No matter what anyone says after losses (including me), Kirk Ferentz and his coaching staff continue to build strong teams full of great young men. I feel lucky to be an Iowa fan and to have him as our coach.
He will be the head coach at Iowa as long as he wants to be head coach. I hope we keep him for a few more years. I really believe that Iowa's program is headed in the right direction in this NIL era.
Folks have to remember it is an 18 team league now. Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA are rich programs with long histories of success. It is an achievement simply to finish in the top division and go to a bowl game. Anything at that level or above is reason to celebrate.
You will get no argument from me. Other than, I hope he goes of his own in the next few years if he "needs" to. Either that or if he stays to the end, I hope he coordinates WITH Goetz when it is time (even if they disagree about the way forward that he at least plays along)....
Kirk Ferentz has brought me so much joy.
All I have to do is think about where I might have gone and become a fan. Mizzou? HAH. Fat effing chance. So glad that's not "my team".
KU? I'm not a huge basketball fan. Wash U? Uhm, the only thing I know about their football team is my uncle was a runningback for them (my uncle was not a particularly big fellow known in the family as a football player) and the last time Nile Kinnick was in the stadium (as a guest) the Hawkeyes played Wash U. I'm not sure if SLU has a football team. Southwest Missouri State? Ugh.
I did briefly consider Wisconsin. And while my joy level may have been a little higher in days of yore, not at the moment. Also, red and white...while not crappy....just aren't as versatile of colors. To find more total joy since 1999? That literally limits me to approximately 10 schools who won a title. And some of them? Even if they won it, the net joy over the last 25 years is less than I got from Iowa. I'm not fond of "the south". Oklahoma is too cowboy for me. I'm not a west coast guy either. I guess Ole Miss would have been a possibility. Lot of kids from STL going there these days. But it's not like they're regularly in contention for anything.
I'm not sure I could have gotten into Michigan. And Ohio is unappealing to me. Penn St? Way too far from home and there is no appeal academically for me there.
Yes, sometimes I might credit Ferentz with the elements of the Fry era. But to me, they're really not wholly different. Just two guys doing more with less than almost every other option available to me.
Add in Caitlin Clark? I know it's not football. But as I've said before....if you go to Iowa for 4 years, something will happen that will make you feel like you're at the center of the universe. And often it will be the football team.
I count myself as lucky as hell.
