

As far as Frost and Brohm go, they will never have their programs better than Iowa until they respect defense, and play offense to respect their defense. Wisconsin has a great identity and they have been really good for a long time with an amazing run of elite backs, but I am sure they are asking themselves the same questions because they are not in the category of OSU. With Day at OSU, he is doing amazing with Urbs recruits, lets see how he maintains the program in years 4 and 6 and 8 with his own. Minnesota has a good team and are balanced, I give them that, but with respect to what I said earlier, they had an incredibly easy schedule that lined up for them perfectly and they have a lot of experience on a team that was used to losing.

With all of that said, I am not accepting mediocrity and I think our coaches could do more. But we are far from terrible, and I for one am excited about the future with the last couple of recruiting classes as we have had a massive upgrade in coaching with Bell, Foster and Copeland.

 

[HuckFinn]

NW will be better. Purdue is better. IL is way better. MN is way better. Wisc is stuck on good.

Iowa and Nebby ...... Hmmmm

My longer term power rating: Badgers, Iowa, NW, MN, Purdue, Nebr, Illinois. And, Iowa is closer than any of the above to WI.

 

[oldhawk12]

I just want to address the Hawkeye faithful that are once again ready fire Kirk Ferentz as they are every year until we get to 9 wins and then they are reminded that’s what we are. Iowa in both football and basketball is developmental program that is in that second to higher third tier every year. Then every 5th year or so we have a breakout season and get to 11 or 12 wins. Outside of that we are a 8 and 9 win team nearly every season. No matter who coaches at Iowa that is where they will be. We are not Bama, Clemson or Ohio St. We reserve the right to be critical, but also need to be careful what we wish for. Florida St is a blue blood program who is seriously considering hiring Neon Dion Sanders (who has zero coaching experience) to be their new head coach after 2 back to back losing seasons. Notre Dame (another blue blood) has 1 top 5 win since 2000. Michigan, well they have had 4 coaches since Ferentz was hired and they have the same number of big ten championships as we do in that time frame. Iowa fired Mr. Davis Davis after 13 seasons in which he won 13 NCAA tourney games. Seemed like a great move at the time right? Well in the 20 years since, Iowa has won 4.... yep that’s right we have won 4 NCAA tourney games in 20 years! Iowa is not a power house and they never will be. We may not be great, but we are consistently good which is more than what can be said for a lot of teams in states with much higher populations and multicultural metro areas.

It’s not about “wins”. You really don’t get it you having low expectations shouldn’t speak for everyone

 

[oldhawk12]

You are crazy if you think that Purdue, IL and Minnesota are better than Iowa. I usually like to be logical on these boards, but the reaction is over the top.

Every good coach that comes into a program that is down turns the program around usually in 3 but sometimes 4 years, and there is a reason for that. It allows a coach to clean out the locker room, get rid of the bad apples, and give the young guys a bunch of playing time and practice reps. Those young guys will lose to begin with, but then when they are juniors and seniors, they have the opportunity to be a good football team. When you get really lucky and the schedule works out in your favor you take advantage of that. A lot of times those coaches bring in something new to the conference and it takes everyone a little while to adjust. But they will adjust. The competition always adjusts. The only way to consistently win in a power conference is to just recruit elite players at every position, and in this conference that is Ohio State 1, then Michigan and PSU tied for 2nd, then everyone else.

After that initial period of success, the sledding gets much tougher for a coach. Now, the fanbase is not willing to get down to 1 and 2 wins a year for a couple of years and start the cycle over, they want to win every year. So now the really tough work begins, because you are always trying to blend your upperclassmen with inexperienced players, and that breeds mediocrity.

One of Iowa's major problems the past couple of years has been the imbalance of recruiting classes. We have had some bad misses, and we have had almost too good of success with some. Right now would the addition of an NFL safety, NFL defensive end, and 2 NFL tight ends make a difference? All of them would be seniors and would absolutely make a difference. Next year we will lose AJ and both our tackles, and that will hurt as well. Teams that are used to that are better recruiters and will replace those guys with younger guys without as much of a drop off. We go from an NFL guy to a kid just off the bus.

As far as Frost and Brohm go, they will never have their programs better than Iowa until they respect defense, and play offense to respect their defense. Wisconsin has a great identity and they have been really good for a long time with an amazing run of elite backs, but I am sure they are asking themselves the same questions because they are not in the category of OSU. With Day at OSU, he is doing amazing with Urbs recruits, lets see how he maintains the program in years 4 and 6 and 8 with his own. Minnesota has a good team and are balanced, I give them that, but with respect to what I said earlier, they had an incredibly easy schedule that lined up for them perfectly and they have a lot of experience on a team that was used to losing.

With all of that said, I am not accepting mediocrity and I think our coaches could do more. But we are far from terrible, and I for one am excited about the future with the last couple of recruiting classes as we have had a massive upgrade in coaching with Bell, Foster and Copeland.

They are better in one gigantic and extremely important respect. They have an accountability requirement in their athletic dept that we don’t have and that’s a gigantic one

 

[oldhawk12]

My longer term power rating: Badgers, Iowa, NW, MN, Purdue, Nebr, Illinois. And, Iowa is closer than any of the above to WI.

And what exactly does that win you huckleberry finn?

 

[Northside Hawk]

And what exactly does that win you huckleberry finn?

And I can shoot bullet holes into your fabled star rating system. The fact that Nicholas Baer and Diamond Stone currently play at the same professional level tells you all you need to know about star ratings.

 

[dahlhawk]

Fans like you with your low expectations are holding the program back.[/QUOTE
" If you're still alive" " finished" I can take things out of contest too. I also wrote we should win at least 1 out of 3 of those games against top 25 teams. I don't know if you're being sarcastic or deliberately disingenuous.

 

[HawkGold]

You are crazy if you think that Purdue, IL and Minnesota are better than Iowa. I usually like to be logical on these boards, but the reaction is over the top.

Every good coach that comes into a program that is down turns the program around usually in 3 but sometimes 4 years, and there is a reason for that. It allows a coach to clean out the locker room, get rid of the bad apples, and give the young guys a bunch of playing time and practice reps. Those young guys will lose to begin with, but then when they are juniors and seniors, they have the opportunity to be a good football team. When you get really lucky and the schedule works out in your favor you take advantage of that. A lot of times those coaches bring in something new to the conference and it takes everyone a little while to adjust. But they will adjust. The competition always adjusts. The only way to consistently win in a power conference is to just recruit elite players at every position, and in this conference that is Ohio State 1, then Michigan and PSU tied for 2nd, then everyone else.

After that initial period of success, the sledding gets much tougher for a coach. Now, the fanbase is not willing to get down to 1 and 2 wins a year for a couple of years and start the cycle over, they want to win every year. So now the really tough work begins, because you are always trying to blend your upperclassmen with inexperienced players, and that breeds mediocrity.

One of Iowa's major problems the past couple of years has been the imbalance of recruiting classes. We have had some bad misses, and we have had almost too good of success with some. Right now would the addition of an NFL safety, NFL defensive end, and 2 NFL tight ends make a difference? All of them would be seniors and would absolutely make a difference. Next year we will lose AJ and both our tackles, and that will hurt as well. Teams that are used to that are better recruiters and will replace those guys with younger guys without as much of a drop off. We go from an NFL guy to a kid just off the bus.

As far as Frost and Brohm go, they will never have their programs better than Iowa until they respect defense, and play offense to respect their defense. Wisconsin has a great identity and they have been really good for a long time with an amazing run of elite backs, but I am sure they are asking themselves the same questions because they are not in the category of OSU. With Day at OSU, he is doing amazing with Urbs recruits, lets see how he maintains the program in years 4 and 6 and 8 with his own. Minnesota has a good team and are balanced, I give them that, but with respect to what I said earlier, they had an incredibly easy schedule that lined up for them perfectly and they have a lot of experience on a team that was used to losing.

With all of that said, I am not accepting mediocrity and I think our coaches could do more. But we are far from terrible, and I for one am excited about the future with the last couple of recruiting classes as we have had a massive upgrade in coaching with Bell, Foster and Copeland.

That's quite a tirade. I guess HF was a flash too. These programs are on the upswing. KF needs to adapt

 

[HawkGold]

My longer term power rating: Badgers, Iowa, NW, MN, Purdue, Nebr, Illinois. And, Iowa is closer than any of the above to WI.

Hope u are right. Still can't help but think Hawks don't beat winning Big teams except OSU with maybe Brian suspended.