Is Kirk over rated?

[theboat]

Ferentz is properly rated. He will never be the flashy coach some people want, but he will consistently get the job done.

Put me on board to think this team shines this year.

 

[Northside Hawk]

In his last few years I just remember hearing about how other teams were using Hayden's age against him during recruiting. And listening to one of his last games at Minny and how it appeared the players were just giving up. And unlike how certain schools have done it there was no clear successor among the assistant coaches to take over when he did hang it up for good.

I think Hayden was softly pushing for Bob Elliott. But there's no way Bowlsby was going to hire the son of Bowlsby's predecessor, even though there were no hard feelings between Bump and Bob that I'm aware of.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

I think Hayden was softly pushing for Bob Elliott. But there's no way Bowlsby was going to hire the son of Bowlsby's predecessor, even though there were no hard feelings between Bump and Bob that I'm aware of.

Elliott was the odds-on fave at one point. Terry Allen was Bowlsby's choice.

KF absolutely killed it during interviews, more so than others, even Stoops.

 

[peerok]

Didn't Bobby Elliot develop health problems just before Hayden retired? It has always been my belief that he would have succeeded Fry otherwise.

In response to an earlier question, i think the candidates who got an interview for the job were Stoops, Ferentz, Terry Allen, Chuck Long and Don Patterson. Stoops was the popular choice, although I remember talking to a few people who wanted Terry Allen because of his success at UNI.

 

[Seth53]

HF built the modern program from the ashes. Majorly difficult task.
KF maintained the program so it didn't slide back into the ashes. Majorly difficult task.
KF represents the University well.

Count your blessings.

 

[revkev73]

Vanilla has become quite scarce and expensive, increasing in value about 10 fold in recent years.

Kirk's value keeps rising the longer he survives with his ways of "winning" enough.

 

[Ree4]

Bob Elliott would have likely succeeded Fry were it not for cancer, rip. How different things would have been.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

Didn't Bobby Elliot develop health problems just before Hayden retired? It has always been my belief that he would have succeeded Fry otherwise.

In response to an earlier question, i think the candidates who got an interview for the job were Stoops, Ferentz, Terry Allen, Chuck Long and Don Patterson. Stoops was the popular choice, although I remember talking to a few people who wanted Terry Allen because of his success at UNI.

Bowlsby wanted Terry Allen. Nobody else did.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

Bob Elliott would have likely succeeded Fry were it not for cancer, rip. How different things would have been.

That was the post-hire sentiment. Not so close to reality. He was in the mix at the beginning, though.

 

[Ree4]

That was the post-hire sentiment. Not so close to reality. He was in the mix at the beginning, though.

It was the pre hire sentiment as well, he was in the mix at the beginning, until he got cancer - that was my point

 

[guffus]

It's funny when CBS did this poll a year ago, Jim Harbaugh was the clear winner for most over-rated and Bill Synder for most under-rated. Where are they this year? Neither are in the top 5 this year. I guess everybody forgot about them.

That's why it is wierd to see Ferentz show up on the over-rated list. I would guess everybody would have forgotten about Ferentz.

 

[SteveGarvey1]

I think the gist is that Kirk was regarded as a top 5 coach, an up and comer, in the early-mid 2000s but has been living on his reputation lately. For the last several years Iowa football has just been a little above average really, but the media still say things like "You know what you're getting with a Kirk Ferentz-coached team. They don't make mistakes, well-coached etc."

 

[HawkGold]

I think the gist is that Kirk was regarded as a top 5 coach, an up and comer, in the early-mid 2000s but has been living on his reputation lately. For the last several years Iowa football has just been a little above average really, but the media still say things like "You know what you're getting with a Kirk Ferentz-coached team. They don't make mistakes, well-coached etc."

I think the "don't make mistakes", is something fans want to believe. The know what you get maybe until you think about OSU/Wisky/Purdue/Neb back to back to back to back....

You honestly believe all that?

 

[taffaej]

Yes.
Not that we don’t love him, but with him being here as long as he as we should be reloading every year and not have have these drastic up and down seasons. My bench mark is 9 wins prior to our bowl trip. Anything less then it was not a successful season.

 

[NCHawker]

We can cherry pick statistics to say what we want.

Here's a good positive... from above

The Ferentz led Hawkeyes have five AP top-10 finishes since 2000, which is more than Michigan, Nebraska, Tennessee, Florida State, Washington, Stanford, Notre Dame, Miami, Clemson, and W. Virginia. That's as many as Wisconsin and Penn State.

Here's a negative one

Iowa has been ranked in just 6 seasons under Kirk Ferentz. That's 13 seasons where Iowa did not appear in the top 25

 

[hawkeyebob62]

It was the pre hire sentiment as well, he was in the mix at the beginning, until he got cancer - that was my point

It was definitely pre-hire sentiment. But, cancer or not, KF won the job, it was not by default or "because of..."

 

[MelroseHawkins]

HF didn't have a chance to use that talent coming in. But he did set KF up nicely. I"m not anti KF, but I certainly don't know how to grade him out. Would he have won 4 or more? Who knows.I do think the 01 team was on the verge of playing on the national team, but that would have been with Banks as QB who wouldn't have been there w/o KF (who never did it again..go figure). The whole coaching world has changed since HF retired so it's hard to tell, but if my memory is correct, Iowa wanted an Iowa guy.

Who knows how Stoops would have been. I do think he would have been more of a gamer. Results? Who knows.

You are very high on Hayden's last couple recruiting classes. Please state the players that made these classes high in your mind. From my memory, Hayden's last two years were really frustrating with bad results. I don't particularly remember stout recruiting classes either. Most people realized a change was needed at that time.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Bowlsby wanted Terry Allen. Nobody else did.

Except Kansas.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Yes.
Not that we don’t love him, but with him being here as long as he as we should be reloading every year and not have have these drastic up and down seasons. My bench mark is 9 wins prior to our bowl trip. Anything less then it was not a successful season.

Iowa should never, never, struggle at recruiting linemen, in particular, offensive linemen. Him being an ex-NFL line coach and supposed guru. With the success that he has had putting linemen in the NFL, Iowa should be getting at least 4* with the occasional 5* recruits on the line. He should be able to pluck a few from the south just for the mere fact he has NFL experience, NFL ties and proof of players having success in the NFL and ready to play right away.

They should always have quality depth on the line.

 

[HawkGold]

You are very high on Hayden's last couple recruiting classes. Please state the players that made these classes high in your mind. From my memory, Hayden's last two years were really frustrating with bad results. I don't particularly remember stout recruiting classes either. Most people realized a change was needed at that time.

An article: Of course the first one mentioned didn't work out. Feb 4 1998
It was quite a year for high school football talent in the Chicago area.

Too bad not much of it plans to stick around.

UCLA came all the way to New Lenox for its quarterback of the future, Lincoln-Way's Cory Paus.

Michigan added Addison Trail's Dan Rumishek and Bolingbrook's Todd Howard to a recruiting class being acknowledged among the top three in the nation.

Penn State landed the No. 1 prospect in Illinois, Waubonsie Valley tight end R.J. Luke.

But Iowa came away with the biggest cache of all in All-Staters Siaka Massaquoi of Evanston and Eric Steinbach of Providence, second-team All-Staters Chris Oliver of Homewood-Flossmoor and Andy Lightfoot of Maine West plus special mention All-Stater D.J. Johnson of Naperville Central and late-blooming John Omotola of H-F.

Recruits will begin signing letters of intent to colleges Wednesday, the first day of the football signing period.

"We did better than we expected," said Iowa assistant coach and ex-Wheaton North and ex-Detroit Lion quarterback Chuck Long. "We knew Chicago would have an excellent recruiting class, and (coach) Hayden Fry made it a high priority."

Fry's down-home approach and the "Hayden hug" won over the Hawkeyes' prime objective, Massaquoi.

"I chose Iowa over Illinois, Michigan, Notre Dame and Northwestern because, well, coach Fry was the only coach who hugged me," said Massaquoi, who rushed for 2,035 yards and 29 touchdowns last fall. "Everyone at Iowa took more of a personal approach. On my visit, the Iowa players were great. It wasn't like I was some little chump coming into their world.

"The coaching staff said to do what's best for me and didn't keep harping on Iowa. It's not how I played, but who I was that seemed to matter. That whole place, you go there and just start smiling. I didn't want to come home after my visit."

The 6-foot-7-inch, 275-pound Lightfoot said a conversation with Massaquoi at a leadership conference helped persuade him to commit to Iowa.

"You could just see it in his face how happy he was to be going to Iowa," Lightfoot said.

"The Iowa coaches told me I was the first part of their recruiting plan and after that, it just snowballed," Massaquoi said. "I'll try to hook up Iowa with all the good players."

Steinbach talked to other top recruits before making his oral commitment in early November.

"It seemed like everyone had Iowa in their top five choices," said the 6-7, 235-pound Steinbach, who led the state with 26 sacks and was also recruited by Notre Dame, Michigan, Georgia Tech and Boston College. "I liked the way they didn't bug you and let you make the decision."