Is it the coaching or players...

[Joshbrown]

Tell me what's wrong with the following sentence:

"If we just got rid of the current players, and put Kirk Ferentz in charge of bringing in a new group of players. Then our problems would be solved."

Take your time. Maybe read it twice. Here's a practice question to get the logic circuits firing on all cylinders.

1) Spoon
2) Fork
3) Watermelon

Which of the above three is not like the other two?

 

[Stanzi]

It's both obviously. If your coaching staff is one of the worst in the country like joke Ferentz and his joke son are then you have to have the talent to make up for it. Unfortunately there isn't a single player on offense outside of Wadley who has a pulse. These pathetic losers wouldn't start for Rutgers. The receivers can't catch the freaking ball. The offensive line is the softest bunch of pansies I've ever seen on an Iowa line. Stanley doesn't know how to get rid of the ball. The tight ends are good but unfortunately Brian Ferentz is a fucking idiot and doesn't incorporate them in the offense.

 

[ohhawk]

Kirk has basically pulled back his recruiting territory to exclude anything south of Missouri. Slowly the competitive forces have forced Kirk into smaller hunting grounds each year. Maybe he needs to find a few more K. Bell's to add to the staff but I'm tired of waiting for Kirk to see the light. It's hard enough to sell with our geography and then Kirk adds another layer with you "have to fit". Geez, can't some adapt? Isn't that what young people learn to do at college age?

Kirk wants to sell in the geographic areas that are more unattended. He's letting the majority of his staff's recruiting shortcomings drive part of his recruiting strategy instead of finding a few more Kelvin Bell's........guys with people skills that are willing to work hard and spend a lot of time on the road away from family.

Plug more talent into this team and call the same plays and I'd bet our record would look much improved.

 

[OkstHawk]

To expand, I think the players got swelled heads after the win over O$U, and thought they could just phone it in.

They're not good enough to do that against ANY team, let alone a B1G team, especially Wisconsin.

Yeah certainly it's all on the guys who don't get paid to do this for a living. You know, it's not like they have class and things like that to worry about. I mean the coaches are the ones that have it hard -- they only make a few mil a year and have 50 hours a week to work on game planning and schemes...oh, and they have to work on saturdays (but don't worry, doesn't look like KF actually does anything on saturdays).

 

[Xerxes]

In college most of the blame has to go to the guys getting paid so I’d say a large portion (90%) of the blame goes to coaches.

At the same time the players have to step up and play better. They’re not being asked to do anything complex. Just block and tackle. Apparently it’s harder for them than it is for others

 

[archiehawk]

According to Podalak on the radio it apoears this coaching staff lacks talent at all levels.

 

[HawkGold]

To expand, I think the players got swelled heads after the win over O$U, and thought they could just phone it in.

They're not good enough to do that against ANY team, let alone a B1G team, especially Wisconsin.

I honestly having lived in a number of Big States ever have recall of another fan base that turns on players over the coaches. Only here...and only a few.

Let me suggest that 320 yards of offense (two weeks) isn't on the players swelled heads. I thought Dean was the kind of shameful remarks. You are making a run at him.

 

[Joshbrown]

For a moment let's all indulge in the same fantasy and pretend our class is filled with 4/5 star recruits.











































"5 star players under the supervision of 2 star coaches."

^^^ see the problem?

 

[hwk23]

This is the worst OL we've had in years, in terms of production not talent. Wadley should be mostly a 3rd down RB. No way we should be running Wadley into a stacked box. He's too easy to tackle not in space. We'd be better off with a RB like Weisman or Just playing Toren Young.

 

[Seth53]

Polarizing opinions will abound forever.
Which ever side you choose, you'll probably be right and you'll probably be wrong.

 

[tksirius]

I could not disagree more. I have seen average talented teams (Iowa and other schools) go out and play well and play winning football.

This is pervasive poor execution. There is an intangible at play here.

I say its on the coaches.

Snagged another one

 

[MoseSchrute]

I am going to weigh in with a sense of urgency and more uptempo offensive philosophy that players seem to enjoy. We are so slow to get plays in, to line up, to make checks or audibles, and then bark off snap counts.

I wonder if the players would get more pumped finishing a play, quick huddle or line up, quick call in from sideline, and go.

If you insist on playing offense that way, you damn well better be efficient and effective at it. Iowa is obviously neither, this year or most others.

 

[NCHawker]

of course, I am reminded of "coach" from the Cigar Shop who said when I asked, what makes a good coach? He said "great players make great coaches". Urban Meyer said as much after they won the NC.

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

This is the worst OL we've had in years, in terms of production not talent. Wadley should be mostly a 3rd down RB. No way we should be running Wadley into a stacked box. He's too easy to tackle not in space. We'd be better off with a RB like Weisman or Just playing Toren Young.

Wadley probably will primarily be a 3rd down back at the next level. The only problem is he has demonstrated this season particularly that he is terrible at pass-pro and blitz pick-up. On at least three occasions yesterday, he moved into position to pick up a blitzing player and either barely made contact or completely whiffed. You hate to insinuate it, but it was so bad that you almost have to wonder if he's unwilling to sacrifice his body thinking about the future.

 

[hwk23]

Wadley probably will primarily be a 3rd down back at the next level. The only problem is he has demonstrated this season particularly that he is terrible at pass-pro and blitz pick-up. On at least three occasions yesterday, he moved into position to pick up a blitzing player and either barely made contact or completely whiffed. You hate to insinuate it, but it was so bad that you almost have to wonder if he's unwilling to sacrifice his body thinking about the future.

Everytime you run into a brick wall the less enthusiastic you will be the next time. I doubt he's unwilling or thinking about the future. I think he's too small to be a really good blocker or a RB between the tackles. He's very talented but not at some of the things they want him to do. I don't understand why we don't gameplan around our player's strengths.

 

[earlkoppelman]

I can say without a doubt that his is 100% on the players, They have been letting Ferentz down since week one. Its too bad they can't be fired like in the pros.

Huh no ?

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

Everytime you run into a brick wall the less enthusiastic you will be the next time. I doubt he's unwilling or thinking about the future. I think he's too small to be a really good blocker or a RB between the tackles. He's very talented but not at some of the things they want him to do. I don't understand why we don't gameplan around our player's strengths.

That may be, but the point is in order to be a 3rd down back at the next level, you have to excel at blitz pick up and pass-pro. If he can't or is unwilling, his draft stock will suffer in a big way. Given his size and skill set, he is not going to be a three-down back.

That said, I do agree that we haven't adjusted game plans to take advantage of his strengths. I fully expected to see him being motioned to the slot more this season. I wonder if the loss of Butler for several weeks caused the coaches to abandon the idea.

 

[homes]

It's coaching. Iowa is paying the price for the OTJ training of Brian Ferentz. That's what it is. He's learning, and we're suffering. I wonder how long this will last? Davis got 5 years; I can't imagine Brian will get less time. The defense was bad for about 3 minutes yesterday, unfortunately, with this offense, they can't afford to be bad for even that long. In 6 of 8 Big Ten games, Iowa has 9 offensive touchdowns. It's no surprise they're 1-5 in those 6 games. Next year, not 2019, needs to be a lot better. I can't say, or else, because there is no realistic, or else, with Kirk as head coach. We can only hope it's better, because we're powerless to do anything about it. That's a terrible feeling.

 

[SCHawkeye2]

In the first three quarters of Purdue game, Iowa had 20 plays on 1st & 10. Ran between the tackles 15 of the 20 plays. 5 passes on first down.

By contrast, in the first three quarters of OSU game, Iowa had 30 plays on 1st & 10. Passed on 18 of the 30 plays.

I say the problem is coaching.

 

[DJI9424]

The KEY issue that I see, which I have seen since KF's original DC and OC left the program, is TRUST. Plain and simple, KF does not fully trust his staff to prepare the team with a strategy that can exploit the weaknesses of the other team.

Norm Parker had the most freedom of any of KF's staff at Iowa, KF trusted him fully to prepare the team for the opponent, and just as importantly, the team had supreme confidence in Parker to do what he was an expert in doing. KOK had less freedom to do the same thing on the offensive side of the ball, mainly because KF is incredibly risk averse and knows turnovers usually spell the difference in most games.

However, now we have both coordinators operating with training wheels, placed there by KF, especially on BF. I'm sure KF wants to see BF succeed but like any father with their own kids, you have to trust them to make their own decisions, realizing that even though mistakes will be made, that is just a part of the learning experience and they will ultimately be better for it.

So, in short, you have a coaching staff who is constantly looking over their shoulder, trying to avoid making a critical mistake, but by doing so they have limited their actions to what is readily predictable by the opponent. We've seen the same thing at the QB position for years; i.e. our QB's are so afraid of making a mistake that they check down to the lowest level, which almost always is fatal in moving the chains. CJ was successful in spite of the training wheel approach because he did not fear KF, he played his own game and KF eventually realized CJ could be trusted.

Lastly, I don't watch Iowa's games to be frustrated by their head coach's play not to lose strategy, yet that is where we are most weeks because KF cannot see how he is impeding his team's progress. I know I have mentioned this before but we truly do need an intervention where KF is shown how he is ruining his team's chances for success by over-controlling everything they do. I do not disagree with him on the need to properly execute, but without the necessary freedom and confidence to do just that, success will not happen.