Is there Any Hawktimism for 2013 Football Season?

After 8 years I decided to not renew my season tickets. But I have been kicking around the idea for a couple of years. Mostly it has to do with other weekend obligations. That being said, our past couple of seasons have not contributed to me wanting to renew. Fans will still come. If you live in smalltown Iowa what else is there to do? I think it is an "event" for many people and they will continue to come even if the product on the field is not the best. But another 4-8 or a 5-7 season will kill some of that enthusiasm. We may not see a big ticket drop this season but if the state of the program does not improve Kinnick will start seeing some empty seats on Saturday.
 
Kf can survive two more bad years IMO unfortunately then heads will roll. Iowa will not win nine games under kf again i would even wager eight
 
There are a certain number of people that think Coach Ferentz walks on water and can do no wrong and will support the program no matter how far it falls. Then there are a certain segment of fans, like JH, who have Hawkeye Football in their blood. They go to the games for the social aspect as much as the sporting one. They are not happy with the recent seasons, but are nowhere near ready to throw in the towel. Then there are those who need the Hawks to be successful to somehow add meaning to their lives and self respect and they are disillusioned at best. They are currently on the fence. They may still attend the games, but they are grumbing about the state of the program, the salaries paid to the coaching staff and the poor quality of the product they are seeing on the field. Another 4-8 season or so, and they will have had enough. Unfortunately, there are the younger fans who have never been on the Hawkeye bandwagon, and frankly, are seeing no current reason to hop aboard. These are the fans that need to be won over by seeing a winning football team that is exciting to watch and regularly attending and winning bowl games. This is the next generation of fans who are rapidly being lost, maybe forever.

I do not think Kirk can do no wrong; being a man he makes mistakes as do all. Having observed the sixties and the seventies I hope the university does not return to those conditions. Kirk has demonstrated that he can and will win with good players. It is great players who make great coaches, not great coaches who make great players. The players must first have the ability while the coach teaches the best application of their abilities in order to execute the play. Every play will succeed, if the players execute their assignment. Should a receiver drop a pass, he has failed to execute and the whole play has been useless. Did the coach drop the ball? No, but if the game is lost, he gets the blame.
 
I do not think Kirk can do no wrong; being a man he makes mistakes as do all. Having observed the sixties and the seventies I hope the university does not return to those conditions. Kirk has demonstrated that he can and will win with good players. It is great players who make great coaches, not great coaches who make great players. The players must first have the ability while the coach teaches the best application of their abilities in order to execute the play. Every play will succeed, if the players execute their assignment. Should a receiver drop a pass, he has failed to execute and the whole play has been useless. Did the coach drop the ball? No, but if the game is lost, he gets the blame.


I do agree with a lot of what you are saying and I also don't want KF to be fired. I believe that with a dynamic recruiter it is proven that his system can be top notch. It's just too bad that it took him almost 8 years to figure out that Brett B. is no longer on the staff. Lets hope Brian and the new coaches are better recruiters than the previous coaches.

i do disagree that KF shouldn't be blamed for every loss. He takes the credit for every win and has been compensated very well for those. If he then in turn has mind blowing losses and seasons then he needs to be the fall guy for those. Unlike the pros, he gets to buys the groceries and has hand picked every ingredient. If the final meal sucks then you fire the head chef, you don't throw away or blame the ingredients. He is the head chef and deserves the good and the bad of all critics or apologists.
 
One of the reasons for "Hawktimism" is simply we're nearly rid of two pretty disastrous recruiting classes; 2008-2009. Between those two classes I found a total of 10 eventual starters(including this year's early depth chart). Those two classes were millstones tied to the neck of the program. Many of those players didn't even ever see second string.

The 2010 class alone has 12 starters from it. The 2005-2007 classes all had, at least, 8 starters from them a piece. In the 2011 class starters on this year's early depth chart include: Austin Blythe, Nico Law, Jake Duzey, Damon Bullock(w/Weisman), Jake Rudock, Darian Cooper, and Jordan Lomax. A number of others look like eventual quality starters/contributors; Ray Hamilton, Jordan Canzeri, Jordan Walsh(some say he's already playing with the 1's), Jacob Hillyer, Marcus Spears, Riley McMann. This class is likely to eventually produce 9-12 starters. Harder to read the 2012 class yet but it's already producing starters and looks like it has some significant contributors this year.

We had to play a lot of mediocre talent because it was experienced or unexperienced talent because we simply didn't have D.1A quality players in the junior and senior classes at those positions. A different animal now. We're going to be bigger, stronger, and faster than we've been at least since 2010, and look like we may have a 2009 type season in us in 2014.
 
I will be a lot more optimistic for Iowa's defense if Tanner Miller is firmly planted on the bench, and Faith and Jaleel get a lot of time on the field.
 
I feel like going into this season most fans have at least more reasonable expectations. I didn't think we would be bad as we were last year but I was probably over estimating what we had. This year I just really want to see improvement and I'm hoping for 6-6 and a bowl but no thats not going to be easy. I am optimisitic for 2014 already as I think this group could be really good then if we improve in 2013. I have and will continue to buy season tickets and support the team. I've lived through worse years than last year and while I don't like those seasons I can't wait for the next season to start. I'm hoping QB can be servicable and that some young players at WR and a few other can contribute this year.......If so we may win a couple I don't plan on.......odds are we will lose a couple I don't plan either.......
 
I do agree with a lot of what you are saying and I also don't want KF to be fired. I believe that with a dynamic recruiter it is proven that his system can be top notch. It's just too bad that it took him almost 8 years to figure out that Brett B. is no longer on the staff. Lets hope Brian and the new coaches are better recruiters than the previous coaches.

i do disagree that KF shouldn't be blamed for every loss. He takes the credit for every win and has been compensated very well for those. If he then in turn has mind blowing losses and seasons then he needs to be the fall guy for those. Unlike the pros, he gets to buys the groceries and has hand picked every ingredient. If the final meal sucks then you fire the head chef, you don't throw away or blame the ingredients. He is the head chef and deserves the good and the bad of all critics or apologists.

This. Nice. Recruiting is huge and Brett was pretty good at relating to kids. Most kids only care about 3 things: money, clothes, and girls.
 
This. Nice. Recruiting is huge and Brett was pretty good at relating to kids. Most kids only care about 3 things: money, clothes, and girls.

UCF Coach George O'Leary summarized it best: in recruiting, a "relationship" with the recruit is important, a relationship with the recruit's parents is really important, but the most important "contact" is the recruit's girlfriend.
 
I am an eternal springtime hawktimist. If we can get some QB play going and catch a few lucky breaks in the close games, we could have a winning season.

But I am a "Carver-Hawekeye is half full" kind of guy.
 

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